A Collage to Live By

Want a fun, creative January task that requires kicking back with some magazines and a glue stick? Let’s make a dream collage of your outdoor space. As Bo Bennett puts it simply, “A dream collage is pictures of your goals. It is like your future photo album.”

Are you game? Besides the glue stick and those glossy images, all you’ll need is a large poster board and scissors. The rest is imagination and creativity. Now we don’t want to create nightmares so let’s keep within reality.

For an outdoor living space, think of it the same as you would decorating an interior room. This collage helps with color, texture, materials, furnishings and accent pieces. Once a vision is compiled, there is still a mathematical equation and it’s not just budgetary. You have to design the space. In many cases it requires measurements, grading and accounting for site-specific conditions. You can quickly determine if you have a do-it-yourself project in part or in whole or if consulting with a professional brings your vision to fruition.

So if you picture a beautiful outdoor living space, create your future photo album first. Start with a dream collage to solidify your outdoor goals. And remember, January is a great month to plan!

Image from the Internet

If you like this blog, remember to post and become a friend on our fan page at http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz (where there are even more shared tidbits) or subscribe on the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. Questions, comments or thoughts, contact me direct at annbilowz@gmail.com Happy Gardening. Annie

Reflection

The first wordless Wednesday image of 2012 mirrors best what this month of January symbolizes in our gardens and our lives – reflection. I chose a Ruth Stout quote to accompany today’s photo. “There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself.” Enjoy a reflective Wednesday despite the chilly air. Discover the beautiful moments in nature like these waiting for you to savor. P.S. That is a pond frozen over; not an asphalt road. It's January.

Image by Ann Bilowz

If you like this blog, remember to post and become a friend on our fan page at http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz (where there are even more shared tidbits) or subscribe on the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. Questions, comments or thoughts, contact me direct at annbilowz@gmail.com Happy Gardening. Annie

Time To Be Rearranging

With a winter chill in the air, it’s a perfect time to think ‘rearranging’. However, Richard Price’s words remind me on this first 2012 posting that “Writers spend three years rearranging 26 letters of the alphabet. It's enough to make you lose your mind day by day.” So rather than rearrange too many words today, here’s a simple tip about getting yourself in order for the upcoming planting season. Rearrange your seed drawer! Seeds kicking around the shed or basement, although dear to us, may not be good for another season. It’s like those cans that spin around in the lazy Susan way past its expiration date.

So while the colorful seed catalogs start to fill our garden in-box, allow the deep chilling days of January to fall under the word, ‘assessment’. First priority – rearrange that seed drawer. Whether you want to hold onto those packets for another year is entirely up to you but if you want a high yield rate, it’s best to start fresh. So thin out the herd a bit. There are nifty charts or expiration dates on the packet that spell out the ‘sell by date’ but if you want each seed to come through for you, start the New Year with a clean slate.

Images by Ann Bilowz

If you like this blog, remember to post and become a friend on our fan page at http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz (where there are even more shared tidbits) or subscribe on the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. Either way, we hope you follow the postings somewhere in cyberspace and share it with your gardening friends. Questions, comments or thoughts, contact me direct at annbilowz@gmail.com Happy Gardening. Annie