Tagged: lavender

The Garden x

This was the dream:  Box hedging filled in with lavender, off set with a white climbing rose.  Simple.  Effective.  And then the Box Moth caterpillar arrived en masse and started to do it’s worst.

I tried – I went round each plant, taking off the beasts and cutting back all the plants, then hosed them down with the pressure hose, all to no avail.  The buggers came back.  So drastic action was needed..all the box plants have gone.  My flowerbeds are a wasteland with nothing more than a couple of brave shoots. I’m desperate to re-plant and nows the time to do it, but as you can see, the fence needs replacing (the neighbours have been building an extension) it will happen, and quite soon..but nothing can go back till it does or risk builders-boot-annihilation.  I hope there will still be enough time to get some summer colour…

This is the plan..when the green light does shine I’m going for blousey minimalist (I think this could be a new ‘thing’)..filling the entire bed with lavender plants and one white climbing rose.

I keep telling myself dreaming is good.

Laters, Kate x

Make it x

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Remember these beauties? For me a hark back to the eighties but the concept must actually be a lot older.  I was looking for something to naturally moth proof wardrobes and drawers when inspiration dawned.  A quick check on Ebay proved invaluable..they still existed and this little lot were bought in a bulk buy. The relative quiet of half term was the perfect time to renovate their little interiors..


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Some of them had beautiful vintage labels that we managed to gently peal away.

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Lots of the pomanders had a blingy gold loop so grosgrain ribbon has to be an upgrade. We found the easiest way to replace this was to feed both ends of the ribbon in through the top and pull them through with a pair of tweezers.

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You need to pull the two ends through leaving as little ribbon as possible on the top. We found the tweezers used as a brace was a wise thing to do.  Then just knot ends together and pull the loop back out again.

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After attempts with funnels, the best way to fill the pomanders was with a little jug.  We used lavender and essential oils.

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For those pomanders missing their bottoms we cut out discs from vintage material and simply glued them on.

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Strangely satisfying with a definite whiff of pure nostalgia. To be recommended.

Laters, Kate x