• The Best Plants for Your Winter Garden,Todd Kingsley

    The Best Plants for Your Winter Garden

    Winter is here, and so is the time to update your winter garden. While California does not have wintertime weather like colder parts of the US, there is still a range of plants that are ideal for the season. Read on below for the best plants for your winter garden!   Sweet Alyssum Sweet alyssum thrives in colder conditions; in hot weather, the plant falls dormant. An ideal plant for border edges, sweet alyssum also looks beautiful when planted in pots. The small white and pale purple flowers look attractive next to bolder blooms too.   Winter Jasmine Fast-growing with a potentially large spread and height, winter jasmine is hardy enough to survive during the colder months. Yellow flowers add bursts of color to any garden without the overpowering sweet scent that you may expect from other jasmine species.   Yuletide Camellia With a Christmassy name, it’s likely no surprise that the evergreen shrub of yuletide camellia is a great winter plant choice. The leaves are dark green and shiny, and the red flowers feature a beautifully contrasting bright yellow stamen. The plant needs little water, making it good for dry conditions, and you only need to fertilize the plant once each year.   Pansies Pansies sport flowers of diverse shades, creating plenty of low-lying colors around your garden over the winter. Easy to grow from seed, pansies can survive minor frosts as a great winter plant. As well as looking great, pansy flowers are edible too.   Swiss Chard If you want to incorporate tasty vegetables in your garden, swiss chard is a terrific option for wintertime. The large green leaves grow on reddish-pink stems, creating quite a visual statement. Make sure to plant swiss chard in sunlight for the best results. Other vegetable plants that grow well over the winter include cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and broccoli.   Marigolds Sometimes also known as calendula, marigolds typically produce flowers all throughout the year, though in Southern California, the flowers are generally larger over the winter. The flowers are in eye-catching tones of deep orange and vibrant yellow, with petals darkening towards the outer edges. Marigold flowers and leaves are edible, and the plant has also long been celebrated for having healing properties.

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  • The Best Fall Table Spreads,Todd Kingsley

    The Best Fall Table Spreads

    Add the perfect touch of autumn to your holiday decor with a delightful fall table spread! Whether you are decorating for Thanksgiving or the fall season, a table spread adds character and elegance to your dining area. Find inspiration this November with our selection of fall table spreads to try. Dried Flowers Table Setting The key to keeping your Dried Table Setting breezy yet modern is to stick mostly to one variety per vase (the mashup of white stoneware also stands out nicely on a rust tablecloth) and line them up loosely. The spare palette will work all winter; for a change of scenery, just swap out the vessels. Cozy Rustic Table Setting Feelings of gratitude come naturally in autumn, the peak season for ethereal light, rich colors, and happy homecomings. This Thanksgiving, play up those elements with a simple yet special table that celebrates great food and close-knit company. Pull up a cushioned bench to a spread of easy earthly delights. Fall Harvest Table Setting This is debatably the easiest and most eye-catching, wilt-proof centerpiece. Simply place candles on small glass dishes and cover them with curvy lamp chimneys (which you can find for dollars at hardware or antique stores). Fill in spare spaces with fruit and foliage. When guests arrive, light the wicks and bask in the glow. Soft Metallics Table Setting In this Soft Metallics setting, glints of gold and silver play off of soft pink and yellow colors throughout. Positioned on and around the mantel, arrangements of carnations, mums, scabiosa seed heads, and grasses bring natural beauty to the setting. Especially… without crowding the table. Bright Yellow Table Setting Working with a golden yellow palette, the look was anchored with a table runner made with metallic glazed linen. The mix of old and new pieces of ceramic vintage dinnerware are all shades of creamy white, which makes for a unique tablescape. Pattern Play Table Setting Botanical dinner plates were the starting point for this table. A fresh color palette pulled from the floral pattern—yellow, lavender, brown, and gray—ties everything together. Sleek gray side plates are a contemporary counterpoint to the vintage pattern on the dinner plates. Richly Colored Table Setting Sometimes, simplicity is key. This was the thematic vision from Deputy Creative Director Ayesha Patel on this Thanksgiving table, which incorporates natural materials and textures: burlap for placemats, a leather tie for the carafe, and block-printed napkins.  

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  •  Our Favorite Halloween Decor,Todd Kingsley

    Our Favorite Halloween Decor

    Get into the spooky spirit with Halloween decor! You’ll be sure to bewitch your guests once they see how stylish your home is this October. Read our blog below for a few of our favorite decor ideas for All Hallows Eve! Spooky Porch Decor Most neighbors and friends may not get into all the rooms to appreciate the work and Halloween home decor ideas in each room; they will surely see the porch. Colorful rugs at the entrance with colorful pumpkins and pillows are a great idea. Juxtapose the floor designs with some great flowers or gnarled plants on the side to create a more natural scenery. Floating Witch hat Luminaries Lighting is one of the simplest ways to transform a dull place into a magnificent creation. No matter how cramped the space in a room is, it is possible and necessary to have luminaries or light sources for Halloween. Rather than having a traditional lampshade, it is a great idea to use Floating hat luminaries to increase the spooky Halloween feeling without necessarily scaring the kids at home. Many lamp-shaped hats can be bought from the store or even have a DIY transformation. You can hang the lampshades on the porch, in the living room, and in the hallways. Try to ensure the selected hat colors match the rest of the room decor whenever possible. Halloween Themed Crockery Switch up your cutlery and dishware for something spooky. Incorporate your own DIY Halloween-themed tumblers, mugs, cups, and plates with a customized feel. A webbing pattern with a few spiders and the addition of a glowing dye is going to fascinate guests and families for many years to come. Wine Bottle Candlesticks Sprucing up the Halloween home decor depends on how much of the decor is affected and is visible to everyone. Simply paint Halloween bottles in matte black spray paint and insert an orange taper candle once dry. The design will surely bring an eerie feeling irrespective of the place you place the candles in the room. Horror Novel Door Think of the chill that ran down your spine reading horror novels. Why not relive the moments by transforming your door into a faux library? We recommend using gold paint for the book titles on craft paper. Add some plants at the door entrance, and you've created the illusion of library books. Halloween home decor ideas like this can stay long after Halloween.

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