The last lovely smile...

“Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.”

William Cullen Bryant

...and also my favorite time of year (although if you live on the US East Coast, it's been a pretty soggy,dreary autumn).  However, as much as I want to draw out the color and fragrance and delicious vibe of the season, I have to move on to the next.  So today's blog will be my last, lovely salute to this lovely smile.

This is a centerpiece I threw together for an outside table. As you can see, there is a myriad of different gourds which provide color, texture and visual interest ( I LOVE the bumpy green one!), some mini mums and cabbages which I popped into small pots and bittersweet vine. To give the height and structure needed for this space, I used my client's cake stand as a prop. Add some tall fall candles and it's balanced, colorful and cozy.





I took the same theme inside to the home's fireplace mantle. It is amazing the difference a few well placed and well colored gourds make. Again, I used the bittersweet and grapevine to add a pop of color and substance.











I wanted to hang something at the kitchen entrance to dress it up, so I made this from hydrangea (grown on the property), bittersweet, grapevine, feathers and ribbon. Simple and pretty.

























One of my favorite things to do at the end of summer is to remove all the tired flowers from the containers and window boxes and reinvent them for fall. Here I used this gorgeous purple cabbage as the focal point then surrounded it with peppers, miniature mums, small white cabbages, and bittersweet vine. To give it a bit more height and fun, I put the lighted twigs in the back. So this arrangement looks good during the day and has a lovely, soft glow at night




Last, but certainly not least, are the fabulous cornstalk pillars. I LOVED making these (although they were physically pain to do). I put them at the entrance to the property and they were really welcoming. For smaller properties, one would work, but here, three was just right. Part of the fun was getting all the tiny pumpkins to encircle the pillars - a local boy had grown them to make money for his college fund: I bought him out so it was doubly good.






This is just a sampling of what you can do to celebrate Autumn. I had such fun with every project.

Back in the Saddle

Hello, Hello, Hello, my blogging friends!  I am back from my annual Field Hockey Mom break.  The season is over, the girls are alive and I have a bit more of my life back.  I hope I haven't lost everyone in the interim!

It's now November, all the fall gorgeousness is beginning to wane and my garden season is pretty much at an end for this year (with the exception of a few things I need to tie up, cut back and rake off).  I always get a bit sad and grumpy about now too, BUT I'm taking lots of Vitamin D and I'm focusing on the fact that it is also holiday staging time!  That always perks me up.

I have a new facebook page for the Cottage Gardener,  The-Cottage-Gardener, where I've been showing my stuff a bit.  I'm actually already posting Christmas pictures, but I will start here with my fall stuff. 

This is the mantle in the barn of one of my clients.  The stone work itself is so gorgeous, I wanted to make sure I wasn't competing with it but complimenting it.  As you can see, it is primarily neutral in tone.  With the exception of the shutter on the left and the live elements (pumpkins, flowers, corn, ect), everything I used in this project was a 'found' object.  I used some beat up old wooded candle sticks, an old window screen, two round cake plates, an old tin and a couple old tool boxes.  The grapevine I took from another project and the bittersweet vine I pulled off the the trees in a forest near my house.

I love the unexpectedness of the blue/green shutter against all the rustic fall color here.

I find the bittersweet vine needs the structure of the grapevine to give it the substance it needs - it can get lost on its own.

And below is a closer look at what I call my pumpkin topiary (although there isn't a pumpkin in the bunch).  I love stacking them to add height, color and texture.  I love this one.

Making things beautiful doesn't have to be expensive.  Dig around your garage or basement and hit your local junk shops for fun things to use.  You'll be surprised at how lovely you can make something.

Enjoy!