Country lanes, cornstalks, scarecrows and sunflowers are the epitome of late summer.
Sunflowers are even better when they’re edible (and not in the usual sense).
Such as chocolate cupcakes decorated with Oreo-cookies-turned-sunflowers, idea courtesy of Hello Cupcake, a treasure trove of cupcake projects by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.
The original recipe called for vanilla cupcakes (all the better to showcase the green cupcake liners, I assume), but you can never have too much chocolate at our house, so aesthetic considerations took a back seat to gastronomic ones.
The little ladybugs are red M&Ms, decorated with a bit of black icing. My piping skills are still in their infancy, so said ladybugs look a little battered.
That’s probably in keeping with the theme of late summer, when a lot of things are looking a bit frayed around the edges, including yours truly.
I found this set of four appetizer plates on eBay a while ago, featuring sunflowers and scarecrows. There are two of each plate. I don’t know much about the history of the pattern.
They’re by Maxcera and there are still two sets available on eBay in case you’re interested.
The salad plates are Southern Home’s Capri Buttecup from Belk (discontinued) and the dinner plates are from Pier 1 a couple of years ago. They’re calling them Bradford Dinnerware now and have them in limited quantities.
The sunflower napkin rings and rooster tablecloth are from April Cornell; they were both part of her “attic sale” earlier this year.
The iced tea glasses are Amber Julia depression glass by Tiffin-Franciscan, one of my favourite fall patterns.
I took the cupcakes with us to a friend’s house whence we’d been invited for a dinner party and where they were gratefully received. It made a nice change from taking a bottle of wine! And much better for the waistlines of our household.
While I’m sad that we’re at the end of summer, there is something quite exciting about the fresh start September brings.
Invigorated by the cooler temperatures. I look forward to sweater weather, braised food and fires in the fireplace.
Back in Canada now, I’ve been “fallifying” the house. I’ve changed over the kitchen china to fall patterns and swapped out the cushion and throws in the family room. Outside, we’ve filled the windowboxes and planters with chyrsanthemums, black eyed susans, kale and ornamental pepper plants.
The climbing hydrangea on the Coach house has been beaten back into submission. The porch has been thoroughly swept, cushions vaccuumed and front door adorned with a bittersweet wreath.
I found a cute little wagon at Home Sense that I lined with a piece of plastic and filled with chrysanthemums, kale and two of the fall forest figures which adorned our Thanksgiving table a couple of years ago.
The first rendition had the fox and bear.
The fox came to a sad end, however, when I left the golden retrievers unattended on the porch while engaged in the wrestling match with the climbing hydrangea. A combination of climbing either the stepladder or full extension ladder, while plying clippers and branch loppers was consuming my full attention; Mr. Fox’s tattered styrofoam remains were found on the porch. All four dogs swore they were innocent and there was much paw-pointing. Mr. Racoon bravely stepped in to the role, on the understanding that at no point would he be left alone with four not-figurine-friendly canines.
You wouldn’t chomp on an innocent racoon, would you, Clementine?
Oh, no, Mum! Of course not!
I quite like how the wagon fills the space to the left of the front door.
For the right side, I’ve purchased a set of tall lanterns from Pier 1, which were deeply discounted this week. I haven’t quite figured out what I want to do with them yet, but it will include some kind of candle and some fall-themed fillers.
That’s been the fun part. Simultaneously, we’ve been tackling the end-of-summer task of clearing the naturalized area in our back yard of garlic mustard weed, a nasty invasive plant that produces neither garlic nor mustard as far as I can tell. Our property borders a conservation area that is chock full of the dratted stuff and we inevitably get our full share of the bounty. By late summer, the flower has turned to a very sticky small seed, about the size of a sunflower seed. It sticks to golden retriever fur like crazy. The plants pull up really easily so it’s not as bad as it could be, but it takes a few days of steady work. Our backs can only take a couple of hours of it at a time. We cleared about 25 wheelbarrow loads yesterday and were back at it again today. A couple more days should do it. We’ve blocked off a cleared area for the dogs to use, however, Taylor is indifferent to barriers and wiggles her way through with impunity, deaf to shouts to “Get the heck out of there”!!!! Yesterday morning she came back so thickly coated with seeds that she looked like she’d been breaded. Of course, she’s the woolly sheep of the four. Grrrr. It took me half an hour of steady brushing to get her cleaned up. And this was before coffee. I was not pleased. She’s been put on leash arrest now until the clearing is complete.
Time to make a cup of tea, gather a book and spend some time on the porch while the weather is good.
Happy Labour Day!
I’m sharing this post with Between Naps on the Porch.
Dear Helen, Oh, noxious weed! I’ve never had to eradicate alliaria, but I know it’s a 3- to 5-year battle. Glyphosate works, but it “works” on everything, including natives, and the seeds remain in the soil. Burning is effective to kill seeds, but you still have to be vigilant for a long time. As you already have seeds, it will undo all your good work if you let them live…heat is their only enemy. I would gather the plants and light a bonfire, then spray or hand-pull any new seedlings as soon as you can ID them.
The sunflower is not my favorite flower, but as usual you make them pretty, without overdoing the fall theme. I especially like the napkin rings and subtle glasses. We have no practical little cart like yours, but we do have a larger 100-year-old farm cart, one of the few items surviving from OH’s family Bohemian wine farm they lived on for generations. They were tossed out after WWII when Germany ceded Sudetenland and took back the citizens it had sent there 500 years before. They left with only what they could load in the cart. It’s a lovely thing, and it makes a charming large receptacle for flower explosions despite its sad history.
We have a taste of fall today…45 last night (!) Time to make the last pesto!
Oh, that we could light bonfires! A non-starter now in Ontario, I’m afraid. A big no-no. Instead, we put out all garden waste for collection by the municipality (loads of paper garden waste bags, lots of lugging), or those of us with a bit of extra property pile it into a heap to rot. Had we been here in July, we would have gathered said noxious weed before it seeded, and have done that in prior years. However, a neighbour on one side and the conservation area on the other leave their plants to seed, so it all goes for naught. Grrrrr… About 80% done now. The pile is enormous. My patience is waning with day of brushing dogs, especially their hairy feet, upon every return to the hose. Those wretched seeds are everywhere. This too shall pass. We will mulch over the areas close to the house and that will help in the short term. A good coating of white pine needles and falling leaves will deal with the rest.
Please send pictures of the cart with its floral embellishments!
Please don’t use glyphosate! It’s a carcinogen and will contaminate your land and your water..
Taylor is one smart dog! As a result of her (mis)adventure she got 30 minutes of one-on-one time with you.
25 wheelbarrows of weeds?!? If you get to them before they go to seed, you’d have an amazing compost pile! Our property also borders on conservation land but the only ‘invaders’ we get are bears, coyotes, and (unfortunately) deer and mosquitoes.
Your porch looks so inviting and the cupcakes look delicious!
We get coyotes, deer and mosquitos, also. No bears, thank goodness. A bit further north, they’re much in evidence. I remember them hanging around our cottage when I was a kid.
We have a pile, all right, but likely won’t use it for compost, as it contains tree branches as well as the dratted weeds-gone-to-seed. I don’t think it will get hot enough to kill the seeds. The pile is enormous right now! Here in Ontario, the municipality picks up yard waste, as well as kitchen waste (two separate pickups). We used to keep a big compost pile, carefully layering grass clippings with leaves and kitchen waste, but as we are gone so much in the summer, I have given it up and just let the trash people deal with all the various types of waste. The schedule is mind boggling. I do keep a compost drum going in the Cape for all my kitchen waste. It’s amazing how fast that reduces! Incredible.
Yes, Taylor is the brains of the four. She always manages to wiggle her way into being the centre of attention.