HEARDS GARDEN TOUR 2015

Saturday and Sunday, Mary Lou Heard had their Garden Tour.  Some were only open on Saturday, some on Sunday, and some both days.  My friends and I went yesterday, Sunday.  The weather was sunny and beautiful with a light breeze.  We selected only 6 gardens and we were not disappointed.
However, I must say that none of the homes were water wise.

The first garden was a Cottage Garden and I really loved it.  The lady and her husband did all the work.  Lots of beautiful flowers and garden art.

This was the entrance to their home.  For all of your rooster lovers look above the door.  She had many, many rooster all over her garden.  The next two pictures are on each side of the front entrance.

The maiden hair fern was so lush and green.

The hydrangeas were stunning, oh so blue and big.

This was the walk way up to her front entrance

The other side of the driveway going into her backyard.

This was the first thing we saw as we entered her garden a Fairy Garden.  They were so busy having a tea party.

A old mail box with Miss Henny Penny, and her baby chick nesting.

A old wagon with such a pretty combination of flowers.

A bakers rack with lovely bird houses and that beautiful speckled chicken.  It had a great rusty
finish.

A old push lawn mower with lots of flowers all around it.

A old table that was painted for the garden with a pretty metal rooster.

Numerous shelves with bird houses, chickens of all sorts and many interesting items.

A better view of all the lovely things she has.

There were lots of hanging flower pots in the trees and that old wagon.

I loved the Garden Lady pointing to her flowers.

This was a little patio off of the house in the back yard.

This is a garden lady on her gate going into the back yard.  I didn't notice her until we were leaving.

Everything in her garden was so well thought out.

This was the side yard before you went into the back yard.  She is the last house on the block and has a lot more land than the rest of the homes.

My friend had to have one more look. This is the first Garden Tour that she has been on.  I must say this was my very favorite garden.

This was the second garden with a lovely bridge and pond.

What a lovely spot to sit and relax.

Great dining area with lots of flowers.

Another water feature

This was a really cute bench.

This was a older couple who took care of this garden and it was so lovely, they had flowers, a pond with fish, and vegetable garden.  There were many beautiful garden sculptures that their son had made. 

I loved this bottle tree in their garden.  This is the last house on our tour.  They had 2 acres of land.

  

Beautiful big turtle statue and notice the sign.

They had succulent plants, vegetable gardens, a movie area on the green, grape arbor and a terrific swimming pool. 

The statue was made of tin and he was so unusual, playing the accordion.  Notice the grape arbor behind him.

They had three spouts of water coming out of the deck into the pool.

Looks like I was trying to help him play.

Well that is it for the tour and we had lots of fun.  Had lunch at Mimi's Restaurant.  Got our strength back and took off to see the rest of the gardens on our list.

This last home had so many succulents for visitors.  I picked up about 4 since I do not have any and it looks like that will be all in most California gardens, if we do not get rain.  This is the worse drought that California has ever had.  I am seriously considering get rid of my lawn and putting in pea gravel.  Grass it the biggest water hog ever.

Hope that you enjoyed my little tour of Southern California's garden.  There were 35 homes on the tour from Long Beach to Yorba Linda.

Mary

Waldo, Lili and I love reading all your comments.

Dwellings ~ Amaze Me Monday

      The Dedicated House ~ Make it Pretty Monday        

    Between Naps On The Porch ~ Metamorphosis Monday

A Stroll Thru Life ~ Inspire Me Tuesday

Confessions of a Plate Addict ~ The Scoop

Coastal Charm ~ Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style ~ Wow Us Wednesday

Ivy and Elephants ~ What's It Wednesday

No Minimalist Here ~ Open House Party Thursdays

Between Naps on the Porch - Tablescape Thursday

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson ~ Share Your Cup Thursday

My Turn for Us ~ Freedom Fridays Blog Hop

Common Ground ~ Be Inspired Friday

The Thrifty Groove ~ Thrifty Things Friday

Rooted in Thyme - Simple & Sweet Friday

WHERE DID WINTER GO

I am so sorry to be so tardy in posting lately.  But a lot of things have been happening in my life.  So grab a cup of coffee or tea or maybe you will need a glass of wine as I am trying to bring you all up to date on all my activities.

My son and granddaughter came down for Christmas, which was wonderful and we had a great time.
However, I knew what subjects would be brought up while he was here.  "Mom you need to sell the house and move up close to me".  I will not move as long as I can't take my dogs.  If you can find a place for me and them, okay.  Kelly needs you, blab blab blab.  Now you know darn good and well that she is going to be 13 and she is busy with school, her friends and joint custody with her mother.

I have been mulling around about down sizing, selling the cottage and renting a Senior apartment with just one bedroom, but would I be happy.  It would mean I would have to find homes for my beloved dogs.  To someone that would spoil them like I do and keep them together.  Get rid of all my dishes, silver ware and linens as I would not be doing table scapes anymore.  Decisions, decisions and more decisions.  Would I be happy in an apartment with no garden to putter around in - no roses?
These are things we think of as we age.  It would mean moving to Northern California.  Of course I would be close to my son and granddaughter, but they are always so busy.  No friends to have lunch with and go shopping,  I wish that I had a magic wand that I could wave and have everything taken care of.  But I know that God will lead me to the right path.

Sorry this sounds like a pity party -  I have been going through stuff, de-cluttering, throwing and giving stuff away.  At least now I have a dish room LOL  I took a hall closet and turned it into my dish room.  Put two large shelves with some of my dishes.  Please excuse the coat hangers as I didn't realize they were there.

That's not all my dishes, I do have quite a few in the kitchen cubbards and in the garage.  But it's a start.  I never knew I had so much stuff until you start going through closets and cubbards.

See that beautiful weather vein Rooster on the table, he was one of my Christmas gifts from my dearest friend Phyllis.  Plus 6 salad plates with Mr. Rooster on them.  Isn't he elegant and proud.

I have been having some health issues with my blood.  Apparently I have Factor V, which means that my blood is to thick and therefore I developed blood clots.  Getting my blood to the right thinness has been a challenge.  To the lab for blood tests every week,  My poor arms.  But, we are on the right track now.   Life is good.

Also my lap top computer finally gave up and now I have 3 computers A new lap top and a regular computer with monitor and all the other stuff and of course the one that came over on the Mayflower.

Just a few of my pretty roses to share with you.

This morning I was walking around in my garden looking at all of God's beautiful flowers and I thought how beautiful everything is.  The flowers are growing like crazy and my veggies are planted.

For those of you that are waiting for Spring, I thought that you would like a look at some of my pretty roses that have been blooming.

My roses in the back yard are full of buds and are ready to explode in brilliant colors.  I have a few iris, and Calle Lily's blooming also. The front yard roses have already bloomed and have been deadheaded for new growth.

My iris have started blooming and they are so pretty.

Here is my garden helper, Waldo.  He is always by my side, rain or shine, cold or hot doing our chores in the back yard.  He is starting to get gray, just like his mom.  Lili would not come out and play as she is a Diva and doesn't like her feet to get wet.

There he is smelling the flowers and checking things out.

This is one of my most favorite roses and can you believe it came from the 99 Cent store.

These petunias are from last summer and because we have had no winter they are still going strong.  They are a pretty magenta color.

Just a few of my pots that I replanted this winter.  My herbs and Santa Barbara Daisy.

The nasturtiums have taken over the back yard.  I need to thin them out, however they do add color to the garden.

These are some of my most favorite roses.

I always pick flowers Sunday morning for bouquets to bring into the house.  This is just one of the ones I picked last week.

This is a very pretty rose also.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I promise to post more as so many of you have asked why I was not posting.

Have a wonderful Happy Spring and hopefully winter has finally gone to bed.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Waldo, Lili and I love reading your comments.

Mary

Dwellings ~ Amaze Me Monday

      The Dedicated House ~ Make it Pretty Monday        

    Between Naps On The Porch ~ Metamorphosis Monday

A Stroll Thru Life ~ Inspire Me Tuesday

Confessions of a Plate Addict ~ The Scoop

Coastal Charm ~ Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style ~ Wow Us Wednesday

Ivy and Elephants ~ What's It Wednesday

No Minimalist Here ~ Open House Party Thursdays

Between Naps on the Porch - Tablescape Thursday

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson ~ Share Your Cup Thursday

My Turn for Us ~ Freedom Fridays Blog Hop

Common Ground ~ Be Inspired Friday

The Thrifty Groove ~ Thrifty Things Friday

Rooted in Thyme - Simple & Sweet Friday

LOOKING & SHOPPING ALL OVER ORANGE COUNTY

This past Saturday, I decided that I needed to get out of the house and do some looking and shopping.  I picked up my friend and wouldn't tell her where we were going - it's a SURPRISE.  I set the GPS and off we went.  My first stop was to "Green Thumb Nurseries".  I had read in the paper that they were all decorated for Christmas with 20 themed decorated trees - WOW 20 trees.  Most of the shops set the trees up, but do not decorate them at all.  I guess it's just to expensive to hire a professional decorator.  This was the first tree we saw as we walked into the Christmas area.  Let me tell you I was not disappointed.  It's theme is Ocean/Beach - the ornaments were stunning - all glass ornaments, not your plastic ones, but very pricey.  It also looked like white coral sticking out of the tree.

The next thing I saw was this display of Gingerbread Houses.  They were very pretty - on to the next display

Oh my gosh... the Carolers were stunning.  Oh so many different ones.  I wanted them all LOL, but I didn't buy one

Another display, don;t they look real?

This tree had every kind of Snowmen that you could possibly think of.  Big, small, fat, or skinny.  The tree was so full of ornaments, it would cost a fortune to decorate like that.

The top of the tree had a lot of snowmen as the top ornament.  I couldn't move farther back as it was so crowded in there.

Do you see all the top of the trees?  They were really pretty with all sorts of decorations on the top.  This tree had a lot of elf's on it - very cute.

I thought this would be very cute for a small child to count the days until Christmas.  It had little pockets that you could put little candy in, money or maybe a note telling them where to look for surprise.

 I almost fell over looking at this topper.  It is the lamp from A Christmas Story.  It had a lot of ornaments pertaining to that movie and others.  Can you see Betty Boob in the lower left hand corner.  This was the lamp that they had in the living room in their home in Cleveland, Ohio.  Susan from Naps on The Porch did a wonderful and interesting post on this home.  Susan toured it on vacation -  check it out.

Just a shot of a lot of the decorated trees.  It was hard to take pictures, as I had so many people and children looking at them.  The children were priceless, their little faces looking at all the wonderful things on the trees, their little eyes so big taking it all in.

One of these trees had birds and little bird houses on it.  Everything pertaining to outdoors.

As we were heading for the cashier - there was Santa.  Not mass produced, but made by a local artist.

I was very good, I only purchased two small red plants for the front porch and 2 herb plants - thyme and sage.

Back on the road again to Rogers Gardens in Newport Beach, CA.  This is a very high end Gift Shop and Nursery. - Stunning trees and decorations.

This was the entrance to the store.  Beautiful real evergreen trees.  The candle sticks were very, very pretty.

If you look to the sides you will see black pockets - these are the rage here - put them on walls, fences and then fill them with what ever plants or vegetables you want.  Are especially good if you live in a condo, townhouse or apartment with a very small patio.  Just line them up on the fence or wall and plant whatever you want in them.  The dirt doesn't run out when you water them.  What a terrific way to garden, no bending over and weeding.

These two wreaths on one side of the entrance and two more on the other side.  Notice the bling crown on the lower one.  That seemed to be the theme here, lots of bling and crowns, crosses, etc.  When we left one of the wreaths had already sold.  The people were buying so many items.  You would have thought that there was a red tag sale going on - no such luck there.

This tree was mostly all gold - very lovely

This tree was breath taking - it had a lot of bling and a French theme.  I had such a hard time trying to take pictures due to the number of customers in there.

More of the French tree.

This tree was all about England - even had some Downton Abby ornaments.  Very pretty.  British guards, red telephone booths, and English Flag ornaments.

This is the Christopher Radco room with all his glass ornaments.  Let me tell you - they were stunning.

They start at $25.00 for a little tiny one.  But they are keepsakes.  The tree to the left has nothing but his ornaments on it.  The room was really dark and hard to take a picture of.

When my son got married I would get them a Christopher Radco ornament each Christmas.  When Kelly was about 2 years old she would go to the tree and any ornament she could reach she would take it off and throw it into the fireplace.  Needless to say many were broken and the rest were move farther up the tree where she could not reach them.  Kids, you gotta love them.

This tree was all in white and crystal, very pretty but lacked some punch. 

Well that was my Saturday, and let me tell you I was pooped when I got home.  There were so many people at Rogers Gardens that it was difficult to walk or look at anything.  I was so afraid that I would get pushed into a tree and break something. That I walked outside and sat on the bench while my friend looked around.  She is a artist, so she was taking in all the beauty in that store.  Neither one of us purchased anything.  The one thing that I noticed that they are not using a lot of ribbon on the trees, just heavy, heavy ornaments all over.  The top of the trees have bows, faux flowers, branches sticking out like a firecrackers is going off.  Very pretty.  They also had chandlers on the tops.  Red is the color this year and lots and lots of bling.  So gals get your bling out and go to town decorating.

We stopped to eat, about 1:00 p.m. at the Kickin Crab Restaurant.  Let, me tell you if you have one of these restaurants close to you - try it.  All they sell is Asian, Creole food and you can have it as hot as you want it.

I am a sissy so I always order mild.  We ordered Garlic Noodles (don't kiss anyone unless they had this also) and a pound of shrimp in a mild Creole sauce with pita bread.  There are paper table cloths and all the dishes are disposable  If you could have seen the mess we made, they even give you plastic gloves to use.  We had it all over as the shrimp is in a plastic bag and you have to take the shell and head off of the shrimp. It was delicious and we must have had 20 shrimp in the bag.  We shared this meal and still took some home and very reasonable.  Try it, you won't be disappointed.

Thank you for going along on this little adventure with me.  It was a beautiful sunny California dreaming day, about 75 degrees.

Happy Thanksgiving.......

Mary

I hope you leave a comment - I love reading them all and hopefully I am answering all your comments.

I won't be linking up to any parties as my computer will not let me do that. Why, I don't know. I am hoping I get a new one from Santa this year - I've been very good.