Happy Monday! I hope you’re tucked in safely at home and staying sane with our ‘new normal’ in these strange and unsettling times! We’re keeping busy at home with some ‘spring cleaning’ projects.
We’ve been doing to some garden clean up and spreading mulch around the Potting Shed but I took a little time out to a little tabletop fun with some spring bulbs and blooms.
I picked up some pots of spring bulbs at the garden center and have been anxiously awaiting the bloom!
To make a blooming centerpiece with bulbs, I lined a garden urn with a several layers of plastic grocery bags, for easy removal after the bulbs are spent.
Start by watering your flowering bulbs, allowing the excess water to drain and remove them from their plastic pots. I also removed some of the extra soil surrounding the roots of the bulbs to help them fit in the urn. After arranging the bulbs to your liking, cover the soil with moss. I used a combination of sheet and mood moss.
After the blooms fade, the bulbs can be planted in the garden and enjoyed next year.
I tucked in some birds, faux eggs and a bird nest to nestle among the bulbs on the moss.
Mini pots of muscari, commonly known as grape hyacinths, are a little slower to bloom. . . you can see the tops of the the purple blooms just starting to emerge in the center of the foliage.
Blue ceramic pots of grape hyacinths are served up on Devon Cottage plates by Johnson Brothers. . .
And jars of hyacinths and daffodils are blooming in Quattro Stagioni canning jars.
Blue and white vintage-inspired floral plates were a Pottery Barn find several years ago. . .
And birds of a feather flock together, with bird finials perched next to the plates and blooms on the window ledge.
Glasses are buzzing with bees in anticipation of garden season. . .
A pair of garden gloves hold a napkin and provide a pocket for flatware.
Details:
Bird Floral Salad Plates / Pottery Barn, several years ago
Dinner plates and blue salald plate / Johnson Brothers Devon Cottage
Bird finials and La Rochere Bee Glasses/ World Market, several years ago
Quattro Stagioni Jars/ T.J. Maxx, several years ago
Napkins / HomeGoods, several years ago
Wood chargers / Pier 1, several years ago
Fresh Flowers Sign / World Market, last year
Moss / Michaels & Hobby Lobby
Gloves, blue pots, garden tools / Target, several years ago
Eggs / Amazon
I plan to continue to share my usual blog posts of tables, flower and garden inspiration, DIYs, recipes and a little lake life, with hopes that they provide a positive and welcome distraction during these strange and unsettling times.
Stay safe in your nest. ♥
Thank you for your visit, sharing with:
Metamorphosis Monday
THANK YOU!! The post is spring loaded and I love those blue flower pots..luckily I picked up a pot of hyacinths on my last trip out and they are blooming now along with my little daffodils outside…would love to be doing yard and gardening but it’s still too cold and raining!!! But I’m doing inside stuff…and face timing with my kids!! Take care and keep the spring coming!! Please give Lola & Sophie a good stoke!! 🌼🐝🌻🌸🌹🌺💐🍄🌾🌳
I so appreciate your message this morning, calm and beautiful while still cautioning and teaching us how to be safe. We must all model good behavior in this crisis, which is also a test of the American resolve.
Hello Mary! Thank you for your continuing inspirational blogs. Just what is needed to pick our days up while we each move our days forward within our own homes during this troubling time. This to will pass! Be Positive! And thank goodness we can go outside and walk our yards and see what is popping up all over. Was outside for two hours yesterday, cleaning up the front yard and it felt soooo good. Everyone please be smart and safe and lets do our part to help those who are working hard on our behalf. Stay well Mary, you and yours!!
Blooming flowers out in the yard and some inside are helping me keep my spirits up. So easy to start those negative thoughts swirling around in my head! Today is a bit rainy here so I think I will use my time to start some heirloom tomatoes I found in last years saved seeds.Also might even tackle my kitchen pantry to see exactly what I have in stock. Thanks Mary for the lovely photos and wise advice. Kathy
Your beautiful displays and positive attitude are so appreciated! Who knew that the act of spreading mulch could be so welcoming to me? Please continue sharing your life and love with us and, as the little engine said, “I think I can, I THINK I CAN”.
Thank you! Your posts are always a bright spot but even more so now!
Thank you for your uplifting blue-inspired post, Mary! Pretty dishes, beautiful napkins, gorgeous blooming flowers, and even those about-to-bloom, line the grape hyacinths, give us cheer and hope. Lola and Sophie provided excellent advice, along with their cute picture. Thank you for taking the time to share and encourage us. We all need it, as we stay safe at home. 😘🤗
SO thankful to have your “Post!!” It’s like that “chat over the garden fence.” “We” are so fortunate to have a yard for diversion. I already have cabin “Cabin Fever.” franki
Mary, so nice to be invited into your potting shed on a day of pouring rain. The beautiful blooms are such a breath of spring, I can almost smell the heady fragrance of the hyacinths. I didn’t get to make a run to the garden center before being sheltered in at home. Fortunately there are some things blooming around our home. Stay healthy♥️
Thank you for extending your cheery, inspiring creativities with us during this distracting time. What a gift. Julie W.
Love the colorful spring bulbs in your beautiful urn with the cute birds and eggs! Your potting shed Spring setting is perfect. The daffodils blooming in the yards and hillsides renews the spirit. Lola & Sophie are just adorable. Hugs to the girls! Are you still finger knitting? Loved your wreath shared earlier & noticed more yarn. Hope to see any new projects as you always have wonderful ideas! I’m trying to make a Easter wreath but my creative juices aren’t flowing too well as I’m cooking more and tackling more challenging chores. I think it’s called exhaustion! Lol ;) I did make a St Patrick’s Day wreath with your tables as an inspiration.Thank you for sharing Mary! Stay safe! Clara ♥️
As always so beautiful and inspiring! My two great grandsons, 10 and 16, were arguing who was going to help me trim a tree before the leaves emerged. I finally had to tell the ten year old if I couldn’t reach them neither could he and that I would find a different job for him to do.
Looks like in the Lola and Sophie picture you might have another DIY project in mind. Thank you for all you do!
Thank you! I look forward to your posts and I’m so glad you are going to continue. . You bring joy to your followers. Stay well.🌷❤
Such a beautiful spring tablesetting. I love how you used the garden gloves for the napkins and silverware. Love the floral centerpiece. It brighten my day!
Here in Michigan we woke up to snow. Very pretty, but your post brings hope that spring is coming and brings joy during these crazy times in this world. God Bless!
Thank you for the calming beauty, it’s a harsh reality, thank heavens for the gardens respite. One day at a time~
Thank you Mary!!! Love the pictures. It is nice to be normal for just a minute. xoxo
Such an inspirational blog! Especially now that we are ‘under house arrest’. I don’t know which I enjoyed more… the blog itself or the comments! Thank you for this wonderful start to the day!
Thank you for brightening my morning once again! Here in the PNW my husband & I have used our lovely spring weather to clean up the gardens & absorb the warmth of the sun. Rain today & throughout the week…I am still working (in home senior caregiver) and checking in on my 85 yr old mom. Grateful for modern technology to stay in touch with our granddaughters and friends. We expect our governor to place severe restrictions today & feel that it’s necessary as folks are still congregating out & about. Blessings for safety and good health to all. Please keep your lovely spring posts coming…we all are in need of flower therapy in these uncertain times.
Can I say this? I MISS HOME GOODS!
Your posts are definitely a welcome distraction. This is so pretty!
Thanks for the day brightener. Always enjoy your posts Mary!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for continuing to post! I am craving normalcy and this post satisfied that craving a little. I think I’ll go to the Garden Shop. I’m sure they could use the business. And I could use the beauty!
Just beautiful, thanks for sharing. Stay safe and well.
I am smiling picturing you happily playing in your potting shed and garden Mary, and what a delightful table you have created! Nothing announces the arrival of Spring better than blooming flower bulbs and eggs! Ignoring the obvious disadvantages and inconvenience of having to stay home, it’s really quite nice to know there is no where you have to be, and you can truly enjoy some down time. I was lucky enough to escape to the beach a few days ago, and might never leave…it is so peaceful and beautiful here, like nothing is going on at all… Once again Sophie and Lola are stealing the show 💕🐾🐾
Jenna
Ah, Mary. You know you do a fabulous SERVICE to our blogging community. Thank you for the gorgeous posts, and blue and white is always my favorite. We have 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground today—so your Southern hospitality, is so warmly welcomed. Hugs, and thanks, again!
Always look forward to your blog posts and of course seeing Lola and Sophie. Keep us smiling and stay safe. From Washington State to your neck of the woods!
A nice, happy post Mary! Lovin’ your jars with the bees on them:@) Cold and rainy here today, take care!
Thank you Mary and to your assistant stylists Lola and Sophie. A last but not least shout out to your husband for the heavy lifting.
Take care all.
PRETTY PRETTY SPRING DECORATING IN THE POTTING SHED! So uplifting! We’ve had 3 deaths in family since Christmas and now this Covid-19…..I keep praying and know GOD is in control. Keeping the Faith.
Loved visiting your potting shed it did not disappoint for sure.
Glad you and hubby were able to start the garden prep which
Not always is the fun part but the bounty is produces and the
Ascetics it lends is worth the blisters!!!
Thank you for doing your part in our battle by staying quarantined
And holding fast to your faith…it works!
God Bless you both.
Thank you for spreading beauty and joy. I just love you . . . have a blessed time working in your garden and give your little girls a scratch behind their ears . . . and a warm greeting to your hard-working hubby.
Mary, Thanks for your always beautiful posts! I was surprised with the blue theme. It is lovely and is the Pantone color. I really liked your springtime garden in the urn with birdies peeking through. I live in Georgia, so my narcissus and daffodils are blooming in our little courtyard garden. Your posts bring delight and make me smile. Thank you for posting the information about what we can do to keep people safe and numbers down in our hospitals! So important! I have a daughter who’s a nurse. Take care and thanks for keeping calm and carrying on with your lovely blogs!
Thank you for your creative and lovely distraction from this anxiety and fear. I love all the blue and pictures of Lola and Sophie are icing the cake! I agree with Gail – I miss Home Goods! Peace to all.
Absolutely beautiful. So love everything you do! The blues really call my name. Thanks for the positivity!
Thank you so much for this beautiful respite from the troubling news😊 now more than ever we need to make our homes a place of beauty & peace from the madness going on around us
~Mary~
We are so Blessed by your beautiful creations, and I am sure you are as Beautiful !!
Thank you for all you share it is so up lifting !
Stay well !! xoxo
Paula
IN
Dear Mary, thank you for the lovely post today. It certainly brightened a dreary day in NE North Carolina. Yes! We left our little nest in Florida Sunday morning. A month earlier than normal. I had potted some hyacinths and left them for my sweet neighbor, she is crazy for blue and white. We were delighted to arrive with spring in full bloom here, camellias still in bloom azaleas, dogwood and a few daffodils waited around for our return. Since we are under house arrest I guess I will get a an early start in my garden this year. Stay safe!
So inspiring! Thank you for your continued posts of beautiful decorating and gardening. It’s a bit of sunshine during this trying time and I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your thoughtfulness❤
So good to see the your garden shed again and that she is all ready for spring with the pretty blue and white plates /chargers and cheery spring flowers. Love it! Last week I was able to start raking the gravel out of the ditch that the road grader always leaves behind, but it felt good to be getting a jump start this early in March. This week our temps get close to 50 so I’ll be out in my shed putzing and having a good time. Wish I had thought ahead to buy some flowers, but since I didn’t, I’ll enjoy yours. Thanks for the good cheer Mary! Saw a sign in front of a church today that said, “wash and pray”, I thought that’s great advice. Stay calm and garden on! 🥀🌾
Please continue with your blogs. They brighten these troubling days. Happy to see L&S again. Stay well
What a lovely nest you have! Your blooms are just what I needed. I have not been to the stores to purchase any of my favorite blooms… but soon the bougenvilla will be blooming. I can cut them and bring them inside. And faux flowers always bring me joy!
Thank you for your calming thoughts and message. We will get through this.
Stay safe my friends! Hugs to All!
Thanks for a lovely start to my day! How nice you had the foresight to get some bulbs and actually plant them. I have a package not planted! And I am yearning to go to Lowes and buy some annuals and my husband will not let me. So we are doing our part staying at home! I am actually enjoying not having to be dressed and out and about! I am getting some projects in the house done and am not online as much. It is a blessing when I can view though. What would we do without it during these times! Thankful for telephones, TV, internet, and electricity! Also grateful for all those working tirelessly to bring this virus to an end. They have to be exhausted.
Sophie and Lola look great with blue accents.
Don’t work too hard unloading all your mulch!
Thank you so much! This brightened my day! Take care and keep posting!!!!
Once again, you have brought so much ‘happy happy’ to my life…going outside to enjoy the milder weather and plant a few beautiful flowers given to me by my daughter. Stay safe and well…
I love this! I am a blue and white lover anyway. Thank you for always putting so much effort in presenting such a pleasurable blog for us to enjoy. Have a wonderful Spring!
Mary, I found your blog looking for pictures of Tablescapes. I am stricken!!! Every post is just beautiful and full of things that are helpful and inspiring. Also, I want to own at least (“at Least”, now) two things every time I read one. Your photos are beautiful along with everything in them. Thank you for sharing your ideas and creativity with me! One question: Why can I not find the date on your posts? Maybe I’m missing it, but I feel sort of lost looking at them when I get a few in and can’t figure out when it was posted. I really don’t think the date matters that much, because your posts are pretty classic and timeless to me. But, it would be helpful to know when I see something I want to get myself how likely it is I can still find something you’ve used. Keep up the excellent work!!! Sincerely, Deanna
Beautiful display :) Spring is well and truly on its way and let’s hope it brings better times ahead.
You have the cutest stuff! And a real talent for display. This was such a relaxing moment in an otherwise fretful day. Thanks for providing that.
I always enjoy your posts – thank you for keeping them coming during this difficult time. And thank you for your comments regarding staying safe during the corona virus outbreak and how gardening is a wonderful stress reliever. I chuckled when I saw the truck full of compost….looks familiar. It’s a great time to work in your yard or garden on projects or in your home or both.
Your potting shed posts always make me so happy! Thanks for always sharing your talents.
Where do you find the garden gloves? You use them so often and I love the idea. You inspire me in so many ways….gardening, recipes, how tos, flower arranging. The list goes on and on. Thanks for all your sharing. Can’t wait to see what you will do next. BTW…how can I tell Lola and Sophie apart? Annie