Martha Stewart 1800flowers Vases

Today I wanted to share with you my collection of Martha Stewart 1800flowers vases.  These were vases produced to go with fresh flowers when ordered from the 1800flowers website.  The Martha Stewart 1800flowers line was introduced in April 2008 and was discontinued around the end of 2010.  There were quite a few advertisements and commercials (seen below) made for the line. During this time I ordered many arrangements from 1800flowers and collected the vases.

My collection of Martha Stewart 1800flowers vases

Burnished Gold Vase - inspired by an antique Alexis gave to Martha. 

Classic Silvered Vase - inspired by a lamp (I believe) in Martha's Lily Pond home. 

Ginger Jar Vase - inspired by a similar vase from Martha's personal collection.

Fishbowl Bottle Vase - modeled after a distilling flask from a chemistry lab. 

American Ceramic Bowl - midcentury modern.

Opaline Glass Vase - silky smooth semi-translucent. 

Ceramic Woven Basket - for spring celebrations. 

Bamboo Grove Vase - inspired from an vase crafted from real bamboo. 

Skylands Celery Vase - Victorian style vase for serving celery. 

Trumpet Vase - the quintessential vase. 

Silver Julep Cup - great in a group for a centerpiece and the beverage of the same name. 

Matte Silvered Vase - minimalist with opulence.

Faux Bois Vase - false wood style used throughout Martha's Skyland home.

Ivory Cachepot - traditional vase for short stemmed flowers.

Lily Pond Thumbprint Vase - inspired from an art deco vase in Martha's Lily Pond home. 

Other vases from the Martha Stewart 1800flowers collection:

Art & Crafts Bowl 

White Geometric Vase

Art Deco Glass Vase

Tree Stump Planter

(I love this one!)

Wirework Basket 

Natural Ceramic Planter

Scrolled Glass Vase

Galvanized Metal Planter 

Cut Glass Vase

Martha Stewart 1800flowers.com logo

Some of the commercials:

There were also a few segments on the Martha show about the 1800flowers line as well as some post about the line on Martha's blog:  

Martha Ringing the Bell at Nasdaq  (unfortunately the pics on the blog dont show up anymore.)

&

Developing Arrangements for 1800flowers

I hope you enjoyed seeing my collection.  Hopefully in the future I will be able to find the remaining pieces. Take care readers! 

Solar Garden Lights

In any space lighting can drastically change the look and feel of the area.  Bringing lights to your outdoor areas can create a feeling of habitation while the sun is down.  Recently many companies offer a wide variety of solar lights for walkways, patios, and the garden areas.  These lights can be simple lanterns or something more whimsical and interesting. 

My first solar lights Tink bought 3 years ago from Ikea.  They were red but have faded in the harsh Texas sun.  I have really enjoyed these!  We placed them near our back window so they are visible while in bed.  It is really nice to see them gently bouncing in the night breeze.  Another great thing about them is that they come on right when it starts to get dark and stay on until the sun comes up while many other solar lights have run out of battery. 

This string of glowing birds is a nice whimsical addition to the back patio.

I clipped them onto my plant stand so I can observe them at night.

These were also from Ikea.

A pretty post light.  These give off a nice warm glow but they do need strong light to get charged up.

Purchased from Target.

Lights for the front walkway.  These come on a string of three. 

Purchased from Ikea.

This is a smaller version of the walkway light like above. I have them under my inland sea oats where it  cast an interesting shadow on the nearby wooden fence.  Purchased from Ikea.

A solar LED spotlight. This shines on my wildflower garden so that it is bright enough to see them without the light being to harsh and overly bright. Purchased from Home Depot.

Growing Nepenthes in Houston, TX

Gardening in Houston, TX is very challenging to say the least.  The best/easiest plant to grow are natives.  Native plants are adapted to the wide variety of weather conditions Houston has.  Naturally growing non-native plants, such as Nepenthes, can be quite challenging.

During the spring, summer, and fall I keep my Nepenthes outside in the shade of a crepe myrtle tree and the wooden gazebo in my backyard. They seem to do well here despite the temperatures being around 100*F for many days.  I keep them in white glazed ceramic pots to help keep their roots from over heating.  I water them every few days with collected rainwater or reverse osmosis water if it doesn't rain.

My Nepenthes.  All these species are native to the Philippines.

As you can see the sunlight is dappled.  I did put the N. truncata (2nd top left) with the Sarracenia for a little while and it was not happy - burned leaves.

Green Anole - Anolis carolinensis, these lizards are pretty smart.  They hang around my carnivorous plants waiting to steel food, drink their water, and rest in their shade.  

Nepenthes sp. #1 Philippines

Nepenthes truncata

Nepenthes alata 'Surigao'

Nepenthes ventricosa "black persistome" 

Nepenthes mira

Nepenthes copelandii

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

In my backyard I have a single pot of Purple Passionflower - Passiflora incarnata, and every year it host the caterpillars of many Gulf Fritillary Butterflies.  I constantly see the butterflies around my garden throughout the warm months and often times they lay so many eggs on my passionflower that it becomes defoliated. 

Gulf Fritillary egg on the dried tendril of the Passionflower.

Gulf Fritillary caterpillar in search of more food.

This one has munched away all these leaves...

My Passionflower - Passiflora incarnata, it has a few leaves left. 

Gulf Fritillary empty chrysalis with an egg on it. (3 eggs in the pic total)

Another chrysalis about 20 feet away from the Passionflower.

Here is the mother Gulf Fritillary laying more eggs.

I love the silver on the bottom of the wings!

Cleaning my NDI Arrangements

For the first time in five years I cleaned my NDI Arrangements!

They looked good before the cleaning but afterward they looked really fresh like the first day I bought them.  These three below I bought at Nordstrom in the Houston Galleria.  

Nice and fresh!  I used Design It - Silk Plant Cleaner.

This post is just a preview for this months Obsession of the Month so please check back again soon.  

Vegan Blueberry Muffins

The other day at Whole Foods I came across something unexpected:

Vegan Wild Blueberry Mini Muffins!

I know there are some recipes for vegan muffins and some bakeries that sell vegan muffins but since going vegan almost a year ago I haven't tried any.  I do love blueberry muffins especially when they have nice big juicy blueberries inside so I was interested in trying these.  

The package of vegan blueberry mini muffins.  They were really good!  Even my all consuming cousins really liked them. As you can see they are loaded with delicious blueberries and the muffins are very moist.  These would be great if you were hosting a vegan breakfast get-together.

Serving the muffin on some fine chine really makes it look special.

Just be careful to peel the muffin/cupcake paper off the muffin itself so you don't eat it.

This is one of the best things about being Vegan!  It forces you to discover all sorts of foods you have never tried before and really makes you more conscious about what you are consuming.

Creatures in the Sargassum - Padre Is. Natl. Seashore

Since I was little I have always searched through the seaweed in search of sea creatures.  There was always an abundance of interesting things to find from shrimp to juvenile fish and occasionally a bright yellow seahorse.  Seaweed or Macro-algae differs from place to place as well as the organisms that inhabit them.  

Here on the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico we have lots of sargassum seaweed.  

Sargassum is found throughout the tropical seas and host many specialized groups of plants and animals  found no where else.  These organism have evolved with the sargassum and many mimic the look of sargassum for camouflage. 

Padre Island National Seashore - Malaquite Beach 

This is one of my favorite places in Texas!  Whenever I show other Texans pictures like this they think it is somewhere exotic but it is actually right of the coast of Corpus Christi. 

Sargassum sp. floating along.  There are many rafts of these floating communities drifting around the Gulf of Mexico.  It looks like just seaweed but you would be amazed by what's actually inside. 

Sargassumfish - Histrio histrio,  is highly camouflaged in the Sargassum.

This unusual predatory fish is pretty easy to find. 

Shrimp - many different species of shrimp are commonly found in Sargassum. 

Hermit Crab - usually not found in Sargassum but this one must have hitched a ride at some point. 

Pygmy Filefish - Stephanolepis setifer

This was one of the most common fish found in the Sargassum today.  

Pygmy Filefish - Stephanolepis setifer

This one is a little bigger...

Juvenile Scrawled Filefish - Aluterus scriptus

I have never seen this fish in the Sargassum before.  I have read that it usually inhabits reef areas. 

Juvenile Chub - Kyphosus sp. 

Sergeant Major - Abudefduf saxatilis

These are a common sight in the Sargassum and throughout the Gulf.

unknown fish... any guesses? 

'

Juvenile Jack (?)

Pipefish - 

Pipefish -