{OUR FIBERGLASS WINDOW BOXES}

You did see already our Fiberglass Flower Boxes in some of the garden photos but now I want to share them with you more in depth. We do have ours for some ten years now so that is long enough to know what their quality is so I'm confident to share them with my readers. Okay, found my invoice and they are actually from February 21, 1996 - that is the 8Ft ones in the photo below and the other 3Ft and 5FT from our bay windows are from October 14, 1996. They came from Flower Framers of Cincinnati ←(click it) in Cincinatti, OH. These Fiberglass Window Boxes do come in White, Hunter Green and Satin Black; look here for The Ultimate Flower Box ←click it and scroll down) as there are 15 other color options besides white.

Due to their larger size they are a far better choice for any plant variety; that creates so to speak a nice buffer. We do live in the southeast where the climate can be rather harsh. The smaller sized window boxes never delivered the performance we get from these. Even with tender perennials such as our prized Verbena Silver Anne we have been able to keep them alive even during cold winters. Just showing you these Verbena Silver Anne in full bloom on the photos below, one more in detail and one full length on our retainer wall next to the drive way.  

They are made out of maintenance-free lightweight fiberglass. For more information please look here at Flower Framers of Cincinnati ←click it. Their drainage system (very visible in the center photo; on the side you see the two holes) is a great feature as well. We also do have them, as you saw earlier in the garden tour, on our bay window of the kitchen and on the side of our veranda. This photo shows the smallest size we have on one of the two bay window sides. Plants thrive extremely well inside these boxes as is evidence in the next close-up.

{AGRITURISMO & GERANIUMS - PELARGONIUM}

Guess I forgot one important fact with a great photo, when I got drifted all the way back into my childhood, writing my previous post...

Okay, here it is: those pretty salmon red Pelargonium, geraniums with their great childhood scent... were given to Pieter for one of his birthdays by our dear friends Heinz & Maria. We treasure them and the geraniums are very loyal plants too; blooming inside the greenhouse already before getting out into the real world!

We have given the geraniums, after the initial year, a nice planter each and proudly put them at the entrance of our gazebo. Very inviting to have the afternoon tea there or just to read, or whatsoever one is up to. A very favorite spot for us and for our guests as well.

Now I want to reveal our dear friends to you... They are Heinz Krassnig, a native from Austria, and Maria Runggaldier, a native from Italy. Both are running here a very special type of B & B Dublin Farm Come Home To The Country . Quite different from the usual B & B as it is following the Italian agriturismo idea. Okay, let me explain that more in detail to you. At the time we lived in Italy, we did go for lunch with another Dutch gentleman Gerard Derks, who lived there for many years and was in the very same business. He knew the countryside a lot better than we as newcomers so it was surprising each and every time when he took us to a rural area, to an old farmstead or such and yet it was a restaurant. That is the aspect of agriturismo. Please read more details here at Heinz & Maria's Dublin Farm Come Home to the Country. You will be surprised for finding a touch of Tuscany in the heart of Georgia! Whenever we feel like getting homesick, longing for the great food in the northern region where we lived and worked, just 45 minutes out from Venice, at the foothills of the Dolomites, we have dinner at Ristorante da Maria and get cured! She is the best Lady Chef in the region and we have eaten at quite a number of restaurants world wide having been international consultants for so many years, so we know how to compare and how to judge. Maria makes everything from scratch and it is fresh! If anyone of you is ever traveling south into Florida or wherever you go, get off the I-95 or I-75 and veer off to I-16. We are located half way between Atlanta and Savannah so that is a very nice break if you're making a long trip. We would love for you to experience this! And... for the European readers, with their strong Euro, why not have a flight into Atlanta or even Savannah (cheaper air fare!) and visit this area? We are only six hours driving distance away from Orlando, Florida and four hours away from the mountains of North Georgia and the best of all; two hours away from the beach!

Georgia on my mind and hopefully I put it also on your mind as well! Welcome anytime and you can visit me for a tea/coffee in the gazebo ~ promise!

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GERANIUMS BRINGING BACK CHILDHOOD MEMORIES | previous post by me

{GERANIUMS BRINGING BACK CHILDHOOD MEMORIES}

Ever since my husband did take out the many planters from the greenhouse I had the idea to compose this blog for a special reason. When I stood there with the beautiful salmon red geraniums in my hands, all of a sudden by its very smell I went back to my early childhood... But first of all, let me grab a perfect vase for these darlings to show them off to you!

Okay, here they are in a Sancoussi Ivory Rose by Rosenthal vase as part of my dessert china from Replacements Ltd once bought for hosting a French Tea party. Are they not lovely? Well, I wish you too could pick up its typical geranium scent. Because of that, I did travel back in time... to The Netherlands.

Here I am, a little girl of maybe four or five years old, watching Mom cleaning our windows. The house had narrow tall windows with smaller panes inside and they were being opened from the center by pulling down a shiny brass handle so they came inwards into the room... There were indoor shutters, for closing to have privacy, and a rather wide window sill on which Mom kept her prized red geraniums. They could remain between the window and the shutters, once they got closed,  there was enough space.

At times the condensation did make the windows all wet and water had to run down into a special carved out mini-gutter which had one rounded opening in the center, that let the water out through the wall outward. At times we had to poke the hole free of some dirt or a fly that got trapped in there, using a knitting needle... We were quite inventive at that time!

Watching Mom do the window treatment was quite something! She used water with vinegar in it, a sponge (a real one from the ocean, which vendors sold door to door at that time!) and a chamois. The geraniums were taken down and were put on the table, making their scent fill the air even more so by the movements. Mom also vigorously did polish the brass handle of each window with Brasso. Yes, Brasso we were accustomed to in the Old World as well - at least this remained the same after immigrating! I still can sniff all these special scents of the vinegar in the water, the sour smell of the Brasso used on a cotton cloth and then the geraniums... oh I just LOVED them!

They will stay deeply engraved into my memory forever and that's why they live with us till today. We also have white geraniums, see picture below and later in the season I will introduce you to some very special red mini-rosebud form of geranium. Pelargonium is their botanical name.

Another proud member of the Pelargonium family though its scent is by far not the same as the above red ones. It doesn't trigger my childhood memories as such and by the way, Mom had RED ones, her favorite color as of today. Bless her heart, she is 86 years now and undergoing three times weekly her kidney dialysis in The Netherlands, for the third year now. We hope and pray that she will remain with us for some more time but only God knows!