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Gardens, Wanderlust and Summer Dresses…Weekend Meanderings
Happy weekend friends!
Good Saturday morning to you. Today I am joining Juliet and Kim for our weekly series “Weekend Meanderings”.
How was your week? It has been a busy week here, plumbers, electricians, deliveries and more. The best part, the cabinets are in and the knobs are on! Late yesterday afternoon the stone company came to template for the counters! I may be baking sooner than I thought.
Enough about me let’s get to weekend meanderings. Today I am sharing gardens, meadows, shrubs(the drink), a few adventures and my summer style. Lets’ get to it.
Weekend Meanderings
Gardening
Gardening has never been a passion or my strong suit but now that I am in my new house I have found myself dabbling in plantings and flowers to create my dream garden. That said, I will never have the English garden that I dream of simply because I live in house surrounded by pines but I can add plants and shrubs and flowers that will hopefully give the beds a touch of England.
We have one green space on our lot, it is in the front of the house and and in the middle of the circle driveway. The green space is a combination of grasses and weeds with a small bed in the middle where I removed all of the small boxwood and ornamental grasses.
This circle is part of the next phase of landscaping, but in the meantime I have been doing my best to make the center look like a wildflower meadow. Finally after 2 months the wildflowers are out the pollinators are buzzing around. In the morning when I have my hot chocolate on the porch I can watch the humming birds flit from flower to flower and the bees buzz around.
Lawns to Meadows
While I was researching wild flowers I came across many articles about lawns and the environment. Guess what? Your beautifully manicured green lawn is detrimental to the environment and contributes to climate change. Who knew? I have never heard that in my life, have you? You can read more about it here, and here and here.
Down the rabbit hole I went and I learned that most grasses are not native to the USA, they came over from Europe.
Consequently they don’t thrive in certain areas of the country like California and Arizona and as a result use up too much water to keep them green. Grass lawns are not good pollinators and the mowers used create green house gases.
There is now a movement to turn lawns into meadows and that is my plan for my little green weed circle. Currently I am reading Lawns into Meadows and I am perusing American Meadows to see which seed mix to order.
Nature’s Best Hope is another book I plan to read this summer.
In the Garden
July to-do list in the garden.
I do not have any roses at this house but at our last house we had them and had a lot of problems. For those of you that love roses and have them in your garden, you might enjoy this article A Rosarian on Whether to Spray, When to Fertilize, and Other Questions About Growing Roses.
7 Ways to Attract Pollinators. By the way pollinators are not just bees, they also include butterflies, birds, bats, small animals and more. I had no idea? Did you?
If you want to attract bee pollinators to your year why not add a bee barn? This little house attracts solitary bees that pollinate 20x’s the amount of plants as honey bees.
Architects and designers create 33 conceptual birdhouses for Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Recipes to Use Your Garden Produce
If you have a plethora of cucumbers you might want to make these sandwiches, or this salad.
Cucumber lime tequila cocktail anyone?
Zucchini coming out your ears? It is never too soon(in my book) to add it to your favorite pumpkin bread. Or make a zucchini and corn salad.
Molly went to the farmers market and this morning is sharing all of the things she made with her haul. You can read the post on Molly in Maine.
Shrubs
Have ever made drinking shrubs? I learned about them years ago and every summer make a few berry shrubs to use in cocktails and mocktails.
You can learn more about the history of shrubs here.
What the shrub is drinking vinegar? Great recipes and combination of flavors for your next shrub.
Here is an easy recipe for any berry shrub.
Wanderlust
If you have always dreamed of moving to France and living in the country, “The French Art of Countryfication” is a must read.
Many people travel to France and never leave Paris, which is ok but you should really take the time to go further afield. Visiting the chateau of the Loire Valley is one of my favorite things to do outside of Paris. I never tire of the history, the gardens and taking a little time to imagine life in these amazing places. If you have a trip planned to the Loire Valley here are The Best Chateau in the Loire Valley. My all time favorite is Chenonceau.
If you are traveling to the South of Spain you will enjoy this article.
Small Group tours to Europe
Debra Phillips of the blog 5th and State is an interior decorator, landscape designer and more. She also owns Sentimental Gardens in Geneva, Illinois a delightful shop filled with finds sourced from all over the world. Over the last few years Debra has been leading small tours to Europe to visit gardens, shops and more. For more information about current trips check out her website.
Elizabeth aka The Contessa went on one of Debras’ garden tours a few years ago if you want more information about her experience I am sure she would be happy to answer your questions.
If you need packing tips check out these 3 posts, by Cindy, Kim, and Sarah.
Summer Dresses and Summer Style
I love dresses, in fact I prefer to wear a dress no matter the season. Especially easy breezy dresses with added fabric. You might say I have “embraced the mumu” as one reader mentioned on a previous post,
What can I say, I love the idea of plucking one item from my closet, adding shoes and voila, I am ready for the day.
My favorite place to shop for inexpensive dresses is Target and H&M. This summer I have purchased some beautiful dresses with classic silhouettes that I will be able to wear for years and years.
You can read more about 10 Target Dresses Under $35.00 Here.
At H&M this summer I ordered this dress in 3 color ways, it is a beautiful cotton dress and everywhere I wear it people compliment it.
I also ordered this blue and white dress and this one too.
Weekend Sales
If you are shopping the Nordstrom Sale this cardigan looks like a versatile piece to add to your wardrobe. I like this sweater too. This is a great scarf in my favorite pattern, plaid. I typically buy the Oliplex hair care and a perfume along with one or two sweaters.
Amazon Prime-day is actually two days, July 12 13th. What is the best deal you have scored at Prime Day in the past?
J.Crew an extra 50% off sale styles
Boden Up to 60% off summer styles
In case you missed it
I shared an easy and delicious recipe for Lavender Lemon Shortbread cookies.
Pizza, pasta, salads, drinks, books and more on the Friday Favorites Post.
That’s It
That is it for weekend meanderings, I hope that you enjoyed the post have a wonderful weekend my friends.
DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT KIM AND JULIET’S WEEKEND MEANDERINGS!
MAKE MINE A SPRITZER
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA STYLE
This post contains affiliate links, if you purchase something from a link I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
The Best White Dresses for Summer
Fun Summer Finds From Nordstrom’s Rack
Anchor’s Away
Monday Musings No. 34
Elizabeth , really good post. So exciting your kitchen will be in before you know it!
Thanks for mentioning the grass thing. I thought long and hard about ripping all of ours out when we remodeled and I knew how bad it was for the planet. Not only does it require much water and work, it costs a lot to maintain. So far we are three years in to having native bushes and crushed granite, and we love it. Each year to gets better and better. We have ot remove a few bushes this year and replace others, but it’s basically maintenance free and we have a plethora of birds and butterflies here all the time. I don’t use chemicals at all, and that is also a big deal. When a weed comes up we pull or burn it. I can only imagine how great it would look if we all went to wildflowers and bushes. Good luck with your space. It takes a while to see what works right?
Love all the dresses! I’m with you, they are so polished and easy! Thanks also for the tips on the Loire Valley. We are trying to plan a fall trip. I have never been to that part of France. I’ve been to Normandy and the south, but need ideas on where to stay in Loire. I am going to check out these now.
Hoping you have a lovely weekend Elizabeth!
Good morning, Elizabeth and happy weekend! I see we’re thinking along the same lines once again. I’ve really embraced the dress for summer and I can’t get enough inspiration. You’ve got some beautiful choices. I love Target for dresses too, but I hadn’t given any thought to H&M. I will now. It’s so exciting that your kitchen project is so far along. Cabinets AND hardware … that’s huge. Garden struggles are real. I saved the article by the rosarian. I notice she lives in San Francisco and our climate can be very similar so I hope to get some good pointers. We really struggle with our roses. As for lawns, the drought has rendered them impossible and we took the lawns at Snowberry out after moving in. I love our drought semi-tolerant gardens and don’t miss the lawn at all. The dogs may feel otherwise, but they love their pea gravel … and, of course, most of their time outdoors is spent lounging on the outdoor furniture. Theirs in the life. I’d love to take one of Debra’s tours one day. And return to the Loire Valley. It’s magical. These cocktails look amazing, and I’m slightly familiar with the Shrub … its a great time of year to refresh my memory. Cheers! xo
Thank You for the mention!
I did go on one of Debra’s trips and Loved it!Worth every penny!Women Only.
England is her speciality but I know she is doing France and Scotland too!
That is fascinating info on LaWNS!
I remember your trip Elizabeth. Debra is an amazing lady and I am sure the trip was magical.
Thanks so much for linking my blog post, Elizabeth! And I love that you are also embracing the wildflower meadow! Our field was mowed when we bought the property, but I love letting it grow wild in the summer! It is the lazy man’s garden, haha! I definitely need to check out some of the dresses you linked! Have a great day!
Molly, you are very welcome. It was fun to see your beautiful market. I thought I remembered you writing a post about your meadow, I should link to that too! I am sure that you can make some wonderful arrangements from the meadow.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Have a great weekend.
Hi dear Elizabeth – loving all the Summer dresses you show. I found two inexpensive ones at H&M for these hot/humid days. So comfortable – if only they’d scare off the mosquitoes I’d love them even more!
Trying to get back to normal since returning from England – but it’s hard in these jungle-like weather conditions!
Hope the daily storms are staying away from your area.
Hugs, Mary