Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Another Mitten And A Nursery Tour

 Design - Pearls "Cozy Mittens"
Designer - SamSarah Design Studio
Fabric - 32 count Pearl Gray Zweigart linen
Fibers - Crescent Colors - 2 strands over 2 threads
Started - 18 February 2012 
Completed - 20 February 2012

Another mitten - I've noticed several of my recent mitten stitches feature only one mitten.  I wonder if that is a commentary on lost mittens.  Here in Western Oregon I confess to having only two pairs of gloves - one pair is wool and I bought them in London.  The other is wool/cotton and I bought them at Disneyland.  I don't wear them very often and have managed to keep the pairs intact for several years now.

An Oregon Cottage is going to start up her Tuesday Garden Party once again in March.  But I decided to begin, on my own, a little earlier.  On Saturday my sister, a gardening friend, and I tootled out to NW Garden Nursery for their Hellebore Open House. 

They are a specialty nursery with an emphasis on hellebores.

As an added bonus, their garden was open too.

And though the weather was awful - rain, cold, hail, wind - the garden was an inspiration - even in mid-February.

Lots of primroses on the up-and-up.

Beautiful seeds from Arisaema consanguineum.

This is a Cornus mas.  It had a very open habit, and lovely small yellow blossoms.  How wonderful to have something like that blooming this time of year.

A small Pulmonaria in full bloom. 

Cyclamen...

...and Iris.

Snowdrops...

...and still more Cyclamen.

What I found most interesting, is that the garden was about 1 to 11/2 weeks behind where it was in February 2011.  Given how mild this Winter has seemed, I'd have expect the garden to be ahead of last year - but is was not.  Maybe we've had colder nights this year than last year. 

7 comments:

Deb said...

Love your new finish! Those Hellebores are gorgeous!!! I have never seen a purple cyclamen before but I sure do love it! Having spent most of my life in Virginia before moving to Texas, I find it odd to see cyclamen in outside gardens around this time of the year.

Siobhán said...

Sweet mitten! Your garden pics are so pretty--I love the one with all the nice red seeds.

Ann at Beadlework. said...

I would love to visit a garden centre full of hellebores, they are such a favourite of mine.

Anonymous said...

MITTEN!!! lol ...it's adorable. You make me so hungry for Spring...I can't wait.

Barb said...

Your mitten is so cute!! You are an amazingly fast stitcher-way to go! The hellebores are beautiful. I just planted one on Sun. Mine are still not in bloom. Love the other garden shots!

Anonymous said...

The flowers are a feast for the eyes.
The mitten is cute!
Winter here is so dry! I ear a radio program that had a piece every day last week of famous musics that spoke about rain, to see if the gods up above could ear us!
Hugs

Nicola said...

I love the mitten and it's button. So nice to see snowdrops, they are out in abundance in Cornwall.