garden Archives - Floradise

08/22/2018

Summer Stroll at the Chicago Botanic Garden

If you’re ever going through a stressful time, a walk around the Chicago Botanic Garden might be in order. I was overwhelmed and emotional recently, and I finally asked for help. My mother-in-law drove to Chicago to spend a week with us helping in any way she could. And boy did she help. She worked on our yard. She took the girls to the park so I could get work done or shower. She helped feed and take care of both of them. She helped Graham empty and clean our old apartment so he could turn over the keys. And most importantly she was there for us as emotional support. On one of her last days here we decided to thank her with a trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden. She is a garden and nature lover (It runs in the Flora family!), so we knew she would be in heaven.

It happened to be the most perfect summer day for a family walk. I had only ever visited the garden during the fall and I enjoyed seeing it in a different yet just as colorful season. Lately I have been gathering ideas from all sorts of sources on how to update my front and back yards as well as my home. The Chicago Botanic Garden is the perfect place to get that inspiration.

I felt right at home in the cactus greenhouse, one of several greenhouses at the garden. V, who is herself an Arizona girl like me, was right at home, too.

I fit right in walking around another greenhouse with my palm print shorts.

We had lunch at the cafe in between exploring Chicago Botanic Garden. I gobbled up a garden burger in 10 seconds flat. It was delicious!

We let the garden paths led us around to our next discovery. V wanted to carry around our map, which we didn’t really use. After walking around for what seemed like miles, we made a pit stop in the gift shop, where my sweet mother-in-law bought us a pineapple plant to add to our collection. She really is an angel.

I think after this visit the garden became my favorite place in the Chicago area. Honestly, I could share about a hundred more photos of this place, but you should really just experience it for yourself. And lucky for me we liver closer to it now that we bought our home.

Chicago Botanic Garden has free admission but parking is $20 or more. It’s definitely worth it!

Have you been to the Chicago Botanic Garden?

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Night of 1,000 Jack-O’-Lanterns

Fall at Chicago Botanic Garden

08/16/2018

Free in Chicago: Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory

I’ve wanted to visit Lincoln Park Conservatory since we moved to Chicago three and a half years ago, but I didn’t make it until this summer. My cousins visited for a week recently and I thought they’d enjoy Lincoln Park Zoo.

The Lincoln Park Zoo and the Lincoln Park Conservatory are both free. I would suggest both to visitors and locals looking for affordable things to do in Chicago, especially for families. You can pack lunches and enjoy your food just about anywhere, and you can save by either taking public transit or using SpotHero to find a lower-cost parking spot nearby. (Parking at the zoo is a bit expensive at $20-$35.) Use my SpotHero link and you can get a $7 credit!

There are upgrades happening at the zoo right now, including improvements to the lion enclosure. It was a 90-degree and humid day, so after strolling along and enjoying shaved ice, I suggested going into the conservatory for some shade.

I could have spent a lot longer wandering around the conservatory and the zoo if it weren’t too warm for the baby to be outside that long. I suggest that you have kiddos in strollers you bring a clip-on fan and plenty of sun protection during the summer. We took many breaks in the shade, too.

The conservatory is beautiful and peaceful.

You can find plenty of picnic and photo opportunities outside of the Lincoln Park Conservatory, too! I love finding new views of the city that I haven’t seen before.

Have you visited the Lincoln Park Zoo or Conservatory? Add it to your Chicago list!

Lincoln Park Zoo Visit

Lincoln Park Zoo, Take 2

Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago

09/04/2017

Let’s Dabble: DIY Terrarium Class in Chicago

** I received a Dabble credit as part of the Super Dabbler ambassador program. I was a fan of Dabble before joining the program.

As a self-proclaimed crazy plant lady, I find myself drawn to any Dabble.co class that involves plants. I’ve recently taken an air plant class with LeeLee’s Gardens and loved my creation, so I wanted to try my hand at terrarium making. I selected the Black Thumb: A DIY Terrarium Workshop last week, and I was not disappointed!

The class cost $40 and was held in Sideshow Gallery’s backyard in Chicago. Sideshow carries little trinkets that you can purchase for your terrarium, along with art, antiques, crystals, and many other items. In the backyard was a work station setup with all the materials we would need to build our terrariums: soil, activated charcoal, rocks, sand and more. We did, however, have to bring our own vessel, but we had the option of purchasing one there if we needed one. (I picked up a glass vase at Target for about $5 before class. Fellow class members suggested JoAnne Fabric stores for vessels.)

The instructor, Chantal Johnson, who can be found on Instagram at @iplanthomes, greeted us and offered us beer while we waited for class to begin. She began class with about an hourlong discussion of succulents and how to care for them, and I learned a ton of things I am doing wrong with my own plant babies, as she called them. Her passion for succulents and plants in general was contagious. A nice touch was that she offered paper and pens to take notes on during the lecture. I filled up almost a full page with my notes.

After sharing all the information we needed to know, she demonstrated how to create a terrarium using all the materials we had available. By this time it was starting to become dark as the sun had set (I’m not ready for fall!), but we used lights and candles so we could see. I was eager to get started, and we had about 45 minutes to build our terrariums. I found that it was quite a quick process to make one.

After the demo we walked over to a table with the succulents to pick our new plants. For my terrarium Ichose three adorable succulents (included in the class fee), moss, sand and green pebbles to go along with the other materials. I was unsure about the correct amount of rocks and soil to include, but the instructor walks around and helps you out when needed. She also checks that your succulents are planted well.

I was happy with the way it came out and can’t wait to make another terrarium again soon!

Among some of the tips we learned:

Keep a watering log and notes on your plants.
Check your soil to see if watering is necessary.
Succulents prefer indirect light.
Water succulents one or two days before planting.

Considering this terrarium class or another Dabble class? Remember that you can use code MARETTE10 at checkout to save some cash. I do not make any money from your use of this link, but I want to offer you a discount! Dabble classes are available in Chicago, Austin, St. Louis, Seattle and many other cities. (The list is growing!) Also, if you have ever considered teaching your skill to others, you can sign up to host your own classes.

Have you ever made a terrarium? Watch my short video below!

Previous Dabble classes:

08/03/2017

Air Plant Birdhouse | Clutter Into Art

**This post contains affiliate links. I make a small commission on purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. Thanks for supporting my blog!

Graham recently brought home a birdhouse that our neighbors didn’t want anymore. Great, I thought, more stuff! You know how I feel about excess stuff in my home. (In case you don’t: I hate it!) But last week we came up with an idea for what to do with it. He wanted to make it look like the moss little house we bought at the Glenwood Arts Festival last year and I immediately got up, grabbed the reindeer moss we had left from my vertical air plant garden, and started glueing.

Now that I think about it, he was probably trying to trick me into decorating it for him, but that’s OK. I actually enjoyed doing it, and it didn’t take long at all. You can find a birdhouse to decorate at a crafts store. This triple birdhouse is affordable.

I started by using the purple moss we had left. I found ours at Gethsemane Garden Center in Chicago, aka heaven, but you can also find it online or at a crafts store.

I had some orange left over as well, so I alternated between orange and purple. I used the same glue for air plants as I did for my air plant garden. (E6000 craft glue works, too.) If you have unused plastic flatware from when you order takeout, you can use it to smooth the glue evenly over the surface. (Or use whatever tool you have to do this.) Note: I recommend wearing gloves when working with colored moss because it dyes your fingers. Trust me, I learned this the hard way. It comes off, of course, but still.

Getting the moss in the inner parts of the roof was tricky. I used a plastic knife to smooth glue over it evenly and then pushed pieces of moss on little by little.

When I ran out of moss, we headed back to Gethsemane because it occurred to me that I should get some air plants to put inside all the little doors and windows, plus two on the sides. I used the smallest air plants I could find for the windows, slightly larger ones for the doors and two larger plants on the sides. Play with the placement of the air plants before glueing.

I glued the air plants on first and then found some green moss to put around the bottom of the house, but in hindsight I would have glued that moss on first.

Not counting the time it took us to drive to the garden center, the entire project took me about 25 minutes, if that long. I turned something I viewed as clutter into a part of our little indoor garden, and now I wouldn’t dare get rid of it.

That’s something I’ve been discovering lately about things to declutter. I notice some things I don’t really care about and donate or toss, while others just need a little bit of love to be useful and/or beautiful again.

Have you done any crafts or gardening lately? Tell me about it in the comments!

Shop birdhouses:

07/03/2017

New Plants & Making Another Air Plant Garden

** This post contains affiliate links. I make a small commission for purchases made through these links.

I flew back from Phoenix on Friday night and didn’t hop into my own bed until 2 a.m., but somehow I was not completely wiped on Saturday. I took my time getting settled and then Graham proposed a trip to our favorite garden shop to buy a flower pot for our second bonsai tree. It’s been in its plastic packaging since we bought it, and that’s just unacceptable.

I asked Graham if we were just looking for pots when we walked into Gethsemane Garden Center, but he told me he couldn’t make any promises. Soon enough he was browsing the bonsai collection in the greenhouse and eyeing a plumeria tree.

Meanwhile, I picked up the essentials to create my own vertical air plant garden at home. I wanted to make another so I could hang it beside the one I made at my recent Dabble class with LeeLee’s Gardens.

Here’s what I bought to make my air plant garden:

Purple reindeer moss ($5.99)
Green reindeer moss ($5.99)
Cork bark ($12.99)
Four air plants in various sizes ($2.99-7.99)
Tilly Tacker air plant glue ($9.99) or E6000 craft glue

Notes: You don’t really need two colors of moss, and I have a ton left over to make about 10 more gardens if I wanted to do so. I also now have the glue for other projects. If you happen to live in an area where air plants grow you wouldn’t have to pay the prices I did. Also, you could probably find them in other stores for less, but we like the quality of the plants we purchase at Gethsemane, and we notice plants just seem more expensive in Chicago than other places. You can also find a variety of sizes of cork bark online for different prices. I like that the piece I bought already had hardware to hang it, so I didn’t need to purchase that.

How I made my air plant gardens:

Screw your hardware (screw eye hooks) onto the back of the cork bark. Space them equally and toward the outer top corners of the cork bark. You can use fishing line, twine or whatever other material you like to loop and tie through the hooks and use for hanging. You could also just screw the hardware on the top of the cork bark if you prefer to hang it that way. This is how my newest cork bark came.
Pick your air plants based on what the cork bark looks like. It has nooks in various sizes and places, and those are natural spots to place air plants and moss. Design your layout of the plants first. I like having a large air plant, a medium size one and one to three small ones.
Decide where you want to place moss and other decoration. You can stick the moss in with or without glue. (Tweezers or a pointy object can help stick the moss on.) In class I didn’t use glue, but this time I decided to put a tiny bit of glue down first before glueing the moss on.
Place glue on the bottom of the air plant and place the air plant onto the cork bark/moss. Repeat with the rest of your air plants.
Leave it resting on a flat surface and wait about 12 hours for it to dry.
Hang and enjoy!

We repotted the bonsai into our new addition, and it looks beautiful! We actually saved money buying the bonsai apart from the pot. Already potted bonsai trees can be anywhere from $50-350 or more depending on the size and type.

Other than that, we bought tiny foliage for about $3 to replace the only one we have ever lost from this shop. We also picked up some succulents from both Gethsemane and Lowe’s recently. We have yet to place some of these together in a pot, but garden planning is a process!

How we save money on plants at Lowe’s:

This is probably not a secret to anyone, but we pick up plants that are on clearance because they are struggling and bring them back to life. We have done this many times. Sometimes all it takes is placing them under a grow light or in the actual sun. Typically we get these for $1 each to $5 if they come in a nicer pot.

All of these are from Lowe’s except the orange celosias, which were about $3.49 for a six-pack at Gethsemane.

Do you enjoy gardening? How are your plants doing?

06/28/2017

Yogi Surprise June Box Review

** This subscription box was sent to me for free. This post contains affiliate links. I make a small commission if you make a purchase through these links.

I was so excited to receive the June Yogi Surprise lifestyle box last week. Today I’m sharing the details on what was inside, as well as my thoughts on the subscription box.

Yogi Surprise offers both lifestyle and jewelry boxes. The prices for each include shipping and are as follows: $24.95 for the jewelry subscription box and $44.95 for the lifestyle box. The lifestyle box I received contained six full-size yoga-lifestyle inspired items. The jewelry subscription box contains two handmade (and fair trade) pieces and an organic treat. The retail value of each lifestyle box is $70 or more, while the jewelry box has a value of $65 or more.

Here’s what was in my June lifestyle box:

Adora Mood Boost Chakra Roll on ($12): Made of organic ingredients including jojoba, lavender, and flower essences. I immediately put this in my purse.

The Chakra Bible ($14.99): It has so much information about the chakras and how to get them in balance. I am excited to dig into this more on my flights to and from Phoenix this week. The card that came in the box says this book helps you “work with these energetic hotspots to heal and harmonize” your body.

Mavi Bands No-Slip Headband ($14.99): The headband comes in a bright summer colors. I am not a huge headband person but I’m interested to try this one to see if it really is non-slip.

Mat Intentions Three-Pack ($10.50): I love the idea of using these intention tags to visualize your intention. You can attach these to your mat or whatever other surface, such as a mirror.

High Mowing Organic Seeds, Herb Gift Box ($15): I was really excited to see these because I have been wanting to add more to my garden.

Foods Alive Fax Crackers, Italian Zest ($7): These zesty crackers would be great on a salad. They were better than I expected. They are Non-GMO and high in fiber.

The box also contained a card with a six yoga pose sequence to do for the summer solstice. It is easy to follow and has illustrations. High Mowing included a promo code to get 10 percent off your first order: YOGI2017 at checkout. Mavi Bands included a promo for 40 percent off with code YOGISURPRISE.

The total value of the items in the June box is $74.48. Overall, I liked the items in the box, especially the chakra book and the herb gift box. I am not sure if I would regularly purchase the crackers or headband, but I think if you’re into the yoga lifestyle you might enjoy discovering brands that align with your values and interests. I also think this box would make a great gift, even for just a couple of months!

There are ways to get free boxes or save on a box. First, if you refer three friends, you receive a free box. Also, if you share a photo of your box on social media and tag Yogi Surprise you could win a retreat! The May winner received a trip to Costa Rica! Lastly, I am including my affiliate link in this post as well as the ability to get 15 percent off for the life of your subscription with the code YOGILOVE.

If you try this subscription, let me know what you think! Is there an item in this box you’d like to try?

06/26/2017

Testing a Tutorial: Growing a Plant from an Avocado Seed

You probably have seen the countless pins on Pinterest sharing how to grow an avocado plant from a seed. The tutorials and graphics typically involve a jar and toothpicks. While I am sure that method works, the way I use differs and is much easier, in my opinion. I found it through a Google search and it’s also been pinned many times, but it’s not as popular, it seems. Perhaps a photo of a plastic bag isn’t as pin-worthy? At any rate, I have tested this tutorial many times: Not only do you get to enjoy a delicious avocado, but you can also add to your garden!

How to grow avocado plants:

After you eat the avocado, clean the seed completely by rinsing it with water. (The original tutorial said to let the seed sit on a windowsill for two days after rinsing, but I didn’t do this. I just let it dry.)
Take one paper towel and wet it lightly; it doesn’t need to be drenched.
Wrap the paper towel around the avocado.
Place the seed into a resealable zipper bag. Date the bag with a marker to remember when you did this.
Place the bag outside on a patio or on a windowsill where it will get plenty of light.
Check on the seed every week to make sure it hasn’t dried out or rotted. You might need to replace the wet paper towel at some point. Make sure the paper towel stays moist.
In about four to six weeks, unwrap the seed and check whether it has split. If not, wrap it back up and place it back in the bag. Check in another week.
When you finally see a little sprout coming out, it’s time to plant it.
Fill a small pot with soil and place the seed halfway in it with the sprout on top and any roots on the bottom.
Water it daily (Keep the soil moist but not drenched.) and let it continue getting sun.
Enjoy! You won’t get avocados from it, but it’s nice to look at!

Right now I just have one plant because the previous plants died, one in an unfortunate accident in which it was knocked over and others due to moving or the winter. I only grew one each time but you can certainly do a few at a time and plant them together. One in particular was quite large when it died, so I was sad about it. But luckily it’s easy to grow another! I currently am working on growing three more in addition to the one above.

If you do this, let me know how it works for you!

06/16/2017

Let’s Dabble: Make & Sip Vertical Air Plant Garden

** As a Super Dabbler, I received a Dabble credit for this class. I was a fan of Dabble before becoming an ambassador, and all opinions are always my own.

My latest Dabble adventure was creating an air plant garden at a LeeLee’s Garden pop-up class at Hotel Lincoln. I was intrigued by the idea of working with air plants and I love anything garden-related, so this class was calling my name when I saw it on Dabble’s calendar.

I loved the venue as soon as I walked into the Hotel Lincoln lobby. It has such quirky decor and a fun vibe. The class was held in the Grant Suite on the second floor.

The instructor was lovely and a pleasure to chat with. We started by talking about air plants and where they are typically found (humid climates like Florida and some parts of California in the U.S.). I was able to select my own piece of cork bark, and I loved my choice! We added fish link to the back for easy hanging on a wall at home. Then it was time to pick four or five air plants, depending on the size of your bark and the size of the air plants. I played around with the placement of the air plants and even switched out some of my choices before it was time to glue them to the bark. Because the glue times some time to fully dry, it’s best to keep the air plant garden flat overnight before hanging, as was suggested by the instructor.

Now came the fun part of decorating with moss. I chose purple and a bright green to add in strategic little nooks on the bark. You can bring little items to add if you want, or use what is provided in class. Oh, and I almost forgot: You can bring a beverage to sip on as you create a beautiful air plant garden!

It makes a fun night out for friends or could be a date night for plant-loving couples. It also occurred to me during class that the air plant garden could be a great Father’s Day gift for Graham because he loves anything that has to do with flora.

The value of the $45 class is pretty darn good considering you get a large piece of homemade living art to take home and you have two hours to create your masterpiece.

Considering this air plant garden class or another Dabble class? Remember that you can use code MARETTE10 at checkout to save some cash. Dabble classes are available in Chicago, Austin, St. Louis, Seattle and many other cities. (The list is growing!) Also, if you have ever considered teaching your skill to others, you can sign up to host your own classes.

Previous Dabble classes:

04/28/2017

Plant Collection & Earth Day Plant Haul

The best way to spend a morning is on the patio drinking coffee, basking in the sunshine and enjoying the company of my plant babies.

I recently got ahead of myself and started planting my little patio garden. It was the first nice day in Chicago so you could probably understand my excitement. I just couldn’t wait anymore!

We have two patios at our apartment. In the front (facing the building’s garden), we plant the flowers and other plants, and we grow our veggies on the back patio. (Sometimes if we have a plant that requires more sun I will move it from patio to patio, though.) I’ve read that it’s smart to have flowers in your vegetable garden to attract bees, so I plan to move at least some flowers to the back.

We kept most of our plants alive over the winter with the help of a grow light. We moved all the non-veggie plants inside into a corner of our living room. The only plants we lost: an avocado plant, a succulent that was accidentally ripped out, and morning glories.

These were most of the plants we started with, including a bonsai tree, bamboo and succulents.

Lowe’s Plant Haul

Our first additions this year were Dianthus plants, tulips and pansies.

Our veggie seedling choices were red, yellow and green peppers; jalapenos; lettuce; spinach; strawberries; and tomatoes.We grow these, with the exception of the tomatoes and strawberries, in the Patio Pickers garden bed** (ours doesn’t have the wheels). I decided not to grow basil and oregano this year because last year I ended up with excess amounts of them and I don’t really need that much of either.

The strawberries are in the container they came in for now.

We use two of the Patio Pickers containers.

Edible Plant Sale Haul

After my initial veggie seedling shopping trip in early April, I wanted to add more. The first weekend of the Peterson Garden Project’s Edible Plant Sale took place on Earth Day weekend, so we paid it a visit to see what we could find. The line was already snaked around the one-room sale when we arrived just after opening time, so we quickly grabbed a few plants: chives, garlic chives, red onion and cilantro. I would have grabbed more, but we are limited on space. What was important to us was supporting a local organization that gives back to the community.

We reused small pots we already had to plant them.

Gethsemane Garden Center, Chicago

We next headed to our favorite garden shop in Chicago to find more flowers and other plants. Gethsemane Garden Center is a magical place.

Their greenhouse has an amazing selection of succulents and bonsai trees, two of our favorites. When we walked into the greenhouse, Graham said, “I could spend all my money here.” He was in heaven. After much deliberation, Graham decided on a water jasmine pre-bonsai tree and a bamboo palm.

I decided to put together more potted succulents like I did last summer. I grabbed four of the bigger succulents and a pretty blue/green pot to be their new home. Victoria picked out yellow snapdragons and I loved some red Ranunculus. I also picked up more mini potted plants to replace what was killed over the winter.

I still need to find cute pots for these.

Victoria loved shopping for plants. She gravitated toward yellow flowers.

These orchids were beautiful, but Graham recently bought me some.

Potting your own succulents

Instead of paying a ton of money for potted succulents or terrariums at farmers market, I use what I see an inspiration to make my own. You can find succulents at any garden shop for about $3-8 each depending on the size. Then find a nice pot you love and plant them yourself. Planting advice is plentiful on Pinterest, though I question some ideas I saw recently, like placing them on a shelf where it looked like they didn’t get much light. I love most of the ideas as long as the babies are getting the sun they need.

My humble advice on transferring succulents to a new pot:

Wear gloves, duh!
Plant the largest succulent first.
Place your largest succulent first and work around it.
If it helps, draw out where you want them to go.
Spray the soil with water first. Then place, add more soil and spray with water again.
It may also be a good idea to keep the succulent in the pot it came in and place that in a larger pot. You can then top with soil or pebbles.

What are you growing this year?

03/24/2017

Chicago Spring Bucket List

Spring is finally here, though Chicago has yet to get the memo. The only way I can get through the remaining weeks (days, I wish) of this weather is to plan all the fun spring activities I want to do this season. Thus, another Spring Bucket List is born!

My Spring Bucket List:

Take three Dabble classes. I have my eye on a summer cocktail class, a jewelry-making class and hopefully at least one other. As I’ve said before, Dabble is a great way to find your next hobby and you can use code MARETTE10 to get 10 percent off your first class! You can take Dabble classes in the spring or any season!
Plant my garden. We’ll be heading to our favorite gardening shop soon to pick out way too many plants and garden supplies. I CAN’T WAIT.
Volunteer at the community garden. The Petersen Garden project in Chicago has countless opportunities to volunteer during the spring.
See Hamilton Chicago! I bought tickets to Hamilton months ago and our show date is quickly approaching. This will be a highlight of the season.
Run the Chicago Spring Half. I have about nine weeks to train for the Chicago Spring Half. It was a fun race last year and I like that we got a free plant to take home.
Go to as many Cubs games as possible! Enough said.
Visit the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. I haven’t been there, but it’d be a nice place to practice my photography skills this spring.
Go to a farmers market. Fresh veggies from local farmers — what could be better?

What’s on your spring bucket list? Need some inspiration. Find some ideas below!