{White Petunias & Pansies in Fiberglass Window Boxes}

For the Easter Season it looks really nice to have our Fiberglass Window Boxes from the Flower Framers of Cincinnati (see link way below) filled with all white blooming flowers. At our Bay Window area of the kitchen we got White Petunias and alongside our Veranda we still have our White Pansies...

The window boxes at the Bay Window (3) are filled with White Petunias

Below you can see the tiles from our Patio where we keep now our Pot Plants, visible to the left...

Alongside the Veranda we got White Pansies as those were still very healthy.

The storm door is also from Vintage Woodworks, Texas.

Beautiful White Petunias!

Do you have any white planter box flowers?

Related links:
{Orange Michael Kors Bangle from Last Call Neiman Marcus} | previous post by me showing pansies
{Our Home with Aluminum Interlock Roofing and Benjamin Moore Golden Mist Exterior} | previous post by me
{Our Pansies in December} | previous post by me

{OUR FIBERGLASS WINDOW BOXES} | previous post by me

{Smelling the Verbenas} | previous post by me with Window Boxes detail and info

{Our Gardenia jasminoides 'Radicans'} | previous post by me showing window boxes

{Our Fiberglass Window Boxes & Double Cascade Pink Petunias} | previous post by me

{My Old-Time Spun Glass Halloween Ornaments} | previous post by me showing double cascade petunias

{Our Home of almost 20 years} | previous post by me

Flower Framers of Cincinnati | Source for Fiberglass Window Boxes

{Our Pansies in December}

Pansies are such a JOY to grow in the fall and winter season as they are so GIVING! 

Look here at Our Pansies in December:

Husband Pieter took these photos on December 3...

Fresh rain on their friendly 'FACES'

These white Pansies are in our Fiberglass Window Boxes alongside the retainer wall on our driveway.

These boxes are from Flower Framers of Cincinnati

Stepping back a bit further to show them better...

This is looking the other way, towards our fragrant double flowering Magnolia Grandiflora 'Namnetensis Flore Pleno' tree.

Do you have any flowering plants outside?

Related links:

{OUR FIBERGLASS WINDOW BOXES} | previous post by me

{Our Fiberglass Window Boxes & Double Cascade Pink Petunias} | previous post by me

{Our Liriope Muscari - Border Grass or Lily-turf}

Our evergreen tufts of arching grass-like plants around the driveway are called Liriope Muscari and common names are Border Grass (that's exactly what we use them for!) or Lily-turf. YES, they are a member of the LILY family and not actually a grass! Find more information below this post.

This photo is taken on August 1, and you can see how green our grass looks after all that rain!

Our Liriope Muscari Variegata or Lily-turf looked also quite happy.

We indeed use it as a Border Grass alongside our driveway!

In the top right corner you see the stem of our palm tree...

Do you have some Liriope Muscari Variegata either in purple or in white?

Related link:
Liriope muscari | Floridata link with info
Liriope muscari Variegata | link from White Flower Farm about the one we have in above pictures. It does thrive very well in northern regions too!

{Crocosmia}

On July 10, we could rescue some beautiful Crocosmia flowers from the rain. They were almost flat on the ground... but still pretty enough for filling a vase. Let me show them to you.

Here they are on the new Durango Ambra, Cerdomus GREEN Tiles from Italy, on top of our balcony.

The weather is rather dark  with all our rain for the last weeks on end.

Our grass has never looked that green.

Behind our pond you cannot even walk, so soggy and also near the creek...

Ah, a bit of sunshine, it looks brighter now!

The name Crocosmia comes from the Greek words for saffron (krokos) and smell (osme).

They are from the Iris family, native to the Cape area in South Africa.

Looking lovely in this plain Baccarat crystal vase.

There are so many varieties of Crocosmia that it is very hard to tell what exactly these are.

This is a closeup that I took on my desk in the office... 

Don't you love this beauty?

This one is taken on the window sill of our office where there was more light.

They look beautiful with so much detail...

Again, shown inside the vase on my desk.

Surprise! One looked quite different...

Do you have any Crocosmia flowers?

Related links:

{Our Cerdomus Italian GREEN Tiles} | previous post by me about our new tiles on balcony
Crocosmia | Info

{Our Victorian hybrid Pelargonium Rosebuds}

Regardless the heavy rain that we got from the beginning of June till now, we managed to have beautiful Victorian hybrid Pelargonium Rosebuds on June 7. Victorian hybrid features clusters of tiny double blossoms, like a mini bouquet of roses. In years past, the blooms were used for small corsages or to decorate a buttonhole. Have you ever seen them? 

Here you see in my silver Rose vase from left to right: the Geranium 'Pink Rosebud' (Pelargonium hybrid); 'Appleblossom Rosebud' and the 'Red Rosebud'. Below post you find link with address in Connecticut where we obtained also ours. There also is a link to a blogger in Norway with an even more extensive collection.

Not so easy to capture them during cloudy weather but this photo does show them clearly.

'Pink Rosebud' at the bottom; 'Appleblossum Rosebud' in the center and 'Red Rosebud' at the top.

Here is the 'Appleblossum Rosebud' Pelargonium budding inside our greenhouse...

'Pink Rosebud' Pelargonium budding inside our greenhouse.

This is a previous photo with the 'Red Rosebud' Pelargonium hybrid.

Yup, that's what my tiny silver vase is; from an antique silver handled walking stick...

Hope you enjoyed these mini rose bouquets!

Related links:

{Victorian hybrid Pelargonium 'Red Rosebud'} | previous post by me

Geranium 'Appleblossum Rosebud' (Pelargonium Hybrid) | information from Logee's Greenhouses for buying 

Wenche's Pelargoniumblog | in Norway extensive list of Rosebud Pelargoniums at Wenche's Pelargoniumblog.

{HAPPY EASTER to all my readers in 190 countries!}

• Wishing ALL my readers a very HAPPY EASTER! 
• Thanks for visiting my blog and let's hope that SPRING will start with this Easter Weekend! Literally a day of New Life.
• Showing you my cute Easter lambs that will hold a place card or menu. Together with my porcelain Villeroy & Boch egg vases. 

• Vintage egg platter that hold some of my porcelain Villeroy & Boch egg vases + real eggs.
• Easter lambs and chicken salt & pepper that goes with the egg platter.
• Don't you love these Victorian hybrid 'Rosebud' Pelargonium inside those egg vases?

• The linen and hand crocheted tablecloth is from friend Marianne. Her Aunt made it for her and she gave it to me.
• Those Victorian hybrid Pelargonium 'Red Rosebud' look just like real rosebuds!

• Wish we could have those Victorian hybrid 'Rosebud' Pelargonium year round!

• 'Appleblossom Rosebud' Pelargonium + real egg...

• Nowhere is the egg; symbol of New Life, better incorporated than here at the Kruisherenhotel in Maasricht, The Netherlands. 
• Just click here to see how they actually did integrate an EGG into their reception.
• May Easter be the true symbol of New Life and also the symbol of Spring for all that live in the Northern Hemisphere that is.
• Wishing you and your loved ones a very Happy and Meaningful Easter!

Related links:
{HAPPY EASTER to all my readers in 163 countries!} | previous post by me with more info about the Chateauhotels/Kruisherenhotel
{Happy Easter with Our Pelargonium 'Rosebud'} | previous post by me with more Pelargonium info
12½ jaar L1 - Amerikaanse president in Limburg | Château Hotel St. Gerlach where President George W. Bush stayed during his visit to Margraten in my Province of birth (part in English!)
Dutch Queen and Bush lead VE Day memorial | YouTube video

{Hand Knitted Easter Gift from Sister-In-Law}

The sweetest gifts are often those that are hand made. We call it here in the USA; Labor of Love. My sister-in-law, Elly Van den Munckhof did knit for me six cute egg warmers. A set of Easter Chickens for placing over a boiled egg. For years already, both of us don't eat eggs but I do use them over some special egg shaped Easter candles. Have a look...

Here they are; that is four out of six. 

The Chickens to the right had a bad hair-day...

I've only given them a new felt crest and silk organdy graduating ribbons around their neck.

They held up really well.

Elly did make the eyes from a glass bead.

Nice Easter grouping... except that the weather was actually too dark to make decent photos...

A tiny bud vase with blooming Pelargonium from our Green House. 

Because we will have frost on Tuesday night, our potting plants are still inside!

Dark days with a mean and cold wind...

The lazy Chick on the yellow plate we got one year in the mail from our 'German son' and family.

The lacquered and hand polished laser cut brass Egg window decorations are from Germany, Jech Kunstgewerbe.

FAKE Egg... it is a candle in a mini-terracotta pot with gold sparkle.

The top plate is from Blokker in The Netherlands where we bough them with my niece Maartje Van den Munckhof... Three out of four survived so far!

The tablecloth is all cotton Le Jacquard Français.

So what do you say about my Easter Chickens?

Related links:
{RARE ANTIQUE ROSE: JEANNE D'ARC (1818 FRANCE)} | previous post by me showing hand crocheted doily by Elly
{Our Garden's Winter Blooms for Christmas} | previous post by me showing hand crocheted doily by Elly
{Easter Season} | previous post by me showing the brass window decorations with link
{Our Organdy Beribboned, Porcelain and Brass Easter Eggs} | previous post by me showing the brass window decorations with link

{OUR EXCEPTIONAL VOSSEN INTERNATIONAL TERRY TOWELS}

Due to my severe back pain I have recycled this interesting post...

This is an exceptional post about something that got initiated by my husband Pieter, while he was taking care of laundry at the time I was too ill to do anything. He told me that I had to get back in touch with the company that made such extraordinary terry towels that held up for decades. TRUE, they have had at least their 34th birthday all together and lived up perfectly to the name in their label, which reads Vossen International. We took them from The Netherlands to the USA, from there to Italy and also they went with us to Indonesia and back home again to the USA. All the time happily together, lending us a soft and eager absorption any time we needed to towel dry. Well, let's start from the beginning... In The Netherlands at De Beddenspecialist in Venlo on Parade 37 we bought these kind of moss green towels, probably in 1978. Also wash hands (not the usual cloths they use here in the USA) and one large beach towel. Guess I got a total of some 18; one large beach towel and from several guest towels my seamstress in Indonesia did sew together more wash hands. Clever idea, they're just a tad longer than the original hands.

So there we go... I did look up on the Internet the company and found them in a heartbeat still producing their quality Vossen towels.

So I did contact them and got the nicest reply from Ms Nicole Neuhold in Austria, on March 29, 2009; requesting to send her some pictures... Well, that sounds like easy done but NOT so at our home for that time. My German build Miele washer had just quit working and my towels were all in the laundry bin; not ready for such a glamour shot! Pieter, being the handy man he always has proven to be, did change a fuse and it worked again! Only to quit a second time but he did find the problem and did bypass that for occurring ever again. My, was I glad for not yet having to give up on my Miele. So after all, there is a chance it will stay healthy and happy till past its 16th birthday on August 29, 2009. Talking about German quality; WOW!

Back to the terry towels, after they got their Miele treatment, I did fold them, brought them into the freshly cleaned bathroom and started putting them out for the glamour shots. After all, they will be presented to the very cradle where they came from long time ago, before traveling with us the world. But with some sunshine peaking through the windows and with putting my best foot forward, using all my newly-learned photo-lessons from Pieter, I did capture them nicely I think. First I want to introduce them to my blog readers and next, Nicole will get them delivered to her by electronic mail. It is super that my letter with photos will get a place in a kind of Vossen Museum!

Let's start with the year 1978 in which they got adopted... because we had green tiles in the bathroom then, it was the green theme for which the towels were chosen! These photos were taken in May of 1983 so the towel on the rack had already done five years of service then. We immigrated in August of 1983 to the USA.

Below, underneath the two old photos, taken at our home in Horst, The Netherlands, follow the ones taken now at our home in Georgia, USA. So all these towels are living proof to SUPER quality and we wonder IF they ever will give in at all...

Our Bathroom in Horst, The Netherlands with the moss green Vossen towels.

In our present bathroom... our Vossen wash hands.

Rolled up, ready for use...

Luxurious soap bars within reach

White Pelargonium in our Silver Rose Vase...

Ours indeed LIVED to be international, in three continents...

White pelargonium in silver rose vase.

{Our Phalaenopsis Orchid}

After you have seen how orchids did grow in Indonesia, under optimum conditions outdoors on our tropical patio, now I like to show you our Phalaenopsis Orchid that resides in the Veranda. Will also show you our Veranda soon...

A beautiful white one and such huge flowers. They bloom for months at a time!

With my hand for comparison...

Beautiful blooms.

At one time we had 17 orchids but we lost them while doing consulting work. 

The person taking care of them, had drowned all...

Since than we have not invested into that many again.

Husband Pieter's hand with the blooms...

Do you own some Phalaenopsis orchids too?

Related link:

{Our Tropical Patio with Orchids in Indonesia} | previous post by me

{Our Tropical Patio with Orchids in Indonesia}

• This time I am eager to show you Our Tropical Patio and Orchids in Wonosobo, Indonesia. 
• This will also prove that orchids only require the bare minimum for thriving well. 
• Come on in, step outside from our kitchen-dining area onto the tiled patio. 
• Our patio was walled in, for privacy as is very common in lots of countries. 
• Against that wall were boards of wood wool, on which orchids attached their aerial roots. 
• Also a larger planter box was there and some bonsai type tree in a pot.

• Orchid blooms are so rewarding!
• It gives you really the feeling of being in the tropics.
• At Singapore airport there are thousands of orchids in pots, all around. It makes you think you just went to heaven! But look at our own little heaven we had in Wonosobo, Indonesia...

• The green leafed plant (Hippeastrum Fragrantissimum) in the center, front to the right I will show in a future post as it has a story...
• Most of you recognize several house plants in this planter. Well, they grow like weeds in the tropics and we do pamper them indoors where they never thrive as well as in their natural habitat.
• High humidity; that is KEY.

• Tiled patio and this fixed large planter box and adjacent a little pot with bonsai tree.

• Another planter box and you see those boards with wood wool against the wall with the orchids.

• The entire wall was covered with those boards with wood wool and an enormous variety of orchids.

• Let's have a look at them.
• Have you ever seen them grow like this on a board of wood wool?

• They are a real study in beauty...

• All blooms are so different and also their leaves.

• Are they not a dream?

• We could not get enough of them...

• Such variety!

• Guess that fern is clinging onto the board of wood wool as well...
• By the way, above photo gives you a good view of that board.

• Such a soft cream with some tender lilac color...

• A completely different variety... in golden yellow.

• This one looks like an elegant, upside down cousin of the hyacinth...

• Not the best photo but I wanted to introduce you to this variety as well.

• Another beauty...

Like little bells.

At least you got an idea of the enormous Orchid variety we had.

They were no fussy plants for cultivating and such loyal bloomers.

We loved them and it sure made for a super spot for having our coffee after work; to unwind.

On Sunday we would read here and I did crochet on my filet lace curtains...

Yep, those rose curtains at the front door are made in Indonesia!

Many fond memories of paradise, besides our consulting job, which we loved too.

Did I convince you now for getting an orchid, or two?

Related links:
{Our Home in Wonosobo, Indonesia} | Previous post by me
{Dieng Plateau Indonesia - Where We Worked} | Previous post by me
{Our arrival in Jakarta, Indonesia} | Previous post by me
{Fly with us to Jakarta, Indonesia} | Previous post by me
{Updating my readers before getting to Jakarta} | Previous post by me