Snow and Orchids

 Snow, snow, and more snow with an additional four inches last night. This mound of snow is right outside the studio door. The corner is the path Ray has shoveled out for us to walk penguin style to the car avoiding slipping. We had 19 inches on Saturday. Schools and colleges are closed. Some roads get plowed some don't. Mail hasn't been delivered in over a week. Fed Ex and UPS have come most days.

                           A rather large snow plate that almost seems blue in all the snow.

 I am a gardener inside and outside. Thought I would share a view with you that I see from the table. It is a window filled with my orchids and cyclamen. The little  hand blown glass bird is from a trip we took to England. The round glass was a gift from our children. You can see the green house and the outside porch all covered in snow.

 Orchids are relatively new to me. I have been taking care of them for about two years now. I have learned after losing several they like to be misted. I actually spray all our houseplants everyday with water that is room temperature.

 After talking to my brother in law Monroe and my friend Fiona, I now water the orchids really well about every two weeks. This is a very special little orchid. She bloomed after being dormant. These are the new flowers and blooms. She is very tiny and enjoys being near the window.

 Cyclamen have their own way of telling me when they need to be watered. We have only one that is four years old. The others were purchased at a Valentine's Day clearance. They do really make you smile as you look upon the table filled with flowers in this snow.

 The view outside the studio window with birds patiently waiting for their turns at the feeders. The cardinal is almost breathtaking red against the snow and dark colors of the woods.

Another view of the cardinal with the snow covered roof of the house and one of the little houses in the yard. Our road is covered in snow this morning. The studio is a busy place with glass being cut to create flowers and jewelry. Under all of this snow are the green shoots of daffodils waiting with more patience than I have.

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Daffodils

www.carolingrammoore.com ~ www.artisansofthegap.com www.facebook.com/CarolIngramMoore

 I really can't even remember when I realized how much I like daffodils. It must have been when I was a little girl walking around both of my grandmothers gardens. Both of them enjoyed daffodils.

 Each year, I add more than 100 daffodil bulbs to the garden here in Big Stone Gap.

 This year, I was a little late in planting some of them. They are all coming up now!

 The first year we moved here, a friend gave me a tub of daffodils her brother had dug out of his yard. It took two full years for these King Alfred daffodils to bloom. They now line the entire front of the house.

                Each area of the yard has its own daffodil garden. These are in the iris garden.

                                      Just a few close ups of some of the different varieties....

                                       A soft touch of peachy pink

                                                                  These smell heavenly.

                 N ear the woods

                                         Oldest and sweetest of all the flowers

 These border the woods. Bunnies, deers, moles, and voles do not like daffodils. One year a critter had dug up a daffodil, took a bite and left the rest.

Outside the greenhouse

If you look closely, you can see a little bug under the petal of the top daffodil.

Opening the Kiln

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 After I opened the kiln for the second time after slumping two four inch glass plates, I decided to take photos of the back as well as the front of each of the two plates. The first plate is embedded with butterflies I had thought to turn into a necklace with earrings to match. Decided that they might look like butterflies in flight with the sky blue glass. This is the back side of the plate.

                        This is the front side of the plate. The butterflies really shimmer in the light.

 Plate two has dichroic glass turned different ways. The top of this plate is the reverse of the dichroic and you can see below the effect on the back side of the plate. The orange is from a piece of glass called a stringer. It is thinner than a pick up stick and lays nicely between the pieces of glass.

 This was a real surprise. There were 21 blossoms on the Daktura plant today. The moths must have had a great time last night.

Playing with Picassa

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 What a difference a week and a lot of rain makes in the gardens. The cleome is growing as tall as me and spreading out with loads of seed pods. Thinking there will be lots more of these in the garden next year.

 Last fall, I clipped some impatiens to bring inside. Early in the spring, I began to make cuttings from the cutting. These are the result of the cuttings from a cutting with a little bit of pencil sketch enhancement from Picassa. The flowers are a soft pink nestled next to the lemon balm. Now that is an herb that pops up in the most unexpected places.

 It was spitting rain while I was taking photos this morning. The poppers are right next to the woods. This photo is simply the colors of the day. The lushness of the greens from all the rain is amazing. The rain barrel filled up after one night of rain...wondering if we are in the rain forest of the Appalachian mountains.

 These are daisies getting ready to bloom in the front yard. Nice to have some fall flowers and thanks to the half of half price garden sale at Lowes I will be putting in three asters with very large soft lilac flowers.

The fern growing amid the anonome which is blooming. The kiln is filled with glass slowly coming down in temperature. Once it is ready, I will take a photo of all the new pieces. 

Art Glass and Garden Flowers

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 A nine inch bowl that began with so many pieces of glass cut out, it looked like pick up sticks. The glass is iridescence green, blue and purple on one side and green aventurine on the other side. It reminds me of the potholders you weave across a metal frame adding one loop at a time. Do you remember making those?

 The dove was finished last Sunday afternoon. The blue glass looks like a summer sky with the dove flying peacefully. All the glass art is for sale.

 A mystery lily beginning to unfold. I bought some bulbs early in the spring and thought I was buying something else. It is really beautiful with the pink and yellow flower.

 Last year, an angel's trumpet, dactura, grew in this same spot. I planted one of the seeds as I cast seeds throughout the yard. Three plants are growing. This is the very first bloom, a little spent as the photograph was taken this afternoon in the heat of the day.

These are just some of the blossoms on the plants. I counted 14 on all the plants. Just imagine what they will look like in a week! We had an unexpected visitor today from the woods. A fairly large raccoon was walking past the compost. We were surprised to encounter each other. It made its way quickly back into the woods and I googled to find out that raccoons do come out during the day to eat. Last year I saw a baby raccoons about this same time. Never know what will happen here in the mountains.

Unexpected Surprises

 I had just come up the steps from walking around the garden after  deadheading the day lilies. If they are not taken off the plant, the Japanese Beetles are a bit too fond of them. I looked down and saw a turtle. Off I went to get the camera. Here it is under the steps leading up to the upper deck of the house. The turtle wandered off into the yard right after the picture was taken. Probably in the woods this morning.

 A few of the day lilies at the corner of the house in different stages of opening. These came from the Southwest Virginia Museum.

 The hydrangeas are really full of blue flowers this year.

The butterfly bushes are beginning to bloom. This is one of several along the front wall.

Mountain Morning

 It is the kind of morning that it looks like rain maybe coming. Then the sun burns away the cloud covers. A great day to spend some time in the studio, but the garden seems to sing a song calling me outside. Much like the poem, I meant to do my work today but all the world was calling me...

 The geranium and baby's breath looks out over the mountains.

 This garden lies right below the upper deck. The butterfly sculpture is surrounded by daisies and an abundance of other flowers.

The door to the art house has been painted a bright green. The hydrangea are a great color blue this year. The one next to the art house was a baby that had grown in the yard of my in-laws three years ago. We brought it home, planted it. Seems to enjoy the mountain weather.