The Impatient Gardener: FRIDAY FINDS: SNOW + EASTER EDITION

25 March 2016

FRIDAY FINDS: SNOW + EASTER EDITION

Winter came back. I knew it would. I knew that this mild winter and early spring that we were blessed with was just too good to be true, but mentally I had moved on. The end of the week brought us horrible weather and this morning the trees were shimmering with ice on their branches and every sign of live in the garden has been covered up with a blanket of snow. Other signs of life became apparent in the form of tracks in the snow. There appears to have some kind of wildlife party on our patio last night.

If you can make it through these spring weather events, both mentally and physically, the pain doesn't last for too long. The sun has heat to it these days and quickly melts what's fallen. And a little extra water in the garden isn't a bad thing.

I shall plod along with my seed starting to get my garden fix, as clearly nothing is happening out there this weekend. But thoughts of spring are firmly in my mind.

I just got the April issue of House Beautiful  and was completely captivated with an entry designed by Christopher Maya that featured a de Gournay wallpaper called Temple Newsam. It was a mural style and I desperately wanted to show it to you, but I the pictures aren't online at this point. So I fell into the de Gournay website and holy smokes there is some amazingly beautiful stuff there. I shudder to think of the cost.

'Portobello' on India tea paper
'Japanese Garden' from the Japanese Korean collection
'Portman' on custom blue silk
It's worth flipping through. By the way, I don't know that I would have been as taken with that entry if it weren't spring. This is why I'd make a lousy interior designer (well, in addition to the fact that I have no training): I'm far too influenced by seasonal whims. In spring I want pastels and verdant greens, in summer I want tropical colors, in winter I like a calm palette.

Speaking of spring, I'm hosting Easter for our family. I'm not a great hostess, but I enjoy having Easter at our house. It's a low-pressure holiday (not like Thanksgiving or Christmas) and its a good excuse to buy a lot of pretty flowers. I'm also not a great flower arranger, but I like looking for arrangement inspiration online. I'm wildly in love with this bright bouquet full of spring flowers from Floret Flowers.

Anytime multiple gardeners fall down a major slope whilst gardening is considered extreme gardening in my book. But it was so worth it.

This is a Garden Rant classic and I agree almost wholeheartedly with it. I make an exception if someone were to say they wanted to plant something really stupid that we know, without question, will be invasive. In my area that would be something like garlic mustard, which would infect the entire neighborhood in two years.

Here are some fun seed starting tips that are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Because really, let's not get too serious about this seed business. It is supposed to be fun.

That's it for this week. Sometime between now and Sunday I have to figure out how to cook a leg of lamb. I did find a recipe in Julia Child's The Way to Cook. I'm not a great cook because I play fast and loose with recipes (and yet somehow I'm a pretty good baker, I cannot explain it), but there are two chefs whose recipes I've decided will never fail you if you just follow them to the letter: Julie and Ina. My sister-in-law and I have a saying: In Julia we trust. So I'm going to trust her to not let me ruin a very expensive piece of meat.

Do you have Easter plans for the weekend? Or do you expect to get in the garden at all?

This was the scene on the way home last night. From my series of photos on Instagram.


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5 Comments:

Blogger LINDA from Each Little World said...

Ha! I was just pinning pix of de Gournay wallpaper before I jumped onto your blog. It is so gorgeous. I could just move into the third room and that carpet! I agree about Julia and Ina though I turn to Ina more often. But then I am not cooking a leg of lamb. I do cut back on the salt and fats in Ina's recipes thought. I think she overdoes them both. Though I love Rusty Duck's house and property I am always glad that I am not the one gardening there. Plus all those troubles with computer reception. I admit I like my devices more than I ever thought I would! Have a nice holiday. Snow is melting here quickly.

March 25, 2016 at 12:01 PM  
Blogger rusty duck said...

Ooh, that does look cold. We are now forecast rain for a week so bang goes my long Easter break in the garden :(
I can sympathise with the cooking, I just don't have a feel for it. Plants, yes. Food, no.
Many thanks for the link!

March 25, 2016 at 2:33 PM  
Blogger Stephen Andrew said...

I am working on Easter stuff now. Can you believe it's going to be 72 here on Sunday?! I made a gorgeous leg of lamb last year for Easter and it came out perfectly! Unfortunately no one likes lamb. Haha! But I was happy with it and that's really all that matters. :) good luck! I rarely follow recipes in cooking or baking. I think that what people don't understand is that in the Midwest baking begs to be constantly tweaked with our wild fluctuations in humidity.

March 25, 2016 at 4:44 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for the peek into that gorgeous wallpaper. Why don't I get House Beautiful? I love all that interior design inspiration.
We dodged the bullet on the weather this time - we only had snow although the rest of Southern Ontario seems to have been covered with ice and snow. But it's been cold! And that's not inspiring for Easter weekend.
Your leg of lamb will turn out great - don't worry. It's basically just a roast - Here's how I do mine: Spread some chopped garlic, lots of salt and pepper and rosemary on the outside and pour some olive oil over it. Roast it on high (450F) for about 20 min to seal the outside, then reduce the oven to 325F for the remainder of the time. It should be cooked medium rare - about 20 minutes per pound. Use a meat thermometer and get it to about 160F in the thickest part. You can add some onions and carrots on the bottom of the pan for extra flavour. Hope that helps.

March 26, 2016 at 7:59 AM  
Blogger Casa Mariposa said...

Thanks for the shout out! That was a happy surprise. :o) Wowzers! Those wall papers are incredible! Easter will be a quiet day here spent with friends. Good luck with dinner. :o)

March 26, 2016 at 5:23 PM  

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