Charleston Window Boxes

Cute little shop on Queen Street,  Lime Blue 

Vendue Inn

Vendue Inn window boxes designed and planted by Jen Stringer of Living Colors

Window box designed and planted by Jen Stringer of Living Colors 

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Destination: Poe's Tavern

Work has gotten slow during the month of February so, Mark and I have tried to come up with free activities.  Yesterday, we decided to ride our bikes to Poe's Tavern on Sullivan's Island.  That is a 15 mile bike ride, one way.  

past the palmetto trees in Mt. Pleasant

over the Sullivan's Island bridge

cute black dog on the beach

are you my mother?

nope

Headed home, back over the Sullivan's island bridge, through the town of Mt. Pleasant, over the Ravenel Bridge, through the streets of downtown, over the Ashley River Bridge, down the greenway, back home.  

downtown Charleston

Pond Scum

Yep, you heard it right, "Pond Scum" coined its name from our friend Sally, who gave Mark her old juicer.   We have been using it almost every day.   This is one of the best drinks I have ever had!  The recipe:  handful of parsley, 2 lemons, 1 orange, 1 apple, and a couple of carrots.  Thanks Sally!

I think this is your pitcher Barbara?  Come on over for some pond scum and we will return it to you.  Wadda you say?

A photo of the beautiful day!

Happy Valentine's Day

Tweet tweet, a valentine's surprise for Mark.

The other day while Mark was slowly lowering his coffee cup to rest it on the table beside him, I said "oh! wait, let me get a coaster for you."  My grandmother instilled this habit in my sister, brother and me from the time we could hold a cup.  If we happened to forget, she would explain what would happen if we did not use a coaster, "if you don't use a coaster, there will forever be a ring where you put the cup."  My grandmother was the senior editor at Vanderbilt University and always corrected us if we said something grammatically incorrect.  That afternoon Mark decided to make a few coasters to put around the house. 

 photo of my grandmother, "Mom"

Arborsculpture

This bridge is made of rubber plant roots!  The people of the village needed a bridge to cross this creek when it flooded so, they trained rubber plant roots to grow straight across the creek.

Axel Erlandson was a farmer who shaped trees for a living.  He grew this chair from 30 boxwood cuttings.

Here is a bridge in Japan from the 1880's that took many years to "connect."  Wisteria vines were grown to great lengths on either side of the water.  Once they were long enough, they were woven together so that they made a bridge across the  river.

You can find more beautiful photos here

http://v1kram.posterous.com/growing-architecture

To prune or not to prune?

Today, while working in a small downtown courtyard, my friend asked "is it okay to prune fig trees now?".  The answer is...yes!   You want to do this in the winter when the fig tree is dormant.  The best time to prune is February or early March just before the tree puts out new growth.  If you prune it in the winter, it will bleed less and is less likely to get diseases.  You can go here if you want to learn more about gardening.

Harvest and planting

don't laugh, these carrots are supposed to be small and sweet!

mark planting more carrots for late summer harvest

a gift from a little friend

yum

planting fennel and dill seeds for indoors