We have a lot of cute new bud vases in the shop and I thought they needed a little accessorizing.  We’re not expecting a shipment of permanent botanicals for another couple of weeks, so I thought of making flowers instead.  I looked for tips online and found this great tutorial from Sew Sweet Stitches.  She includes directions for both flowers on a stem and for full tissue spheres.  Take a peek at her cute garland too!  Her tip for cutting notches into the sides of the accordian folds is a great idea.  To make them even more realistic, I added a couple sheets of green tissue and cut the ends to be smaller, to create leaves for my roses.

(Hey – that looks like a dragonfly!)

Grab some colorful tissue, scissors and floral wire, twist ties or fishing line.  You can have a whole field of flowers in a short time, and this is a great craft project to do if the kiddos are home from school too!

Madison's Garden at Dragonfly Garden

The potpourris are special collections of dried flowers, nuts, berries, dried fruit, leaves, woven rattan balls and other natural components that suit the scent of the potpourri.  Ocean Breeze has shells and seed pods with a coastal look, while Fall Gatherings includes gourds and berries.  Each bag is 12 ounces of gorgeous natural components and includes a small vial of the essential oils used to create the scent, so you can refresh your potpourri over time.   The potpourri is beautifully packaged and topped off with a large grosgrain ribbon, which makes it a lovely gift.

Madison’s Garden Soy Candles are cleaning burning and filled with a rich scent.  Soy candles burn more cleanly than traditional beeswax candles, with no soot and virtually no smoke. Soy candles burn more slowly as well, extending your enjoyment.  Each candle comes carefully packaged in a chocolate brown box, which makes them great for gifts too!

Try using a bird cage as an unusual container for your potpourri – the openwork of the cage allows the scent to escape better than a solid walled container.

Some of the potpourri scents we have in stock now are Ocean Breeze, French Lime, Cranberry Rose, Fall Gatherings and Christmas Scone.  Our filled candles are available in Pomegranate, Persian Orange, Sequoia, French Lime, Christmas Scone and Caramel Macchiato.  Come on in and smell them all!

Its Friday October 21st from 5pm to 11pm, and Saturday October 22nd from noon to 11pm. On Friday evening, Dallas the Fire Guy will be here, as well as the local AC/DC tribute band called Stiff Upper Lip.  Then on Saturday, we’ll have local entertainers on stage from noon until 5pm, including the Tapped In Tap Dancers, a Scottish dancing group and some other local musicians.  From 8pm to 11pm on Saturday, Lucid Druid will be on stage with their amazing Celtic fusion music.  You won’t want to miss this!

We’re also doing a scavenger hunt called Find the Stein – you go through each merchant to find the hidden handpainted stein, get your card punched and off to find another!  One lucky winner will receive a gift basket of items from each of our shops.  Wait till you see the steins – they’re works of art!

We’ll have a pumpkin patch so you can get ready for Halloween, food and drink, and the shops will have specials.  Dragonfly Garden will be open until at least 9pm both nights, so come on by and enjoy the fun!

Like our Facebook page for Stirling Commons to find out more, and maybe see your picture after the event is over!

photo courtesy of GraphicsHunt.com

It is typically the best time of year for hummingbird smorgasboards between blooming plants and feeders, but weather conditions across the country this summer have had a huge impact on the plants and insect population that hummingbirds rely upon.  Drought in Texas, fires in Arizona and Hurricane Irene’s destruction up the East Coast are all factors adding to the limited natural hummingbird food sources right now.

Migration season is the best season for hummingbirds in Florida – our customers say they have maybe one or two regulars at their feeders all summer, but there are many more during the spring and summer migratory periods.

Please keep those hummingbird feeders full of sweet nectar – the hummingbirds need the help!  Did you know that hummingbirds typically add an extra 25% to 40% of their body weight before they head south?  Put out a hanging feeder, add a small feeder stake to a hanging basket or use a window feeder with a suction cup.

One of our best selling feeders - click for more info

A good rule of thumb is to keep your hummingbird feeders accessible and full until the risk of frost.  You just never know when a straggler will fly by.

On a website called a Ha! Creative Gardening, I spotted this fun project for using vertical space.  Its called a Hanging Gutter Garden and looks easy to make with components you’ll find at your local hardware store or lumber yard.

photo courtesy of aHa! Home and Garden

There are several benefits to creating this kind of garden, not only the use of vertical space but it also can create a privacy barrier of sorts. Its a great idea if you have a gardener with mobility issues, because you can adjust the height of the gutters to a convenient level.  Its also a good way to keep pets out of your plants too!

The hanging gutters would make a great herb garden or a lovely flower border.  Use trailing vines on the top level and if you try something like cardinal climber or trumpet vine you might even see a hummingbird or two!

You’ll find lots of other useful information on the aHa! Home and Garden website.  Its the home of the Nest In Style podcast, and they can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

The 2nd Annual Dunedin Orange Festival is Saturday July 2.  The fun starts at 8:30 with the Green Market in Pioneer Park, and there will be music on stage there all day too.  The parade through town will begin in the park at 9:45.  Miss Dunedin Orange Queen will be crowned later in the morning, and then there is a Mojo Cookoff from 11:30 to 1pm.  There are activities for the kids all day, and there will also be a silent auction for some festive Orange Bonnets created by downtown merchants.  Proceeds from the Festival go to the Dunedin Historical Museum.  For more information,visit the Festival’s webpage.

On Sunday July 3rd, the Dunedin Blue Jays have a full schedule of fun planned for the holiday.  The Blue Jays play the Daytona Cubs at 4pm, then there’s a two hour concert and a spectacular fireworks display to cap off the evening and celebrate the 4th.  And the whole thing is free, thanks to Budweiser.  How cool is that?  For more info, visit the Jay’s website here.

And don’t forget we’re having a sale in the shop.  All flags, windsocks, mailbox wraps and wind chimes are 20% off now through July 5th.  Stop by this weekend!

Have a safe and fun holiday weekend.  Happy 4th of July, America!

Here’s a monarch

And then I found what I think is a female Tiger Swallowtail

And a shot of some of the plant beds – they’ve done a lovely job of creating different spaces for different plants to attract the butterflies.  The trellis’ with vines are a lovely touch – I can’t wait to see them all abloom!