A Primer for Pansies

My summer periwinkles seem to be at their absolute peak. For a Texas gardener (and others who are lucky enough to have relatively mild winters), warm days and cool nights mean it's time to yank out those beautiful summer annuals and get the cool season annuals in the ground.

For me, the cool season annual of choice is the pansy. While I've blogged about the fabulous pansy before here, in this post, I thought I'd give you the quick scoop on the ideal way to prepare your beds, plant and care for your pansies to maximize their beauty throughout the fall and winter.

• Choose a sunny location for your pansies. Ideally a half to full day of sun is required for the best flower production
• Prepare the bed. Whenever you change out your annual color, add organic matter to your bed - compost, landscape mix or even potting soil will give any plant the ideal place to grow.
• Apply a good, time released fertilizer to the prepared soil. I will occasionally use a water soluble fertilizer every other week or so to give plants a further boost.
• After planting, apply mulch. Mulch not only protects the plants, increases moisture retention and helps keep weeds at bay, it also provides a clean, finished look to all of your landscape beds.
• Water the beds after planting and continue to water enough to keep the beds moist for the first few weeks. After the plants are established, water every week or so. Over watering is the worst thing for pansies. Note: Do water your pansies before a predicted freeze. Water helps protect the plants during extended periods of cold weather. 
• Enjoy the results!

Wainscot, Beadboard and Panel Options

I'm working with clients on a home office/study. While the room isn't huge (10' x 12'), it does have a lot of potential - good proportions, crown molding and French doors. The changes that we're making in the room will ultimately lead to a richer, more library-like feel. We're starting with hand scraped hickory wood floors and are adding a deep red, faux leather finish to the upper portion of the walls.

Wood floor

Faux finish above wainscot

The last piece of the design before we get to furniture and accessories is the addition of a wainscot or panel detail. Molding is a great way to add richness and visual weight to a room - especially if its done well and not going too small. Adding dinky molding has a tendency to cheapen a room. This is where "go big or go home" applies. Below are some of the choices that we are contemplating....

Tall, flat panels

Chair rail height panels with ledge detail

Tall, flat, panels with ledge detail and painted panel interiors

Two level, flat panels

Traditional bead board

Which is your favorite?

Presidential Taupe

If you have searched for a break for the seemingly unrelenting bad news about the economy, you may have read about the recent design update of the Oval Office. Apparently, even the President needs the occasional remodel.

The designer for the project was California based Michael Smith and has elicited, in the words of the New York Times, "a collective yawn" from the blogosphere. Me? I love earthy neutrals but understand they can veer into boring territory without a shot of color, texture and shading.

The room is decidedly heavy on neutral tones - the New York Times even titled their article The Audacity of Taupe! Since we are often in search of the perfect neutral paint colors in this blog, there may be inspiration here for the average homeowner for a less public space. The interjection of the blue comes from the contemporary lamps from Christopher Spitzmiller and the accent pillows. The modern mica coffee table from Roman Thomas offers another contemporary touch.

The new Oval Office rug made by Scott Group showcases the Presidential Seal off center in a field of beige and includes these quotes on the edge:

• “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” — President Franklin D. Roosevelt
• “No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.” — President John F. Kennedy
• “The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally on the welfare of all of us.” — President Theodore Roosevelt
• “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” — attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. but actually from abolitionist Theodore Parker (1810-1860)
• “Government of the people, by the people and for the people.” — President Abraham Lincoln (also a paraphrase of an earlier Parker quote)

Inspirational, calming and comfortable. If these qualities in the Oval Office design are conducive to the President doing his best work, then the mission has been accomplished. What do you think?