The "Other" Blooms in June

The last day of June 2010 brings an end to twenty-one straight days of temperatures in excess of 90°F. I don't have accurate information on the number of days over 100° or the days where the heat index was in the triple digits. During those twenty-one days, the rainfall went north, south, east and west of my garden. Finally, in the middle of the night, I heard the rain. Relief.

Now, I can reflect on all the beautiful flowers in the garden, captured in photos but unable to fully enjoy in the unbearable heat.

The "other" blooms in my garden often take a backseat to grand-stand performances of agastache, bee balm, coneflowers, coreopsis, nepeta and salvia. While the blooms of these "other" plants are more limited, they fill significant niches in my garden.

The "Emerald Isle" (photo below) beside my stone walk is still a work in progress. The ground covering hardy ice plant (delopserma cooperii) is a good match for the mounding betony (stachys hummelo).

Over the last four years, the two perennials have been filling in the space between the stone walk and the dry stream, beneath the high canopy of a crepe myrtle 'Tuscarora'. In spite of the tree, this spot receives a pounding by the sun on the southwest side of the house. Zones 5-9 can grow the ice plant in xeric conditions; Zones 4-8 can grow the betony; full sun. Both are deer and rabbit resistant, although there is the occasional sampling of a betony bloom.

Balloon flower (platycodon grandiflorus; photo below) is an edger along a section of cottage garden path,  adding color when the azaleas fade. I've long lost the label for the exact variety of the perennial balloon flower! This is an "out of sight, out of mind" perennial that has been under-appreciated until recently. I am determined to collect seeds this year to sow with shasta daisies, so I've not deadheaded for rebloom. Zones 3-8; part sun; doesn't like to be transplanted after established.

The balloon flower (second photo below) mingles well with rose campion (far right pink), perennial heliotrope 'Azure Skies' (ground cover at bridge), garden phlox (pink bloom in middle). 

I have a love-hate relationship with the unknown variety of chaste tree (vitex agnus-castus; photo below was shot in the evening light, making the blooms appear more blue).

I love the flowers, color, form factor and the fact that bees and butterflies are drawn to it. Therefore, I will not be without this tree. The chaste tree grows in my butterfly garden with St. John's Wort 'Sun Pat' (hypericum), bee balm 'Jacob Cline' (monarda didyma) lantana 'Miss Huff', bronze fennel, milkweed (asclepias tuberosa and incarnata), agastache, salvia, verbena and coreopsis.

What I hate are the hundreds of seedlings that sprout below since I can no longer reach the top to deadhead or cut back the tree. I also planted a 'Shoal's Creek' variety in my meadow above the butterfly garden. This variety has an even more lovely bloom and I've not had a seedling problem. However, that one isn't planted in rich garden soil!

I have trained the unknown chaste tree so that there is a trimmed-up trunk, but it can also be treated like butterfly bush with a late winter shaping. Zones 6-9; full sun; drought-tolerant and can be used for xeriscapes; deer resistant.

Last, but not least, are my daylilies. Once upon a time, I had quite a daylily (hemerocallis) collection at a previous home. Here, with limited space inside the cottage garden fence, I grow two re-blooming varieties, the lovely yellow 'Happy Returns' and the pale yellow-white 'Joan Senior'.

I had grouped these daylilies together for a yellow garden bed. However, hot summer droughts were parching the foliage. I am in the process of moving the daylilies to another location with more moisture and less sun.

The yellow blooms look great with perennial heliotrope 'Azure Skies' and the cobalt blue blooms of Brazilian sage.

Daylily foliage is eaten by rabbits in early spring and the blooms are eaten by deer in the summer. So, I won't invest the money or the effort in growing any exotic varieties. Zones 4-10; sun to partial shade.

Although these plants haven't been given much attention, I would be hard-pressed to garden without their presence.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

The Best Professional Architecture and the Interior Design

Construction process and the creation of architecture is a team effort. Many consultants are involved, from a structural engineer for a mechanical engineer for the lighting designer for the security specialist and audio / visual consultants, how they interact with other team members, and how to find one that's right for you. Some professional organizations gives credibility to the members of the designer. some states require licensing of professional interior designers, like architects and engineers. But the most important marker of talent and professionalism of a designer is evidence of their work

Discussions about the architecture often revolve around style. In Las Vegas, the Mediterranean and Tuscan dominate by making a significant comeback mid-century modern. Back east countries, French and British colonial still very popular. This style was in and out of fashion with time, a phenomenon sometimes called the style war. But few realize that a great battle has been waged and won: fighting style in the interior of our building

Architecture used to be defined and supported mainly by rich people. They rely on maids and clearly defined class system. They served them perform the necessary separation from service.

With open spaces of our minds open as well. Open to the realization that we can live indoors and outdoors as the season may allow. Open to understand that there are no servants hide behind the dining room door, but we live (or have lived) in an egalitarian world. Our minds are open to an interior landscape that makes a small room larger and larger space more interesting.

TAG : Expertise from the interior merchandiser, model apartments, large multi-unit project, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), marketing analysts, architects, and builders from its conception, the club house design, decoration and architecture, three-dimensional, built-in, detail ceilings, hardware, paint, lights, an important aspect of the services of interior designers, accurate, interior elements,, art niches, decorative lighting, ceiling dimension, millwork, title

Residential Interior Design

Residential Interior Design - How To Keep It Simple
By Wade Robins



One of the major setbacks in a residential interior design project is not seeing eye to eye with the interior designer. There are homeowners who just don't know when to step back and allow the professionals to take charge of the project. Still, there are others who seem to give free rein at first but rant about the details when the project is almost done.

To make the residential interior design project a smooth and hassle-free one, you have to clearly delineate the roles from the very beginning. How much control do you want to wield? How much freedom are you willing to give your designer? Would you trust him with his own set of contractors?

Individuals who hire a professional for residential interior design must make it clear from the start how much freedom they're willing to give the designer in terms of decisions and relationships with contractors.

One common problem that arises with a number of residential interior design projects is that owners can't help but put in their two cents' worth once the contractors step in, and this may somewhat be distressing on the designer's part.

The owner should also agree with the designer on a reasonable time frame for the residential interior design project. It should be made clear that the plan is well laid out before actual work takes place and that budget limits are clearly set beforehand.



It is also important to set aside a portion of the budget to provide for contingency expenses. In addition, if the owner requests changes that were not initially included in the residential interior design plan, he must be ready to shoulder the expenses involved to carry out these modifications.

Why Space Planning Is Important

In residential interior design, space is a crucial factor because a space that is too large or too small may drastically limit the possibilities of a desired residential interior design. Even existing doors and windows greatly affects the planned renovation, and covering these up or constructing new structures again involve an adjustment in time and budget.



Generally, residential interior design [http://www.1interiordesign.com/Interior_Design_Bathrooms/] project would involve furniture and fixture selection, color, space planning, and the more complicated plumbing and electrical wiring. It is, of course, easier to plan a residential interior design project with an empty room or house, but this isn't always the case.

In summation, undertaking a residential interior design project can be a very fulfilling task if guidelines are set down at the start. You will also be able to enjoy a more harmonious relationship with the designer if you spend time to consult with him and give him as much information as possible on the kind of outcome you are
targeting for your residential interior design.

For the Love of Lavender

I love to buy lavender soap and bouquets of dried lavender at French markets. 

(Antibes, France; May 2010)

I love to use lavender as a centerpiece to fill the air with fragrance. 

(Antibes, France; May 2010)

I love to see lavender growing in fields. 

(Sunshine Lavender Farm, North Carolina; June 2010)

I love to learn about lavender planting from Annie Greer Baggett. 

(Sunshine Lavender Farm; June 2010)

I love to eat lavender ice cream made by Maple View Farm. 

(Sunshine Lavender Farm)

I love to bake lavender scones at home. 

(home kitchen, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; December 2008)

Most of all, I love to grow lavender for the wonderful honey bees.

Our neighborhood lost two wild bee hives over the winter. One hive is being rebuilt. 

My garden is far too quiet this year without all of the honey bees. 

(home garden, Chapel Hill; April 2009)

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Twelve Hours of Summer Sun

Just how much heat and sun can a plant handle? Most gardeners define "full sun" as six hours or more of sunshine. My garden easily receives twelve hours of full sun in the summer. The temperature exceeded 100°F recently. Our heat index has been well over 100° on several days. We've had no significant rain in weeks while the 90°+ temperatures have pounded the garden and the gardeners.

My garden is filled with plants that can handle tough heat, but even camels eventually need a drink in the desert. It was time.

I had to water the garden last evening to prevent a meltdown! We do have a deep well. Still, I don't like to water the garden and I really don't like to water a garden in the evening—but, I wanted the water to soak into the soil instead of evaporate in the morning sun.

My husband said "you can almost hear the sigh of relief from the garden."

This morning, I rushed out at 6:30 am, hopeful for a recovery. It was hot. Too hot. I was glad that I hadn't waited until morning to water the garden because I couldn't handle the heat!

My camera lens had to clear up as it was fogged by the transition from air conditioned comfort into the inferno.

The garden put on a perky face for me. All was well—at least on the surface. The soil is still very dry, but my thorough watering revived the garden for a few days.

So, which plants performed best in this unplanned trial of dry, hot torture?

Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' with wide, bright green leaves was definitely looking sad. A little water did the trick and all the plants were back to normal all day today. Salvia 'May Night', 'Caradonna', 'Marcus' and 'Sensation Rose' were fine. Salvia greggii, in all colors, looked totally undaunted by the heat.

The new varieties—salvia chamaedryoides and salvia pachyphylla—were especially pleased with the dry conditions and hot temperatures, so I carefully avoided giving those two any water at all! Sounds cruel, but I won't mess with happy plants!

Most agastache varieties were real troopers, but 'Golden Jubilee' with wide, light green leaves really had to be watered. The big surprise was that the companion to drumstick allium, agastache 'Cotton Candy' (pictured above) needed no water. 'Cotton Candy' was added in September 2009 and has been blooming since April. If it continues to perform well, it is going to move into first place as my favorite agastache.

The buddleia leaves have drooped during the heat of the day, but each morning (so far), they have looked fine. No extra water has been given, but that may change as we expect another 100° day on Sunday.

The coneflowers, ageratum, joe pye weed, ironweed and daylilies needed water. I lost a few volunteer tall garden phlox planted beside the stone walk inside the cottage garden. Other patches of phlox, planted among other perennials, are fine. Sedum were fine. A few lamb's ear plants were suffering, but the older ones are doing great.

Gaillardia, lavender, ornamental grasses, flax, Russian sage, santolina, verbena and all of the coreopsis varieties were fine before the watering. I'm not sure they appreciated my efforts to drag several hundred feet of garden hose around the garden. The drip irrigation has never been extended to the drought-loving plants.

Another plant that has received no supplemental watering must have a tap root long enough to reach down to the water table. Perennial heliotrope 'Azure Skies' (that blooms six months) is simply amazing! It has been an edger in the cottage garden, and I started adding it along the edge of the outer gardens. Although all of the heliotrope in the south garden was planted since April, it is blooming like crazy, loving the heat and untouched by deer.

When I finished the watering chore (2 1/2 hours), I took on another chore last evening and worked until the moon was up.

As difficult as it was to endure the heat myself, I decided it was much better than working in the sun. I deadheaded as many spent flowers as possible, as well as cutting a few nice blooms to bring inside to enjoy. In times of little rain, I try to make an extra effort to deadhead to hopefully reduce stress on the plant.

It is these trials by nature that test both the garden and the gardener.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

An Affordable Flower Combination

Buying plants can be an expensive endeavor. Whether you are a beginning gardener or an experienced one who has large sections to plant, you can make your money go a long way by selecting plants that will increase in number. Perennials that can be reproduced from seed or through division will stretch your investment.

You may have noticed that some plants have patents or trademarks. Propagating patented plants through division, layering or cuttings (known as asexual reproduction) is prohibited without permission from the patent owner. Offspring resulting from seeds are not prohibited. However, with most patented plants, the seeds will not be true to the parent.

A trademark, on the other hand, is ownership of a registered plant name. A registered (®) trademark (™) protects a company brand, series, or plant name. You can propagate or divide the plant into more plants, but you can't give it the same name if you sell the offspring.

Two perennials that make an affordable and beautiful pairing are coneflowers (echinacea purpurea) and bee balm (monarda didyma).

The purple coneflowers have been blooming since late May. I am deadheading regularly now in order to keep the blooms coming on strong. When the flush of blooms ends, I'll leave the seed heads to dry on the plant, both for the birds to eat and for seed collecting.

My coneflower of choice is the open-pollinated 'Prairie Splendor' for the abundance and size of blooms, the rebloom and the fact that I can collect seeds and grow more. There are also a few echinacea rubinstern 'Ruby Star', another self-seeder, among the mix. Not all coneflowers can be grown true from seed, but the offspring from seed of 'Prairie Splendor' and 'Ruby Star' are like the parent plant.

I am gradually increasing the numbers by planting the seeds in the low part of the garden in rich, moist soil. When the seedlings are mature enough to bloom, I transplant them into my design plan.

Someday, I'll have the desired effect in large masses. This budget-conscious gardening takes awhile, but I cannot see buying more plants when I know that I can grow my own. It takes a little patience and the planting of filler annual flowers, also inexpensively grown from seed, to keep from being too impatient.

Bee balm is another smart choice for creating big swathes of color in the garden. Take one bee balm, give it rich soil and moisture and it will spread quickly. In only a year, you'll have a nice clump. By the third year, you'll not know what to do with all of the plants!

The cool colors of bee balm are just now in bloom and catching up with the early coneflowers. There are two colors that I like to pair with purple coneflowers. Monarda didyma 'Raspberry Wine' is my favorite for impact, but monarda didyma 'Blue Stocking' is my favorite for widespread use as the color seems to work well with so many perennial and annual partners. In another part of the garden, I grow the bright red and tall 'Jacob Cline' that blooms earlier and is currently going into a second flush of flowers after being deadheaded. There are many colors of bee balm and shorter varieties on the market.

If you select flowers that can easily be grown from seed or plants that spread quickly and can be divided, the cost is then reduced to a few cents per plant to grow a large garden of flowers!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer resistance varies based upon deer population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Interior Design Painting

Painting a house differs as Exterior Painting and Interior Painting. Exterior paint nowadays has arrive a lengthy way and has all sorts of fungicides and UV protectors in it to withstand the harsh onslaught of continuous heat through the sun. Exterior paint also has to stand as much as other climate problems for example heavy rain, storms, cold and winds, so interior design painting.

All kinds of houses could be painted even timber ones. Should you have an old-fashioned brick house it could be loosely transitive that is within the type of cement depiction that could be painted or make interior design painting. So regardless of whether your home is timber, difficult plank, fibrous cement or brick it can all be painted and also the roof can also be painted.

Interior Design Bedrooms

Include your kid in making his interior design bedrooms. It is dependent a great deal on child's age and degree of growth yet even a little contribution can cause larger suggestions. Colors, themes or style of furniture could be selected very easily by even a 4yr old child. An older child could be completely included in all of the procedure of preparing and assortment.

If preparing to decorate without having any theme of interior design bedrooms, use most recent trends obtainable within the marketplace. Drawing a mural about the wall or utilizing a wallpaper to produce focal point is really a great concept. You will find numerous shops that sells economical wallpaper murals along with other merchandise of children interest.

Repeat: Yellow Flower Power

Due to formatting issues with the new template, some readers could not view the text in Flower Power: Yellow. This is a repeat of the same information, with larger photos. Thank you.

Yellow flowers light up my garden, shining all day and into the early evening hours. Pale yellow works especially well with purple, blue or white companion plantings. I love the varieties that have long bloom seasons with little maintenance that can handle the full sun and well-drained soil in zone 7b. Of course, to be on my list, these have been reliably deer and rabbit resistant.

Shasta daisy (leucanthemum x superbum)

Leucanthum 'Broadway Lights' ™This shasta daisy begins with pale yellow flowers that turn white. It is perennial in zones 5-9. This shasta dots my garden path. Blooms summer to fall with deadheading and I find the white varieties to also be deer and rabbit resistant.

Green santolina (Santolina pinnata)

The mass of pale yellow buttons on the emerald foliage of green santolina stands up to the heat and humidity better than gray foliage varieties. This drought tolerant perennial is suitable for zones 5-11. The foliage is evergreen, but too much heavy rain can create an interesting "part" in the middle of this mounding plant. I love it in spite of the interesting hairdos!

Blanket flower 'Yellow Queen' (Gaillardia x grandiflora)

Even after the petals fall, I love the yellow pom-pom seed heads. Deadhead to keep the blooms coming and control the self-seeding. Use this drought-tolerant perennial in zones 3-10. It looks especially great when paired with agastache 'Purple Haze' or salvia 'May Night'. Long-blooming all through the summer and into autumn. There are more colors, too!

Tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata 'Creme Brulee')

This little coreopsis would probably rather be in your garden instead of mine! I have moved and divided it several times in the last three years. Nonetheless, it puts up with my indecision and keeps on blooming. It really needs a well-drained location to get through the winters in zones 4-9. I have two new coreopsis that I planted in 2009—both with changing colors. So far, I'm very excited about coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' and coreopsis Big Bang™ 'Redshift'.

Yarrow (Achillea 'Moonshine')

For bright yellow-gold in spring, this achillea puts on a big show when grown en masse. Drought-tolerant achillea likes tough conditions in full sun and lean soil in zones 3-9. In my zone, 'Moonshine' cranks up in late April/early May and blooms well into June when I cut back the stems to the basal foliage.

There are a few more yellow blooms in my garden—such as spring-blooming daffodils, snapdragons and California poppies that are beautiful and ignored by rabbits and deer. Still, your experience may vary with any plants on my list, depending upon the critter population and availability of food in the wild and your neighbor's garden.

If you'd like to read more about my garden in print—here's a note from The Grumpy Gardener at Southern Living Magazine:

There's a great story about your garden in the July 2010 issue of Southern Living! I don't know who wrote it, but obviously the guy's a genius! Everybody should pick up a copy.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Flower Power: Yellow

Yellow flowers light up my garden, shining all day and into the early evening hours. Pale yellow works especially well with purple, blue or white companion plantings. I love the varieties that have long bloom seasons with little maintenance that can handle the full sun and well-drained soil in zone 7b. Of course, to be on my list, these have been reliably deer and rabbit resistant.

Shasta daisy (leucanthemum x superbum) Leucanthum 'Broadway Lights' ™This shasta daisy begins with pale yellow flowers that turn white. It is perennial in zones 5-9. This shasta dots my garden path. Blooms summer to fall with deadheading and I find the white varieties to also be deer and rabbit resistant.

Green santolina (Santolina pinnata) The mass of pale yellow buttons on the emerald foliage of green santolina stands up to the heat and humidity better than gray foliage varieties. This drought tolerant perennial is suitable for zones 5-11. The foliage is evergreen, but too much heavy rain can create an interesting "part" in the middle of this mounding plant. I love it in spite of the interesting hairdos!

Blanket flower 'Yellow Queen' (Gaillardia x grandiflora) Even after the petals fall, I love the yellow pom-pom seed heads. Deadhead to keep the blooms coming and control the self-seeding. Use this drought-tolerant perennial in zones 3-10. It looks especially great when paired with agastache 'Purple Haze' or salvia 'May Night'. Long-blooming all through the summer and into autumn. There are more colors, too!

Tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata 'Creme Brulee') This little coreopsis would probably rather be in your garden instead of mine! I have moved and divided it several times in the last three years. Nonetheless, it puts up with my indecision and keeps on blooming. It really needs a well-drained location to get through the winters in zones 4-9. I have two new coreopsis that I planted in 2009—both with changing colors. So far, I'm very excited about coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' and coreopsis Big Bang™ 'Redshift'.

Yarrow (Achillea 'Moonshine') For bright yellow-gold in spring, this achillea puts on a big show when grown en masse. Drought-tolerant achillea likes tough conditions in full sun and lean soil in zones 3-9. In my zone, 'Moonshine' cranks up in late April/early May and blooms well into June when I cut back the stems to the basal foliage.

There are a few more yellow blooms in my garden—such as spring-blooming daffodils, snapdragons and California poppies that are beautiful and ignored by rabbits and deer. Still, your experience may vary with any plants on my list, depending upon the critter population and availability of food in the wild and your neighbor's garden.

If you'd like to read more about my garden in print—here's a note from The Grumpy Gardener at Southern Living Magazine: There's a great story about your garden in the July 2010 issue of Southern Living! I don't know who wrote it, but obviously the guy's a genius! Everybody should pick up a copy.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Interior Design Schools

Interior design schools assist to train candidates to produce a high quality atmosphere close to them. At Interior design schools, students are taught research from material that's computer-aided to draw and style, to solve difficulties, to research the background of interior designing and architecture, room preparing as well as 3-d imaging. The assist from the visual media allows these institutes to teach the art interior deigning and also the associated difficulties.

An additional essential detail to maintain in thoughts may be the preference from the customer and also the spending budget. The designer can give recommendations for that customer to believe about interior design schools and approve. Points for example furniture, color scheme, lighting and fixtures should also be kept in thoughts along with a rough layout ought to be ready.

Hillside Modern House Design in Sweden

Hillside modern house designed by RB Arkitektur, located in Sweden. This house design literally and beautifully blends into the environment. The home interior decorating consists of contemporary furnishings that are sleek and sophisticated, but comfortable and inviting. This lovely green residence in Nacka, Sweden is minimalist architecture at its best. This house into the ground to help moderate its temperature; and its clean lines and U-shaped design make for a simple yet luxurious single family home.

Wood Mountain House Design Architecture

Wood mountain house design architecture is located in Caviano, Switzerland, with a wonderful view on the lake and the mountains, designed by Markus Wespi Jérôme de Meuron architects. This mountain house takes itself inconspicuously back and connects with natural stonewalls of the surroundings rather than with the heterogeneous buildings. With large space-strutted panorama openings alternate with small square ventilation windows, and the irregular window setting is melting the floors to a unit without recognizable partitioning.

Rustic Style House Deep in the Forest Argentina

A sandy dune beach, dense wooded surroundings and a sloped lot created a challenging landscape on which to design and build a home, but these characteristics are also what distinguish this oddly beautiful location. The obtusely angled walls denote sheets of rock, layered with large glass walls to naturally brighten every corner of these cave-like interiors. this rustic style concrete house plan deep in the forest or Mar Azul, Argentina.