AND THE WINNER IS....

Congratulations to Cora of Heartfelt and Homemade!

You have won a copy of Waterside Cottages.

Thank you to everyone who entered and keep visiting because I'll be running a contest of my own later this season. Hint: my giveaway will be a signed copy of Fabulous Fifi's Romantic Prairie Style.

A big hug and thank you Lidy at French Garden House for the chance to share my story and get to know your fabulous fans!

For the next few weeks, I am going to share some sensational photos that I have in my "Future Blog Posts" folders.

Knitters have a term--STASH-- for yarn that piles up in your closets. It's all wonderful yarn, of course, and when you got it you planned to make something wonderful with it. Now, alas, you've moved on, and the yarn just sits there.

I'm a serious knitter but have always tried to resist developing STASH.

While I've done a pretty good job of keeping my closets clear and free (okay, there ARE a few shopping bags tucked into a corner or two...), I've not done nearly as well with Blog Photos.

I've got hundreds on my computer (organized in neat little folders) that never got into blog posts yet.

I spent this week looking over my PHOTO STASH. Most are too good not to share. Some never got used because they didn't relate to Coastal Decorating. Others languished because life moves so fast that they missed their chance before I moved on to other posts.

I've organized my photo folders into themes and come up with a plan on how to showcase the best of the best.

SO expect the unexpected as I spring clean my photo files. Hold on to your hat, it's going to be a wild ride.


SPRING BULBS: At this time of year, I crave flowers. And the flowers that are coming up in my garden are my Fall bulbs. These gorgeous Spring bouquets, courtesy of the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center, all started with papery skinned, onion-like bulbs that are planted in Fall but bloom in spring.

Each year when my hyacinths, daffodils, tulips and small bulbs bloom, I take photos. That way when the bulb catalogs start popping up in my mailbox, I can remember where there were blank spots that need filling in.

The deer, squirrels, chipmunks and even my own chickens are hard on bulbs. That's why I grow so many daffodils. Everyone loves to nibble on tulips but no one disturbs my daffs!

BOOK GIVEAWAY

I love March!

It means the end of winter and the beginning of flower season in Virginia.

The month is barely 6 days old and the first Tête a Tête daffodils and tiny iris reticulata have already opened in my garden.

In 1992, when I planted a handful of Tête a Tête bulbs, they were a novelty-- and very expensive. Now, these early-blooming mini daffodils are one of the most popular daffodils in America. You can buy pots of ready-to-bloom Tête a Tête are for sale at my local grocery store. This March, I estimate that nearly 200 of these cheery little dafs will appear in my yard.

This year, there is another reason I love March... Lidy at French Garden House has posted an interview with me on her beautiful blog.In the interview, I've shared my Five Favorite Tips For Decorating Coastal Style, shared advice to folks who want to become writers and explained how I got interested in Waterside Cottages.

Dan Mayers contributed a dozen of his marvelous Waterside photos to the blog post, too.
Lidy is also holding a Book Giveaway. You can enter to win a copy of my book Waterside Cottages, but you'd better hurry. A winner will be chosen on March 8th (my son's birthday!)
There are several ways to enter and additional ones for improving your chances of winning.

Just click on the photo at the right to enter.

FAREWELL TO APRIL

April is my favorite month. I wait for it all year and now it’s over.

Photo courtesy of the Netherlands Flowerbulb Centre (www.bulb.com)

In Virginia, April is when gardens burst into bloom and birds reappear.(birdhouse by Ruth Welter, www.artfulcreations.biz)

I rush out first thing in the morning to see what’s new and I check again at dusk.
Things happen fast in April.

The weather is usually pleasant and the bugs haven’t arrived yet.
Soon it will be hot and humid and gardening will become a chore. Growing June's fresh veggies is hard work. Watching April’s tree peonies bloom is bliss.


This week, after finishing a story for Custom Wood Homes about an amazing house on a Wyoming ranch, I've turned my attention back to launching my new Waterside web site.

It should be up and running within a week and you will be able to pre-order autographed copies of Waterside Cottages on the site.I checked Amazon and saw that they listed the book’s cover price as $24.99 and their discount price as $16.49. Since the blad lists the price as $30 (not $24.99), I called Kim, the sales coordinator at Gibbs Smith, to ask which was correct.

Alas, it’s the $30 price. (Kim was glad I caught the mistake and was going to call Amazon.)

Even with my author's discount and wholesale price, I’m not sure that I will be able to match Amazon’s price. Dan suggested that I order them in bulk from Amazon to autograph and resell, but with mailing envelopes and postage, my web price would still be slightly higher.

I promise to sell the book for less than $30, so stay tuned.

My new web site will feature fun themed slide shows,

decorating features,(Photo courtesy of Jaima Brown)

home tours,
must-see destinations,
cottage craft projects,beachy recipes, and great stuff to buy.

I’ll let you know the launch date soon. The Book Blog will continue to feature posts on decorating, gardening, ramblings and my next book project.

I'll also be posting Waterside Cottages: Behind The Scenes-- a chapter-by-chapter look at the stories and photos that didn't fit in or didn't belong in the book.

*** BLOG DU JOUR ***

If you love starfish and other underwater oddities visit Echinoblog. Don’t expect decorating ideas. You’ll find photos worthy of National Geographic and posts that rival a chills-and-thrills adventure series here.

DOUBLE DELIGHT

Deer, squirrels and rabbits love to snack on crocus and tulips.
Daffodils however aren’t on anyone’s menu.

Every Fall after viewing the latest offerings from Dutch bulb importers, I add more varieties of these spring-flowering gems to my garden.

(Multi-flowering Geranium daffodils)

Last Autumn I planted about 60 double-flowering types.

(Ice King)

This week, the flowers burst open with spectacular results.

(Tahiti)

(A few are mysteries. This beauty is neither pink enough to be Replete nor orange enough to be Orangerie but it's lovely.)

(Blonde Beauty is my favorite. It looks perfect in the garden or in a vase)

Not every one of the varieties I ordered looked exactly like its catalog photo, but all added visual diversity to my garden.

(This split corona one doesn't look like any I ordered but it's gorgeous)

One of my favorite new additions is 'Decoy'. It isn't a double but its dark red-orange trumpet color is striking!

I’m not the only one enjoying the garden. Yesterday, I had a party for my mom’s 91st birthday.
The weather was lovely and we spent time outside. Instead of pin the tail on the donkey, we played can you find the asparagus. Winners got to pick their own.

The girls are happy campers, too.
They love picking insects out of the creeping phlox!

MARCH MADNESS

Last Monday I stood on my porch staring at my garden. It was blanketed in about 8-inches of snow. This morning, one week later, I stood in the same spot admiring the daffodils.
The bluebirds and robin red breasts are back and my buddy the chipmunk came to visit, too.

Although many people make New Years resolutions, I prefer to make Garden Resolutions. My resolutions are part “To Do” list, part wish list and part cast-iron five-year plan.

In 2006, I began gardening with the goal of making the flowerbeds look great in mid April. I wanted to make a garden party for my mother’s 90th birthday in April 2008.

For two years, I planned, planted and pruned diligently with mid-April in mind. You can check out last April’s blog posts to see how my handiwork turned out.


This winter, I started thinking about what’s next...

Better paths and late season bloom topped my list but gardening on the cheap also ranked high.

I also plan to grow more veggies and be more diligent fighting the crows for my fair share of the produce.

So far, all that I’ve done is a bit of garden clean up and mulching. (Disclaimer: in order to spend more time on clean up and less on photographing the garden, the photos above are from past years in March, sorry folks.)

Other garden tasks will have to wait until next weekend. I’m off to NYC in the morning. While I’m away, please visit today’s blog du jour.

*** BLOG DU JOUR ***

Photo by Susan Donley

Rose gardener extraordinaire, Carolyn Parker always features really useful info and gorgeous photos on her website, Roses From A to Z. Now she has a blog called Rose Notes.

One of her first posts is titled RECYCLED ROSES and features gorgeous paper roses fashioned from interior design and gardening magazines.

It’s a must read!

THE BLUE BIRD OF HAPPINESS

Until I moved to South, I had never seen a “real” bluebird. In NYC we had loud squawking blue jays galore but not bluebirds.

The first time I saw a true blue bird in my Virginia backyard, I was so delighted by their vivid turquoise color that I understood why they are knicknamed the “bluebirds of happiness.”

Each spring I impatiently await their arrival. This year, they arrived in my garden on April 10th.

Thanks to Sherri at Antique Paperie, I can now watch bluebirds all year long. Check out her amazing gift tags and other vintage goods at www.antiquepaperie.com.


THE MYSTERY PROJECT UPDATE
We are now working on Part 3 (the final section) of the book. There are 21 chapters. Two are done and the third nearly so.
Posts may be sporadic for a while, while I burn the midnight oil.

A NEW VIEW
As promised, here are some of Ian’s photos.

I included ones taken at my house, as well as a few others that show his unique perspective on the world at large.

Close-ups are one of his specialties.
I admire how he waits patiently to get the shot he wants.

Like a cat...

Watching a goldfishHe knows when the moment is right.I love columns and his photo of these three is fabulous.


Ian takes summer fun to new heights.
Marshmallows any one?
He turns seed pods into a graphic design.
Butterflies, too.

Even the forest floor takes on a new look.
Chocolate, one of my friendliest feathered friends, was fascinated by Ian


If you’d like to contact Ian about the rights to any of the shots shown here -- or to see more of his work -- you can write him at veritas718@gmail.com.