My potted garden

I truly love this time of year! The flowers are just getting ready for one more big bloom before fall, and I just can't wait until the Staghorn Sumac behind it begins to change.  Planting in pots is necessary here because we live on almost pure gravel.  I am lucky to have a good source of large pots from Paul.

I can rearrange the pots as the plants develop.  I just love my morning plant watering and taking care of the various plants. Some are my house plants that spend the summer outside, and there is a section that is still sunny that is full of Blazing Stars and different colors of Yarrow that come in after the Iris and Lillies are done.

Yarrow and Blazing Stars in the sunny spot

New pots from the June firing

The photo today is a new plate from the June firing.  This is a big platter measuring 15 inches across.  This is one of  my most involved designs that requires many layers of slips and glazes before being fired in the wood kiln and glazed with salt added at the end of the firing.  

This is pretty much what today looked like in the woods around the green swamp.  Gardening and yard work has kept us busy this summer, and I am so happy with my front yard flower and herb garden.  Paul filled the two chamber kiln by himself and firing was a family deal in June.   The kiln is at our neighbors, and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to fire in it while we continue to build our own.  One chamber is for salt glaze and the other , the first chamber is just stoneware. In order to fill it faster , Paul made some large planters to fill the stoneware chamber.  I acquired a couple with small cracks and have been cruising the green house end of season sales to fill them.

I have mixed more colors into the front garden this year,  because I fell in love with these petunias.

Every flower is a different combination of  a limey yellow and a rich magenta. I have added some more yellow and red to my usual purple pallette.    There is much satisfaction when I gaze at my flowers or weed out my veggies.  Summer is so fleeting in Minnesota, and  we have to savor every minute of it!