The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here's an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 510,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 22 days for that many people to see it.
The Christmas light display, here at Whimsey Hill House, 2014
Wishing you the Merriest of Christmases, the Happiest of Hanukkahs, the most Joyous of Kwanzaas and the best of everything in the New Year!
Fred Gonsowski
Here are a few photos of this year’s holiday decorations Continue reading
Some things to think about when decorating a small house, condominium or apartment.
Fred Gonsowski Garden Home.com has reached the Three-Quarters of a Million point for Page Views/ Articles Read.
If you are one of my followers, you have most-likely noticed that I’ve not posted anything since the beginning of August. My life has been filled with one project after another, along with a mountain and many big bumps in the road that have consumed all of my time, and made it virtually impossible for me to have time for anything except the essential things that I had to face at the moment; and I still have some more things that need my attention.
During the month of August, my garden never got weeded nor watered once, and the only plants that got the smallest bit of my attention were the things in containers. When it came time to pick the fruits from the neglected tomatoes plants, I called up my neighbor and offered them all to her, just to not have them completely go to waste.
During the month of July I took a lot of photos of my garden, and those photos are still in the camera. When I have time, the next post up (hopefully sometime in October???), I will show you all how nice the garden looked before the weeds kind of took over.
Right now I want to go over the three pages that are provided daily by WordPress that show how things are going with my blog, and even without my love and attention, at this moment in time, my blog is doing really good. I see a lot of my readers are interested in the interior decorating and gardening topics that I’ve written since starting this website almost four years ago, so the posts have staying power. I think my blog has become a go place for the do it yourself person who wants to tackle projects, more than a place for that person who looks to be entertained. So now lets look at the statistics that WordPress gave me this morning when I turned on my computer for one minute. Continue reading
As seen on Redbookmag.com
Here I am at the entrance to the Farmers’ Museum; the Colonial Revival Styled Barn designed by Frank Whiting
The Farmers’ Museum is a private, non-governmental educational organization. The 19th century historic village that makes up the museum, and houses over 23,000 items, ranging from butter molds to the Cardiff Giant, is composed of buildings not initially built on the property, but gathered from rural communities around central New York State. All the restored buildings provide a glimpse into the commercial and domestic life led by rural people of the time.
Recently I attended the Member’s Meeting for the New York State Historical Association, which is on the campus that makes up The Farmers’ Museum and The Fenimore Art Museum, so I took my camera along. For this post I am showing you one of my favorite places The Farmers’ Museum. Hope you like my little tour. (Click on photos to expand images) Continue reading
The Front Garden here at Whimsey Hill House June 2014
June is a transitional and busy month in the garden. The many hundreds of daffodils that I’ve planted years ago (there used to be over a thousand) have finished blooming, and the perennials have all come up and are doing fine. The main colors in the June garden are pinks, blues, whites and purples that come from the peonies, iris, lupine, columbine and bleeding hearts that used to grow in my grandmother’s garden, and the different colors of the many perennial plant’s leaves; green, blue-green, chartreuse, burgundy and gray. I have many times thought that with the minimal amount of plants blooming, and with the different colors and textures of the plant’s foliage, there is kind of a Zen quality to the beds and borders at this time of year.
June is a super busy month for me, I seem to be working constantly. Besides all the perennials that come up yearly, there are tender bulbs and tubers like canna, elephant ear plants, dahlias and gladioli that I planted on or around May first that start showing up; as well as hundreds if not thousands of annuals that have self seeded from last year like cleome, amaranths, gloriosa daisies and cosmos to contend with, not to mention the pesky weeds and grasses that fill the beds and borders that have to be pulled out and thrown away.
This year I bought twenty six packages of different kinds of annual seeds that I planted up in pots at the end of April to plant in-between the perennials so there would be spots of constant color in the garden until the first frost. Last year I had success starting a few different packets of zinnias and cosmos seeds, so this year I thought I would try some other things. This year I planted many different varieties of zinnias, white and yellow marigolds, alyssum and sunflowers that all came up in abundance with no problems. I thought, when buying my seeds, why not grow things like Bells of Ireland, Brazilian Vervain (verbena) and Heliotrope (Dwarf Marine), you know, the kind of plants that you see selling for five dollars each at the garden center. I now know why they are priced at $5. Those kinds of plants are finicky as hell, and even when they sprout just sit there not wanting to grow a bit. Now I know what the phrase “Hot House Flower” refers to. Along with the annuals I started, I bought four flats of red salvia to plant at the garden’s edge and a lot of Wave Petunias and other things to fill the many hanging baskets, pots and planters that I plant up yearly. So now that I’ve almost completed my Spring planting, I want to show you what I’ve done so far. Continue reading
The PERFECT Centerpiece for a Picnic Table
Plant Hen and Chicks (Sempervivum) in old Cupcake or Muffin Pans
After buying my first few hen and chicks (sembervivum) I quickly found out their likes and dislikes. Sempervivum like sun. Hen and chicks don’t need or probably even want fertile soil to grow in, and above all else don’t want, like or need too much water. Over watering is the number one way to kill them; I learned that the hard way.
Years ago I bought an expensive and quite oddly beautiful sempervivum at the White Flower Farm in Litchfield, Ct. I got it home, planted it up in good soil, gave it a good drink and a week later it had died. The plant was perfectly healthy when I bought it, but too much of my “Tender Loving Care” killed it. I now know less is more when it pertains to hen and chicks, as they don’t know when to stop taking in water, which over hydrates the plant, which brings on its demise.
This post is about planting up hens and chicks in cupcake, muffin or popover tins, here is how I planted up mine. Continue reading
One more unusual thing catching Martha Stewart’s eye at Trade Secrets
Trade Secrets started in Bunny Williams and her husband John Rosselli’s back yard (country estate) in Falls Village, Ct. Bunny is a nationally known interior designer, author of books on interior decorating and gardening, and has lectured, her husband John is a well-known antiques dealer, and together they own Treillage on 75th Street in NYC. When she had a few too many (extra) plants in her greenhouse, Bunny thought why not sell them for charity, so the Woman’s Support Service was called in, along with some local and regional plant purveyors and garden antiques dealers. The group joined together with their offerings, invited in the local and regional people and a stellar gardening event was born. The Trade Secrets plant sale quickly outgrew Bunny and John’s property so it moved on to the Wake Robin Inn, then it migrated to the estate of Elaine LaRoche called “LionRock Farm” in Sharon, Ct where it is held now. From its conception, Trade Secrets has grown into a world-class display of the best of the best, with now 60 venders displaying the most unusual treasures ever seen. Trade Secrets is like going shopping through 60 of the most unique and upscale stores in one day, while enjoying the fresh country air and magnificent views from Elaine LaRoche’s LionRock Farm. Continue reading
An Easy to make Trellis for Climbing Vines
Here at Whimsey Hill, I have a dozen or so clematis and some decorative trellises that I’ve picked up over the years, but most of my vine supports are much less fancy. To me, a fancy trellis is fine in certain places in the garden, but most of the time I think it should be about the plant, not what it grows up on. This post is about how I make my inexpensive trellises for the clematis and morning glory vines I grow in my garden. Continue reading
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