A while back in time, and eye sore happened in the garden, right outside of the little gallery building. It was because of an electrical upgrade, that our tiny vintage box with one handle (scary), had to turn into a proper huge large giant electrical box (yay safety). I hadn't been able to see the last one, but boy oh boy could I see this one.
Months and months, and more months went by as I wondered what to do with the metal lemons into lemonade box.
It will come to me, I thought.
I was going to paint a mural on it. But, wasn't so convinced about that.
So, I kept waiting.
Knowing it would come to me someday.
Then, one day last week, it did hit me…
Actually, it hit me when the hollyhocks began to bloom just the other day.
You see, I planted about 500 hollyhock seeds 2 years ago.
Back then, when I planted them, they sprouted and began to grow very slowly (biennials).
Then rabbits came in a mowed them down.
Gobbled up in one night.
Just like that.
But, a few were able to be saved by me.
I covered them with birdcages, and other cages I made with waffle wire.
I protected them, watered them.
I saved them from a huge wave of caterpillars eating all the leaves up, and thousands of their black eggs.
Eeeeieghwee.
And then, it was another year, another spring, and they began to grow tall and bloom in the now.
2 years waiting.
All of a sudden, I knew what to do with the electrical box.
The hollyhocks made me feel like I was in my own floral shop forest…
Soooooo…
I asked Mister Lovee to bring home some Rust-Oleum chalkboard spray paint.
And he did.
I cracked opened the can, spray painted, and never looked back.
I loved my decision right away.
Now I have a little place to write in the garden.
I'm smitten!!
The paint lets the chalk write so easily, like butter.
I so recommend it.
(oopsie, missed a "u" in bouquet)
Must thank the hollyhocks for chalk board inspiration for certain.
Thank you fluttery papery beauties!!
😉
Hollyhock love.
I don't know how I will ever be able to live without a hollyhock in the garden.
All it took to save them from the caterpillar invasion was spraying with dish soap water mixed into a spray bottle.
There are seemingly two kinds of flowers on these stalks. Some stalks have single flowers, and others have ruffled flowers. It is all so exciting and inspiring to me in some grander way.
Does that make sense?
Can't wait for them to bloom all the way up the stalk.
Would you believe I still had my Valentine's Day Balloons?
I hung them out there for my very proper and pretend flower shop opening…
Petite Fleur.
So, when life gives you lemons, buy chalkboard paint.
Is that the lesson here??
🙂
Oh and… I must share some new cards I just put into the shop.
These are so scrumptious in person.
I took the drawing I did for the previous Mad Tea Party, and make proper invites.
These are the large 5"x7" card.
There are 10 to a pack, with envelopes.
You can find them in my shop here…
Below is the back-side of the card.
Super durable commercial quality.
I think perhaps you need to throw a real Mad Tea Party 😉
Possibly, maybe?
Oh and, since I was feeling extra sprinkly happy sweet like, I turned this image below into cards as well.
I had been wanting to turn these into cards for a while.
They are so fun in person.
I can't wait to send some out.
Also found in my shop.
So, that's my tale for today.
I am off to paint, and repair my new hot glue gun.
How about you?
See ya super duper sooooon.
Love, V
ps: Oh, guess what? Some have suggested that my meter reader will be smitten. I only wish! Sadly, he shall never spy it, for technology has him using a gadget to read my meter from far far away, digitally. Gasp! 😉
It's true.
pss:
The best part of getting up at 5 a.m. and weeding and thinning the garden is (dark and chilly, but getting used to my summer hours)…
Nibbling crunchy cool baby carrots that had to be thinned.
This is my second round of thinning them.
I love taking the tops, sautéing them with sweet onions, and cooking them into an egg dish.
(I hear mixed reviews about the safety in eating carrot tops, any thoughts?)
So so so delicious!
It takes me 4-5 hours to tend my garden, so I have to get on a schedule, no lollygagging, or I will never get anything done. Hello 5 a.m. :) Eeks.
What a great idea! I myself have been toying with the idea of chalkboard painting a door in of the rooms, but I am not so sure. I think it would work really beautifully in a kitchen, or if a house had a pantry, or a green house. One day I will have these things perhaps :). Your chalkboard looks so proper and fitting amongst all of your gorgeous spring blooms.
Beautiful new cards, perfect inspiration to throw a Mad Tea Party not just restricted to the cyber world. Which I am looking forward too intensely I must say. You have such a knack for putting different foods together. Everything you make looks scrum-diddly-umptious.
Brilliance!!! Total brilliance paiting the electric box with chalkboard paint!! It looks wonderful! The Mad Tea Party invite cards are too fun too!
From what I understanding, chalk boards are quickly becoming a thing of the past in schools. That just breaks Queenie’s heart. How can you have school without chalkboards! Hurrrumph, I’m feeling all Eor about this… Oh well, at least there’s chalk board paint. :o) Yay!
Have a great day.
Always, Queenie
Your hollyhocks look magical, Vanessa! A perfect addition to your gardens! Love the chalkboard electrical box. : ) Great solution to hide that ugly but necessary thing. Love the Mad Tea Party invitations, too.
The best idea I have EVER EVER seen.
XO,
Lisa
Ha ha….I’m sure your meter reader has told everyone that he/she has the prettiest meter ever seen!
Love, love, love the chalkboard electrical box.
I am so going to have to buy the invitations to the mad tea party. I know I want to throw another one this year. 🙂
Perfection Vanessa!!! ; )
Flowers inspire wisdom and love to those who listen!
Your hard work pays off in so many beautiful ways!
So I see my hollyhocks are the single ones. I do like the ruffle ones that you are growing. Wow! I need to plant those next time. Gardeners work is never finished. The heat is really drying everything out already. I sooo admire your commitment to tending and the early hours you put in.
So can you tell me how to harvest the seeds from the hollyhocks? <3
Kelly,
So, I think you wait for the flower to fall off, and then a pod with seeds
forms. Or so I hear ;))) I have to say, I havent a clue how I got
two varieties from one pack of seeds (alcea rosea from Selectseeds.com).
Also – were yours biennials? Because, if they are, in our sort of
climate, I hear that you can cut them in half, they will flower again, and then
after the 2nd flowering cut them down to about 12 inches tall, and they will
come back next year. But I am not sure that works…. I might try it….
because they can be short lived perennials, yippppeeeee 🙂
🖤
Queenie you are right!! My last year in highschool, 1994, all the
chalkboards turned into dry-erase boards… so sad! I love a proper
slate 😉
“Simplicity is the truest form of Sophistication” Einstien…..Anyway, love your new cards! Yeah for Mr. Lovelea, he’s such a great help to your creative passions!
Oh, Hollyhocks…nature cannot be out done..🖤Debi
A little surprise was left for Me this morning,a note from Vanessa.I was delighted.How perfect,a chalk board-it will bring you even more delight.OXDenise
such a great post. I just love hollyhocks we cant grow them because of our winds we get by the sea. Love the new cards. Hugs Sara
Vanessa, I LOVE your hollyhocks! And what a wonderful idea to use chalkboard paint. How fun! I also love the new cards. I would love to see cards made from some of the photos of your Capsured in a dream story yesterday. They would make lovely cards! :))
Oh Miss Vanessa, what an amazing idea and all framed by your hollyhocks. Very inviting. Your gardens are so very beautiful. I’m getting ready to start mine. I want to start with a small rose bush.
Thank you so much for your so kind comments.
That turned out great! I love the matte blackness and the extra special pan with a viewing window thingie.
The green babies are very lucky to have you as a mother!
I do so love your garden chalkboard!!! It makes me think of the sidewalks of Paris! Your hollyhocks are so lovely!! Do you think it is possible for a single and a double variety to grow on the same stock, which would account for the fluffier ones?? Plants are so amazing! Your new invitations are just the sweetest!!!
Betty
Miss Betty, I am really not sure…. Some stalks have the simple, some the
extra ruffled, but none have both….I am wondering if I planted both
types? My memory escapes me so 🙂 🖤
What a creative idea! I didn’t even know you COULD create a chalk board! And now that I know it’s possible…the possibilities…..(cue evil laugh). But seriously, that is such a neat use of space, I never would have thought of it. How quaint (love that word!)–your very own flower shop! Must be a ton of fun, frolicking amongst the flowers…What stories do they tell? 🙂
P.S. Your hollyhocks are LOVELY! Whenever I hear hollyhock I think of one of my favorite books–Entwined, a twist on the classic fairy tale the Twelve Dancing Princesses. The eighth sister in the story is named Hollyhock. 🙂
What a great idea
Love the hollyhocks
and the new cards
Absolutely gorgeous! What a creative idea 🙂
Love hollyhocks!!! Now, I cannot wait for a Mad Tea Party in the realms your garden!
What a wonderful idea! I love the chalkboard. For some reason when I read the word hollyhocks, I think of Holly Hobbie and then I feel like wearing a bonnet.
Your tea party postcard is awesome. She kinda looks like me and the bunny kinda looks like Douglas 😉
That is the cutest idea. You’re so clever. I love your hollyhocks. I have a special love for old-fashioned flowers. They remind me of my grandmother.
And your gardening dedication is such an inspiration to me. It helps get me out there!
Carrot tops? Are they for real edible? The lacy green part?
I love hollyhocks. And balloons.
Teresa, from what I read, yes you can eat carrot tops. But some sources say they are toxic. Others say they are not. I ate young ones and did not get sick at all. But I am not sure about their toxicity really….. Must look into it more… this is what I read below that inspired me to eat them… I think at certain times they might be toxic. Just not sure.
A lot of people say stay away, others eat them…. I don’t know. Eater Beware I say – do research first 😉
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/carrotops.html
Here is a 2nd link about making all sorts of things too:
http://www.gilttaste.com/stories/489-yes-carrot-tops-are-edible-and-delicious
ps: here is some important and fascinating toxicity info…
http://upstartkitchen.wordpress.com/answers/carrot-top/
Hi Vanessa-
I just read the info in your links. Thanks. It seems to me that they’re safe to eat if you eat the tender young tops and not the mature, late in the season greens. I can’t wait for my carrots to get enough tops so I can try them (in my northernly clime, they’re just sprouting).
Oooo, see? You should have come and grabbed me sooner because WOWWWW, I LOVE the chalkboard metal box!! In the garden by those amazing Hollyhocks…beautiful shop opening you had!!!
Brilliant idea,that chalkboard paint!
I just love Hollyhocks, too! I have never tried growing them…..our backyard is an empty canvasnow, just dirt,….perhaps they are just the paint, I mean, plant we need 🙂
Oh how magical!!!! Your hollyhocks are just divine. 🙂 And what a splendid idea for a chalkboard! Those carrots look so good, Vanessa. I do love carrots. We are getting our fresh lettuce and parsley now…I see salads in our future.
Oh it looks like you planted doubles. That’s what they call the multi-petal ones. I was thinking about you this morn as I was checking on mine, who have not begun to bloom yet. At the end of Ollyock season I let mine stand and dry out until the seed pods open then I shake them everywhere in the garden. They always come back in the funniest places ‘-). Oh, I bet your meter man is going to have a huge grin on his face when he sees your flower board. You my friend are too darling for words!!!
Much love to you…Cori
Your chalkboard meter box is super duper smart! You could even write sweet nothings to the meter reader (ha!).
Auntie Bliss sent me over to see your garden chalkboard. What a clever way to make that box blend into the scenery.
Darla
That is SO FREAKING COOL! It looks great. Makes me want to rush out and buy some of that paint myself and go wild all over the yard.
Catching up with your last several blog posts… there is no better way to spend time while I’m stuck here at work, in my office, while the rest of the world is asleep. ^-^
I lovelovelove your idea! =D What a wonderful addition that box turned out to be!
Love and hugs to you and your boys, and your gardens too. <3
XOXO
Hello, Dear! How ARE you?! You’re right, it’s been far too long! And I love that you and I both have big beautiful hollyhocks growing in our gardens…honestly, I cant stop photographing them! Mine may be just about as old as yours now, and they’re finally nice and tall! Lovely! I’m so glad you were able to save yours (those pesky bunnies) and the chalk board idea is simply brilliant!
hello tom this is the contact info , they have a wealth of knowledge ,just say heatemsy told you to ring
i just stumbled onto your blog and its great! and the garden looks so nice! do you grow herbs in your garden?
I agree with Kathy, Vanessa. Oh my, I’ve never seen this magical hollyhock. It’s like I’m in a fairy tale. Those flowers are so gorgeous and I love how you transform your electric box into a beautiful chalkboard. I super like your creative imaginations. And oh yes, those cards also are so lovely. It’s rolled into one. Superb!
Love this post! How can I sign up to get on your e-mail list for your blog?