Happy Easter!

Just a short post today to wish you all a sunny and happy Easter with your families! This year Easter is  special to me, because I will be celebrating my birthday and that of my middle daughter. No garden party this year, but we are off to have an afternoon tea with our family in a special place nearby.

I will be joining Jane's party Flowers in the Home.

A lovely Easter to you all!!

Lieve groet, Madelief

Garden project

The garden looks lovely at the moment. All the touches of green, the pinks and whites of the blossoms and the blue of the grape hyacints and forget-me-nots. Even the buds on the trees look pretty. Some like they are made of silver. This weekend I planted some Dahlia tubers (different varieties), put the seeds of  the Sweet Pea's (hierloom bicolour mixed & elegant ladies), Zinnia's (Green Envy, Purple Prince, and mixed colours), Cosmea and blue Delphiniums into the ground and started on my first big garden project this year.

Two years ago my husband bought an old metal garden set for next to nothing. We put it behind our garden house and never really used it. We simply could not find time to clean it up and paint it.

This weekend the time was right to make a start. As you can see on the photo's I made a mess of it. Even dropped the paint can! Pfff, luckily the paint ended up on the plastic and not on the terrace. I have still one more chair and a table to go, but I can already see how beautiful it will look once finished.

Wish you all a lovely day! I am off to my garden!

Lieve groet, Madelief x

Garlic, Parsley, sweet peas & fruit bushes

part of my herbal patch

To the Zoo

As some of my followers may know, my family and I live in a 1930's appartment on the 2nd and 3rd floor. We have a roof garden and two balconies, but we never really had a garden until three years ago, when we rented our allotment garden.

As we live near Rotterdam Zoo, we used the Zoo as our garden and playground, when the girls were younger. They grew up with the elephants, the lions and the polar bears. We visited the Zoo regularly. After all these years it is still a place I love. Not only for it's animals, but for it's gardens as well. We don't have a subscription anymore, but we try to visit at least once a year. Today's photo's were taken during the fall. The Chinese Anemones look amazing!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Lieve groet, Madelief

Daffodils

Just a few pictures I made in our garden last week. It's all growing so fast. I can hardly keep up! Each time I arrive in our garden, something has changed. The daffodils look beautiful at the moment. I was amazed at the varieties we have.

My daughter and I worked together, getting rid of the weeds and cleaning the garden path. We had lunch together afterwards. We layed the table with a vintage embroidered tablecloth and put the porcelain with roses on the table. It all looked so sweet. While the birds chirped around us and the late morning sun lit our table, we ate our sandwiches and enjoyed the beauty of the garden around us.

Have a lovely new week!

Lieve groet, Madelief x

Washing up

When I look at today's photo's, I realise this post is a mess! It's a cacophony of colours, patterns, mugs, cups, spoons & plates.  I have been doing the washing up in our garden house last weekend and get our outdoor kitchen ready to use.

As our garden house is tiny and really more like a shed, there was no place for a kitchen inside. As you can see it's not very luxurious. No high tech equipment nor stylish kitchen cupboards ;-). We only have cold water and we use an old camping stove to cook on. It's absolutely perfect to me!

Last year my husband and father helped me to make the kitchen more the way I like it. When I look at it all from a distance, with the pots, cups and plates placed on the shelves, I am still very happy with the final result! It's a mix of old and new, of birthday gifts and presents from dear family and friends. Almost every cup or plate on that shelf has a story. It's what makes washing up much more fun!

Wish you a lovely day! It's still cloudy in Holland, but there is the promiss of another beautiful day ahead. Have fun!

Lieve groet,

Madelief x