Spring In the Cottage Greenhouse…Part 1

It’s bird chirping weather and it feels and looks like Spring in Texas! The Redbud Trees, Saucer Magnolia’s, daffodils, azaleas, and Lady Banks roses are blooming. The green stems of wild orchids and iris’ are shooting up in the landscape beds, ferns are uncurling, and ducks are nesting in our backyard and on our boat dock! Though the sun may be shining brightly, on some days, the wind can still be cool and my “little house” as our 3 year old granddaughter calls my greenhouse, is warm with sunlight streaming through the clear paneled roof and is sheltered “out of the wind’s and the rain’s way.”

A little house - a house of my own
Out of the wind's and the rain's way
 
~ Padraic Colum

This week Richard was busy working in the backyard putting up a cedar fence and the weather was perfect for spring cleaning in the greenhouse. I began my cleaning by using the leaf blower to blow out the leaves that had slipped in beneath the cedar panels of the greenhouse. Next, I took a damp cloth and wiped down the potting benches and all of the shelves. After that, I tackled all the garden paraphernalia that accumulates throughout the growing season; I organized all the seed trays, stacked planters and peat pots, arranged watering cans, fertilizers, and insecticidal soaps. Then, the last and most satisfying thing to do on my to-do list was to clean all the autumn and winter grime from my misfit assortment of greenhouse treasures.

Antique seed box and cedar chest

My rustic and elegant mix of treasures…oil paintings, antique mirrors, flower frogs, Depression glass, a porcelain water dispenser, woven baskets, garden hooks and books, racks of trowels, rakes, and spoons…all happily mingle together.

A collection of antique silver pitchers and metal pails “hang out” together and are within easy reach for mixing fertilizers and plant food.

One of my favorite things in the greenhouse is this battered whatnot shelf that Richard bought for me at a yard sale. I’ve filled it with antique garden frogs, salt shakers, and treasured keepsakes. The miniature glass box made of mirrored tiles is a dear gift my father gave me when he and I went to a tile company together, when I was 4 or 5 years old…and the blown glass hummingbirds belonged to my mother. ❤

I store my larger vases in the back of the greenhouse on other shelves, but these little shelves are filled with antique flower frogs and a quaint assortment of flower vases that are just the right size for putting little posies in that little hands pick for Grandma.

After I finished cleaning and all was shiny and sparkly again, I set up a tea tray… an “Alice in Wonderland” kind of tea tray, with a dash of woodland whimsy that seemed perfect for tea that was being served in a greenhouse tea room, with pea gravel floors, birdsong for music, and a view of the sky.

I piled plump blackberries on a little silver charger, filled a creamer with juicy raspberries, stacked waffle cookies in a roll top butter server, and placed all of it on a silver, moss covered tray.

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. 

 ~ Charles Dickens

A sprig of Cherry Laurel with little round black berries adorns our tea setting.

Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk of happy things.

Chaim Potok

Perfect for tea in the greenhouse, I love using these dainty, floral green Depression Glass cups and saucers.// Jeanette Glass Company Green Depression Glass, Floral Poinsettia pattern

Dear Richard is always a great sport and indulges my whims. With boyish charm that melted my heart, he happily agreed to join me, when I cordially asked him to tea, in the Cottage Greenhouse. Our afternoon tea ended up being a delightful treat for both of us after working all day, on a cool, spring day. We ate berries and cookies, laughed and talked, and drank all of the tea in our little hideaway, “out of the wind and the rain’s way.”

Whether it feels like winter where you are and you’re still buried in snow, or like us, it’s bird chirping weather…do something unexpected and special. It will brighten your day and uplift your spirits!

From my cottage to yours ~ Trenda

"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom..."  Isaiah 35:1

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