Japanese Garden, Garden Conservancy, NJ

As this blog seems to be "All Gardens, All the Time," I'm just popping in today to show you the rest of the garden from my previous post. As you can see, it is a shade garden with some Japanese influences -- quite different from the English borders near the house. And it is a beautiful sight on a hot summer's day.

My husband and I spent a wonderful weekend up in Connecticut, and I have some fabulous pictures to show you. In fact, I took so many pictures that my right hand is sore from holding my camera! I will be back on Friday to share my special treat with you all. ;)

Mosaic Monday: More Open Gardens

I have visited so many open gardens this year, and I am way behind on showing you all of them. I visited this particular garden a few weeks ago, as part of The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program.

This particular garden was attached to a low, mid-century modern type home, surrounded by a woodland garden with a Japanese flavor. However, parts of the garden were much more English in style, as you can see in these photos. Boxwood hedges framed beds in the kitchen garden, and roses and clematis spilled over a central paved pathway.

I will try to show you the woodland and bog gardens later in the week. I will also have a fabulous treat for you, so stay tuned!

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful images with all of us at Mosaic Monday!  

1.	ellen b	26.	genie~ va~usa	51.	Pixel Dust Photo Art
2.	Lavender Dreamer	27.	Sweet Nothings	52.	Crafty Gardener, Canada
3.	Bailiwick Studio	28.	Jann @ Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson	53.	ORKiDE
4.	Carol @ There's Always Thyme to Cook	29.	amy of four corners design	54.	Cindy@Chalk it up!
5.	Blessing Reflections	30.	Art and Alfalfa, Gina	55.	QMM
6.	Eileen, MD	31.	Dwellings-The Heart of Your Home	56.	Puna@LifeSignatures
7.	Bernie in Australia	32.	Katalin	57.	LindyLouMac
8.	Betty @ My Cozy Corner	33.	Art of RetroCollage w/Linky	58.	eye of the beholder
9.	{oc cottage}	34.	Riet	59.	Suzy@Kitchen Bouquet
10.	A Garden of Threads	35.	Teacup-In-The-Garden	60.	Cass at That Old House
11.	Black Eyed Susans Kitchen	36.	Suzy	61.	FABBY: I Pledge Allegiance
12.	Cathy	37.	glenda@Serendipity Cottage	62.	Emily @ Elliott Crafty Creations
13.	Vee	38.	Claudia	63.	Cucumber Dill Soup
14.	Ingmarie We/Refugium	39.	M is for Maga	64.	My Garden & Me
15.	Snap @ Twisty Lane	40.	Garden Geek	65.	Nicole
16.	Rajesh, India	41.	Jackie in Surrey UK	66.	Cathy
17.	GardeninginaSandbox	42.	Molly @ A Bit O' Shine	67.	Tattered Rebel
18.	Pondside-Sibling Rivalry	43.	Normandy Life	68.	Emily
19.	Pat ~ Mille Fiori Favoriti	44.	greet	69.	Porch Days
20.	ldh ~ Daylily from a friend	45.	Peaches and Cream Bride	70.	rosie@travel-i-tales
21.	Becky	46.	Milla	71.	Patricia
22.	Lorrie	47.	Leckeres für Mensch und Katze	72.	I LoVe Summer !
23.	Lavender Cottage	48.	Our CATS	73.	My Dreams About Fairies
24.	A New England Life	49.	Project Bag - D I Y
25.	Teacup Lane - Celebrating America	50.	Dani, greece

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Garden Shed

Last week I went on a local garden tour sponsored by The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills. There were some beautiful gardens to see, which I will probably post about next week, but first I thought I would show you this wonderful garden shed.

Wouldn't you love to sit at this bench and look out the window while potting up some seedlings?

I just love the charming mixture of pretty and practical!

And the outside is just as adorable as the inside. :)

So, next week there will be more gardening posts. Hope you don't mind, but I've been to a lot of open gardens this month, and I've got tons of pictures to share with you.

Mosaic Monday: Happy Father's Day

Please forgive the quality of this last image. It was scanned from an old photo that my sister-in-law took on Block Island, probably the summer of 1992.

For my dear husband, the love of my life, the best father my children could ever have, and the one who always takes point on our hikes ~

Happy Father's Day!

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful images with all of us at Mosaic Monday!  

1.	Nicole	24.	Black Eyed Susans Kitchen	47.	Sueb Flowers After The Rain
2.	Getting Healthy!	25.	A Garden of Threads	48.	Crafty Gardener, Canada
3.	Lavender Dreams	26.	Anemones @ Almota Roses	49.	amy of four corners design
4.	Podso	27.	Teacup Lane - Blue Doors	50.	Blessing Reflections
5.	Cathy	28.	Claudia@DipityRoad	51.	Puna@LifeSignatures
6.	ellen b	29.	Art of RetroCollage w/Linky	52.	Life Images by Jill
7.	Snap @ Twisty Lane	30.	Lavender Cottage	53.	The enchanted home
8.	Hyacinths for the Soul	31.	Katalin	54.	Eye of the Beholder
9.	GardeninginaSandbox	32.	Bernie in Australia	55.	QMM
10.	Eileen, Md	33.	The French Tangerine	56.	Garden Mosaics/A Southerners Notebook
11.	Heather	34.	Judy	57.	Jill Ruth
12.	Cass at That Old House	35.	Some Alpine flowers	58.	Garden Accessories
13.	Pondside - A Celebration	36.	Jackie in Surrey UK	59.	Richard Cottrell
14.	Pixel Dust Photo Art	37.	fairchild street	60.	AnnA, Sweden
15.	Missy	38.	Teacup-In-The-Garden	61.	That Country Place
16.	Carol @ There's Always Thyme to Cook	39.	Cricket	62.	A Musing Potpourri
17.	My Place to Yours	40.	glenda	63.	genie~va~usa
18.	Art and Alfalfa, Gina	41.	Leckeres für Mensch und Katze	64.	Stokes Aster
19.	St. Paul de Vence	42.	Riet, Holland	65.	Porch Days
20.	Carol@ My Painting Room	43.	Tattered Rebel	66.	Sall's Country Life
21.	Pickled Green Cherry Tomatoes	44.	Francisca in Romania	67.	rainy days of summer
22.	Pat ~ Mille Fiori Favoriti	45.	Ingmarie We/Refugium
23.	Becky	46.	My Bodoir ~ Episode one

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

My Heart is Heavy

How can you miss someone you've never met? How can your heart break when you read of her death?

I'm not sure what led me to visit Char's blog for the first time on my birthday, two years ago, but I do know that it was like an unexpected gift to discover her beautiful images. She inspired me to learn how to add textures to a photo, and she was generous with words of encouragement at my first, horrible attempts.

Occasionally sharp, often introspective, always well-written, hers was an authentic voice chronicling a life that at times seemed very hard. But her posts were larded with humor as well, and leavened with the real joy she found in her friends and family.

If you read Char, you will know that she could make your mouth water with her Southern cooking. She could make your heart sing with joy at the sight of a sunset. She made this Yankee an unofficial daughter of the South on her drives down the back roads of Alabama, in search of something beautiful to photograph. But the images that I will always remember the best are of her windowsill -- a few simple flowers in one of her beloved antique glass bottles.

I will miss her ipod playlists, which often left a song stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Fortunately, it was usually a good song -- her taste in music was extensive and catholic. I will miss her often acerbic wit -- sometimes directed at the foibles of her fellow man, but just as often targeted at her own self-perceived shortcomings. I will miss her laughter. I will miss her honesty. I will miss her voice in my head -- a low, Southern drawl with a hint of steel behind it.

As several bloggers have noted, she is most assuredly now in heaven with her beloved mother. I extend to her family my deepest sympathies. She will be missed by so many.

Garden Conservancy Open Days, NJ

I thought I would share some more photos of the beautiful garden that I visited this past Saturday, as a part of The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program. I love the mixture of formal garden rooms and more natural areas.

There was a wonderful potager which was enclosed by a white picket fence and included raised beds, a rose-covered trellis, and a central water feature. Tomatoes were trained on a pair of white trellises, and the garden included plants that are both ornamental and edible, such as chives and artichokes.

Overlooking the potager, tucked into a small clearing in the trees, was a sweet little table and chairs, surrounded by some lovely potted specimens. It was the perfect place to enjoy dinner on a cool evening.

I loved the use of garden ornaments here, such as the beautiful stone and iron central feature in one of the formal garden rooms, and the charming porcelain birdhouse hanging from a tree outside the potager. I think that the inclusion of these ornaments helps to give the formal bones of the garden a human touch.

I hope you are enjoying the virtual garden visits. I still have to share photos of the second garden I visited last weekend. I guess it's Garden Week here at Little Red House. :)

Mosaic Monday: The Garden Conservancy

On Saturday, I visited two gardens close to my home that were opened as part of the Garden Conservancy Open Days Program. This is a wonderful program that opens private gardens across the country for a small fee, gaining funds to use towards the preservation of "exceptional American gardens for the education and enjoyment of the public."

This is the first of the gardens I visited. It is set on a steep hillside, with a formal knot garden near the back of the house, a white-fenced potager, and beautiful naturalized plantings following the curve of the hill. The owner first became interested in gardening when she retired. She is now a Master Gardener, and active on the board of a local arboretum. Her garden is filled with beautiful plant combinations, using colors, textures and leaves to create wonderful vistas.

If you are interested in visiting gardens in your area, do check out the Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program.

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful images with all of us at Mosaic Monday!  

1.	Agni, Greece	32.	That Country Place	63.	Maggie @ Normandy Life
2.	AnnA, Sweden	33.	Pixel Dust Photo Art	64.	Puna@LifeSignatures
3.	QMM	34.	Susan @ Savoring Time in the Kitchen	65.	Dawn Treader Sweden
4.	Rajesh, India	35.	Katalin	66.	linda
5.	Snap @ Twisty Lane	36.	Our Country Home	67.	Project Bag
6.	Lavender Dreams	37.	{oc cottage}	68.	Project Bag 1
7.	St. Augustine	38.	Becky	69.	Project Bag 2
8.	Eileen, MD	39.	The French Tangerine	70.	Project Bag 3
9.	Bailiwick Studio	40.	Muhammad Khabbab	71.	The enchanted home
10.	Sweet Nothings	41.	Ahhh, June	72.	Veronica
11.	Podso	42.	ahhhh, June	73.	Patricia
12.	Pondside	43.	Nelly's spring show	74.	Jill Ruth
13.	genie~va~usa	44.	Cindy@Chalk it up!	75.	THe French Hutch ~ SUMMER SPRUCE UP
14.	Home is Where the Boat is~	45.	Jann @ Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson	76.	Garden Bench
15.	Carol @ There's Always Thyme to Cook	46.	Pheno Menon	77.	Cass at That Old House
16.	Meri @ Playing Along	47.	ellen b	78.	Sylvia's Simple Life
17.	Art and Alfalfa, Gina	48.	Milla	79.	Suzy
18.	GardeninginaSandbox	49.	Fishtail Cottage	80.	Secret @ AlmotaRoses
19.	Lavender Cottage	50.	Life Images by Jill	81.	The Garden Room by Mark
20.	Vee~A Haven for Vee	51.	Lorrie	82.	Flowerbed
21.	Cathy	52.	Teacup-In-The-Garden	83.	The Gardening Life
22.	Shirley Behind The Lens	53.	RobinfromCA	84.	Kathy
23.	A Garden of Threads	54.	Shopping Buddy	85.	Kathy@ A Tiny Cottage on Grand
24.	Pat ~ Mille Fiori Favoriti	55.	Leckeres für Mensch und Katze	86.	Touch of beauty
25.	Tes @ The Craftista	56.	Donna's Designs	87.	Faces
26.	A Vermont Girl	57.	DashingSmiles	88.	Porch Days
27.	Blessing Reflections	58.	Bernie in Australia	89.	Art in the Garden Party
28.	Candy @ The Little Round Table	59.	Crafty Gardener, Canada	90.	Ann
29.	Pat@Back Porch Musings	60.	Kathy-Delightsome Life	91.	Hyacinths for the Soul
30.	Wandering Thought	61.	Art@Home Summer Reading List	92.	Janie @ Romantic Domestic
31.	Diann @ The Thrifty Groove	62.	amy of four corners design	93.	Frog

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Heat Wave

Beautiful chartreuse Lady's Mantle,

plus a rummage sale find,

and a little romance...

creates a cool tableau...

on a very hot day. :)

It's in the 90's here. How's the weather where you live?

Mosaic Monday: Chinese Dogwood

"To see a hillside white with dogwood bloom is to know a particular ecstasy of beauty..."

~Hal Borland

I have had such a difficult time with writer's block lately. Actually, writing has always been secondary to the pictures for me. But lately, I am totally blocked -- nothing to write about, and often, nothing to post about, period.

I feel like the most boring person on earth.

So, I apologize profusely, but here are some pictures of the Chinese dogwood blossoms from our front yard here at Little Red House. I've styled them with a small silver-plated creamer from the thrift store and some of my favorite antique books. Somehow, books and flowers seem to go together, if only because they are two of my most favorite things.

(Can you tell I'm reaching here?) ;)

Have a wonderful week, dear bloggers!

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful images with all of us at Mosaic Monday!  

1.	Ingmarie We/Refugium	25.	Larkspur - Carolina Mts	49.	Sueb
2.	Black Eyed Susans Kitchen	26.	New Dawn	50.	Project Bag
3.	Candy @ The Little Round Table	27.	Betty@My Cozy Corner	51.	CORNER
4.	Home is Where the Boat is~	28.	Susan @ Savoring Time in the Kitchen	52.	Dani
5.	Shell Seekers Delight	29.	Pamela ~ apple blossom time	53.	Bhupesh
6.	ellen b.	30.	A Garden of Threads	54.	Terri@Lakewood Manor
7.	Eileen, Md	31.	FABBY: Family Room Artwork	55.	Milla
8.	GardeninginaSandbox	32.	Katalin	56.	Sweet Surrender- my first mosaic
9.	Lavender Cottage	33.	Lorrie	57.	Wandering Thought
10.	Snap @ Twisty Lane	34.	Splenderosa	58.	Blessing Reflections
11.	QMM	35.	Garden Whites	59.	Dawn Treader Sweden
12.	Carol @ There's Always Thyme to Cook	36.	Art and Alfalfa, Gina	60.	Leckeres für Mensch und Katze
13.	Vee	37.	Dew Drops	61.	Kathy-Delightsome Life
14.	Crafty Gardener, Canada	38.	That Country Place	62.	Marty@A Stroll Thru Life
15.	genie~va~usa	39.	Art and Alfalfa, Gina	63.	Bess @ Fixing My Thoughts
16.	Cathy	40.	Teacup In The Garden	64.	AnnA, Sweden
17.	The Simple Things	41.	Pondside-They Should Have Asked	65.	linda
18.	Karie's Pansy Bouquet	42.	mainly green	66.	Ilse aka Blue-Bird
19.	Fox Hunt	43.	Suzy	67.	What's GROWING!
20.	Teacup Lane - Blue Homes	44.	T-Tablescape	68.	Patricia
21.	Diann @ The Thrifty Groove	45.	Pheno Menon	69.	Barbara Rosenzweig
22.	Our Country Home	46.	Molly @ A Bit O' Shine	70.	To Shine, or Not to Shine...
23.	Dab of This and That	47.	Jackie in Surrey UK
24.	{oc cottage}	48.	Garden Angel

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

En Plein Air

After one of the harshest winters on record, we have been practically living on the deck this spring. I love to drag out all the pillows and linens and crystal, and take our meals amid the flowers.

Even the simplest of meals becomes special when you make up a pretty tray and sit in the fresh air.

And oh, how I love these cute little purple pansies. I know they will soon wilt in the heat we are getting here, but I will enjoy them while I can.

A Waterford jam jar, linen napkin, monogrammed silver spoon and beautiful hand-painted plate are all served up on a green tole tray.

And a small bouquet of peonies, baptisia, spirea and foxglove from my garden make the meal special. Breakfast, en plein air. :)