another avocado activity.

if you need a break from guacamole, and you have an intense sweet tooth like myself, give this a try: avocado quick bread.

ingredients! see green squishy stuff, to the left.

two pans of more squishy green stuff!

finished bread. cozy cinnamon spice, moist cake-y inside.

andrew says: "it's delicious! and it's kinda green."

the little pitbull helps plant iris.

this past weekend, the little pitbull helped us put some iris rhizomes into the ground in the backyard!

her name is jane.

mom rescued the iris from a friend's yard, and now we have a crop of iris rhizome split between us. andrew and i decided to put ours in the backyard, in a pine-strawed natural area that was already there.

this is an iris rhizome.

this is the future iris patch!

jane is helping.

finishing touches!

baby iris. see you next spring!

i've never tried planting bulbs, but i would love to plant more. we'll see how this experiment turns out!

airlie gardens & the bottle chapel!

airlie's 400-year-old oak tree

i was super excited to have the opportunity to visit airlie gardens while in wilmington. i had heard of it, and driven past it when visiting eleanor's house, but had never gone inside - and neither had eleanor!

you can read about the history of airlie gardens on its site in more detail. basically, the land got its pick-me-up when the jones family moved to town. sarah jones worked with architect rudolf topel to create much of the garden that you can see today. in 1948, the corbett family bought the property to use as their residence,  and continued to care for the gardens up until 1999 when they sold it to the county. now the public may visit it almost everyday of the year and enjoy all that it has to offer!

here are some sneak peaks:

inside the butterfly house!

the pergola garden.

smelled like honeysuckle!

and the main attraction (for me anyway..): the bottle chapel! the chapel was made out of over 4000 colorful glass bottles, metal sculptures, and mosaics. it sits in the minnie evans sculpture garden, in which all the pieces were designed by area artists as a tribute to the late wilmington artist. i loved every inch of the chapel.

it's definitely worth the five dollars to visit airlie. bring your camera. and wear your sunscreen. (that last one is for you, cj.)

big fish.

i didn't even know the new hanover county aboretum existed until our recent trip down to wilmington. i'd heard of airlie gardens, with the glass bottle house, where people got their fancy bridal portraits taken and about which many magazine articles are written each year (and one blog post, coming soon..). but the aboretum? raleigh has one. chapel hill has one. but this my first trip to the aboretum in wilmington and i was really looking forward to it.

one of my favorite things about the aboretum was its abundance of brightly and uniquely colored foliage. the shades and varieties of coleus are so beautiful to me, and i appreciated the display that the aboretum had!

i also really liked the water garden. someday i will have one!

in the pond lived many large and hungry koi fish. eleanor and i bought some fish food for 25 cents from the vending machine and got to know the fish a bit better!

eleanor feedin our buddies!

there was also a japanese garden with a traditional japanese structure, and some delicate, colorful blooms that i could not walk by without photographing.

i felt so lucky and glad to have been introduced to the aboretum. it might not have the fame of airlie, but it has plenty to offer!

now, as i wrap this up, i'll return my focus to ewan macgregor and billy crudup in the real big fish. i haven't seen this movie in years. i've got my tissues. the ending is so wonderful it makes me cry.

photos of airlie soon!

bob: garden groundskeeper.

it's sinking in: i am no longer a full-time, 9-to-5, computer-and-desk job employee. it's also sinking in that i will no longer be receiving a regular paycheck. yikes.

in an attempt not to dwell on the scarier aspects of what lie ahead, i've just come back from a wonderful vacation with my friends at the beach, and i've got some cool things to share. my friend eleanor's parents live in wilmington, on the intercoastal waterway, in a beautiful house with a possibly even more beautiful yard.  i had the pleasure of staying there this past weekend and spend just about every afternoon on wrightsville beach swimming and reading. it was the jam.

in addition to the lush garden right outside the back door, we also visited the hanover county aboretum and airlie gardens. i am grateful for eleanor's patience while we visited these places: i took over 250 photos! every two feet there was something else to document, and i was so glad to have the opportunity to see everything.

today i've got some photos of the amazing retreat that is the yard of eleanor's house. seriously. i could live on the backporch with bob, the cat, who patrols the grounds. bob showed up a few years ago and, in return for some food, assists in yard maintenance and upkeep. he has the endearing habit of following you around the yard, and he finds great pleasure in bulldozing your face with his nose.

behold bob's kingdom:

view from the back porch.

after a beach rain shower.

and finally,  bob:

bob lurking.

bob stare-down.

tomorrow: the hanover county aboretum! complete with koi pond!

gym? or logan's?

today was my last full-time day at my job. it was anti-climatic, but now that i'm home and cozy on the couch, i feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. this is it: i am a full-time student. i am extremely stressed and stress-free at the same time, and it feels pretty good.

i left work around 3:30 with a bag stuffed with my laptop, some papers, and random odds and ends from my desk that i deemed valuable enough to save: two tubes of hand cream, some photos, and pens and highlighters among them. with a packed gym bag in the back seat, i set out to get a nice, end-of-the-week workout with potentially a yoga class before my vacation at the beach tomorrow got underway. but, as i approached the Y, i thought about the house.. the planter andrew had created from the old gas tank, and the void the poor gas tank felt due to the fact that it was plantless. so. i decided to forgo the gym. i took one for the team so that i could seek out the perfect plant to fill the emptiness in our lives. i went to logan's on the way home.

logan's is located near downtown raleigh, in the seaboard station shopping center. this place is my playground.

visit logan's online!

this is where andrew and i purchased our hydrangea, our shamrock, our hen & chicks and our basil. i had never visited logan's until this year, thanks to the thoughtful giftcard that andrew's mom gave me for christmas. since then, it's a treat every time i walk through the doors.

succulents! i can't get enough of succulents!

raleigh wolf at entry to logan's.

so, to celebrate my last day of work, and to also find a plant for the sad gas-container planter, i stopped by logan's instead of going to the gym to find a new houseplant. meet fern:

fern, at home in her new planter.

i feel terrible that i talked to the helpful woman at logan's today for a substantial amount of time, but I can't remember the exact type of fern that this is. ideas?

tomorrow i will leave for a vacation at wrightsville beach, so i'll be MIA for the next few days. i feel really good about that! however, i am very excited to have the opportunity to visit airlie gardens, in wilmington, while i am there. stay tuned for photos!

inspiration: literature!

last night andrew brought me two new books! it was such a thoughtful surprise. i am going to the beach with some girlfriends next week, and he wanted me to have some new things to read. i am very excited about both books.

the first is farm city by novella carpenter. ms carpenter moved to oakland and started a farm - in the abandoned lot right next to her house! the book has received great reviews and is full of anecdotes and advice, which i'm really looking forward to reading.

i also got chlorophyll in his veins by bobby j. ward, which is about nc state horticultural legend, j.c. raulston. the j.c. raulston aboretum is right around the corner it seems like, but i have yet to go. i'll make it my reward once i complete the book, perhaps..!

visit author bobby j. ward's website!

once i complete the books, i'll let you know how they were. time's runnin out 'fore all i'll be readin are dense textbooks!