In for the winter

Although it's not really cold here yet, the nights are dipping into the 40s, so we decided over the weekend that it was time to bring the outdoor plants inside for the winter. Luckily, we have a huge picture window on the front of the house, which provides the perfect spot for some filtered sun.

This collection of plants includes some that were used in many mid-century homes in the 1950s and 60s, including a rubber plant, palm, and philodenron.

Bringing the outdoors in...literally

Follow these links to older posts on plants that create an authentic mid-century look:

Perfect plantings

More perfect plantings

It's paperwhites time!

Another favorite Christmas tradition of mine is having the delightful smell of paperwhites in the air during the holidays. My grandmothers and my mother always grew them when I was a child, and I've grown them myself most holidays during my adulthood.

If you've never had a paperwhites Christmas (or if you just need a refresher tutorial on how to force them), here's a great article that will get you started.

I just finished planting mine...in a Russel Wright bowl. Now there's nothing to do but make sure they have water and wait for the heavenly scent of their blooms.

homesteadgardens.com

Low bowl planters

I recently discovered several collections of modern fiberglass and resin low bowl planters at Plant Containers, and it was love at first sight. Finding an attractive modern planter can be a challenge, but this store has several.

We had a mix of coleus and kalanchoe in a low bowl on the patio this summer, and I think we'll be adding a few more next year, some for decorative plants and some for herbs. These are definitely being bookmarked.

Barkly fiberglass low bowl

Neometrics resin low bowl

Neometrics resin platform bowl

Meditation bowls

Changes at the Modernist Nest

For those of you new to Mid2Mod, I built a small house behind my main house a little over a year ago. My daughter and her family moved into the larger house, and I moved into what one longtime reader lovingly called "the modernist nest." One reader after another started calling it that, so the name stuck. (If you want to read my chronicle of the build process, Google "mid2mod construction saga" for the whole story.)

The little "yard" behind the Modernist Nest just underwent a redo. I put down black mulch last year after the construction was complete, primarily because it was a cheap, quick fix. I didn't put in grass, because the entire area is in almost constant deep shade from 60-year-old pecan trees.

The pecan trees turned out to be the culprits that made Plan B necessary, because mulch didn't hold up well to the constant blowing and raking of leaves and those pesky male pecan flowers called catkins...nasty little caterpillary-looking things that make a horrible mess. (If you have pecan trees, you know exactly what I'm talking about!) By the end of a year, most of the mulch was gone, swept away with pecan debris. On the other hand, we were able to use the leaf blower on the rocks in front of the house and keep them clean very easily.

As a result, I decided to replace the mulch in back with rocks, and the job was finished today. Here's a before and after of the yard.

Before: Loved the contrast in colors, hated the mess

After: Rocks!

After: Edging around my flowerbed
and vintage Russell Woodard outdoor furniture that may be going for a powdercoat soon

More plants for the modern home

Posts about plants that look good in a mid-century or contemporary home are usually popular, and it's been a long time since I've written one, so here are some photos I've run across recently that you might enjoy.

Succulents and cactus
etsy.com - thewoodybeckers

Cactus
iiispired.blogspot.com

Fiddle-leaf fig
flickr.com - dabito

Staghorn fern and orchid
thefreshexchangeblog.com

String of Pearls plant
etsy.com - PlantworksPDX

Split-leaf philodendron, palm fiddle leaf fig
tumblr.com - bohemianhomes

Ficus and philodendron
oldbrandnewblog.com

Moving-in day

No, we haven't found a new house. The moving-in around here is of the plant variety, since we finally had our first sub-freezing night earlier this week.

Now my little modernist nest looks more like a little modernist jungle, with plants everywhere. Some have permanent spots, while others have taken up temporary residence till I can figure out where to put them.

Even at 28 degrees (-2 C), the asparagus fern outside pulled through just fine. It's a good thing, because with bougainvillea taking up a good-sized portion of the walk-in shower, I didn't have a spot for a half dozen large hanging baskets full of fern and fallen pecan tree leaves.

One cactus planter finds a suitable home...

...while its prickly brother is right beside my computer.

For now, the bougainvillea is taking a shower whenever I do.

Baskets of asparagus fern are still looking for a warm place to live for the winter
...perhaps lined up on the shower's divider wall?

Let the sun shine

The landscaping project continues, if only in fits and starts. Our resolve to focus solely on the yard as soon as everything was moved from the old store to the new warehouse location lasted exactly one day. We were really making progress...but then the transmission went out on my SIL's truck, and it's still in the shop. As if that weren't enough, the brakes on my daughter's Subaru started grinding, so they had to be repaired too.

Throw into that mix an unexpected turn of events that resulted in quite a few lengthy family discussions about the future of the store, followed by several major decisions and some "now or never" action that put landscaping on the back burner again. (I don't know if I could possibly be any more cryptic than that, even if I tried. Suffice it to say that the news is huge...at least for us...and we're really excited, but my SIL isn't ready for me to announce anything quite yet.)

While the rest of the family took care of the brake job yesterday, I decided to get in a little container gardening. Ever the optimist, I realize that we're only experiencing a temporary setback and that, even though the yard work isn't going exactly the way I had planned, it will get done. To that end, I filled a couple of galvanized planters from CB2 with all sorts of sun-loving plants. These are going to flank my west-facing front door just as soon as the sidewalk of large stepping stones and rock is in place.

I also ordered a few new daylilies, which will be planted between the driveway and the new woven wire fence/trellis my daughter and SIL just built. Also on the to-do/buy list: an outdoor rug, some patio furniture, a huge cantilever umbrella and more container gardening (galvanized containers full of herbs and tomatoes for my daughter, horsetail reed for beneath my windows).

Galvanized planters from CB2
filled with plants that will love the afternoon sun

All the daylily varieties I chose are evergreen (as opposed to the varieties that go dormant in the winter or only retain some of their leaves). Two of the three are re-bloomers and will flower a second time each season. If you're looking for a colorful perennial for your garden that is easy to grow and authentically "mid-century," I highly recommend these plants. My grandmother was an avid gardener, and daylilies were her claim to fame.

Wounded Heart daylily
oakesdaylilies.com

Gertrude Condon daylily
oakesdaylilies.com

Amber Sunset daylily
oakesdaylilies.com

Soon this trellis will be covered with coral honeysuckle,
giving our two homes a little separation/privacy.
There is an opening beside my house, and we will add stepping stones to the patio.
Shrubs have been removed, and dirt has been smoothed and cleared of debris,
awaiting the arrival of sod so the boys will have more grassy area for play.

Speaking of Grandsons #1 and #2...they have even joined in the landscaping fun, with a few colorful touches of their own beside the newly planted rosemary.

Meet Mr. Owl and Miss Mushroom

Hanging baskets of bougainvillea are doing well under the cedar overhang on the front of my house, and the trees that were just starting to put on leaves a month ago are lush and green.

Yellow bougainvillea 

Galvanized planter for herbs, tomatoes and horsetail reed
potterybarn.com

The idea is to have one of the galvanized planters under each of my windows facing the patio,
full of these horsetail reeds.
foundthetimedesigns.com

Between the two windows on the patio side of my house, we plan to build a vertical succulent garden, like this.

OK, maybe not quite this ambitious...but you get the idea.
sunset.com

I think we've finally agreed on this colorful outdoor rug for the patio. It will look great with my orange door and tie in equally well with their peacock blue living room, which opens onto the patio.

Torn Paper rug
target.com

My daughter plans to buy several simple stacking patio chairs that will hold up to whatever abuse the boys give them, and I've already ordered a rocking chair version in gray. The color of the umbrella is still up in the air, though I'd bet on orange or white.

Nicolette chair
target.com

You know, now that I list all the things we've decided on, as well as the things we've already accomplished, I think I'm already seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. And, as things worked out, it looks like we're going to be able to spend all day today in the yard. It pays to be an optimist.

Happy Mother's Day!

Perfect plantings: Air plants

Shortly after I started this blog in 2010, I did a post on authentic mid-century houseplants, which has consistently been one of my most frequently read posts. Because it was such a popular post, I did a follow-up about a year later that also generated a lot of hits as well.

Now I'm going to share one of my new interests with you that I think will give you another option for bringing some greenery into your mid-century home. Back in December I did a post on vertical gardening and briefly mentioned a plant named tillandsia, but I think it deserves a post of its own.

Commonly called air plant, the genus tillandsia is a member of the bromeliad family. What sets the 650 species of air plants apart from other bromeliads is that they grow without soil. They absorb water and nutrients through their leaves, and their roots are mainly for attaching to other objects.

Air plants only flower once in their lifetimes, so they are cultivated for their foliage and interesting shapes more than for their blooms, but when they bloom, they really put on a show. The plants range in size from a tiny 1/2" to 10".

Air plants are easy to grow and look perfect in a mid-century setting. They require moderate light and a good soak every week and can be grown in pots, in terrariums or on bark and rock. They can even be glued to a surface.

Whether you can find them at your local garden center may be hit or miss, but they are readily available on Etsy, and many other reputable suppliers can be found online. I have purchased plants from Airplant Supply Co. and Airplants4U and have been very satisfied.

etsy.com - Dezign24seven

etsy.com - EarthSeaWarrior

etsy.com - mudpuppy

etsy.com - MyZen

etsy.com - Plantzilla

etsy.com - sassycontessa

etsy.com - seaandasters

etsy.com - jfishdesigns

etsy.com - MyZen

etsy.com - vikiri

One of my plants in bloom

More of my plants in DIY wall hangers

Another of my air plants
in a DIY mini wall pocket I just made
(shown with my McCoy Unipet bowl)

More MCM-friendly plants: Terrariums

My posts about plants that look good in mid-century homes continue to be some of the most popular, so I decided to share another idea with you that we're really into these days...terrariums.

My SIL had found a huge glass bowl at an estate sale a few months ago, and he asked our friend Hiram (whose gorgeous home I featured in a previous post) to make one of his knock-out indoor gardens for us. It was so beautiful that we wanted more, so he now has several for sale in the store.

I think they look wonderful with mid-century and modern decor, and care is minimal.  In fact, Hiram has made it easy by printing simple care instructions on the tag.