The Christmas decorating is almost complete here at home. My husband has the large tree put up in the sun room, it is around nine foot tall. It is so big and full that I can put the Christmas cards through it for decorations. It is a real tree that he cut from the local woods. I always love having a real Christmas tree in our home. I was busy decorating it this evening. The smell is lovely. We also have a smaller artificial tree in our entrance hall too. I have to finish the garland over the fireplace nearer the weekend as the foliage dries out fast. Hope you are all set for Christmas now.... I would love to see some images of your home at Christmas.

I have featured a few posts already about Autumn time setting in and how the weather had turned really cold, well it is the total opposite now. Autumn has turned out to be lovely and warm with sunshine and no rain. I mowed the lawn yesterday evening after work. I don't think it will need to be mowed much more now as there isn't as much growth. My Gladioli are in full blown again this year, they seem to be the one flower that does well for me. I picked a lot of hydrangea from my mother's garden and have dried it out. I love putting it around my home over the winter months. It dries really well and keeps its colour. I just cut the flowers off, put them in a vase of water and do not re-water them at all, the water will dry up and the flowers will too! Very simple. Hydrangeas are one of my favourite flowers and my dear grandmother had a garden full of them- they were so pretty and remind me of my childhood. I have set one hydrangea in our garden but as the garden has not yet established itself, I have no blooms yet- perhaps next year...

The countryside looks so pretty at this time of year with all the beautiful autumn leaves and berries. Do you like Autumn? What is your favourite flower?

Have you enjoyed the beautiful weather this week, it was up to 27 degrees here in Ireland and it was great! I was in work though but enjoyed the evenings doing work around the garden and painting the walls. It has turned showery today and the temperatures are lower however we will remain positive that the Summer sunshine will return again in August. Below are some pretty stylish outdoor areas with some DIY ideas from Heart Home Magazine

Have you ever visited Brigit's Garden in County Galway? If you haven't you really should next time your visiting the area. It is a truly magical place with such an abundance of natural habitats and gardens. If you like wildflowers like me- you will love it! The day we visited it was packed with people including lots of children for a teddy bear picnic. The car park was full but they had mini buses collect us from a nearby community car park. It was a great service. There is a lovely tea shop and gift shop on site. As you may have noticed from the photographs on my blog, I rarely ever have people in my photographs. I had a difficult time trying to get these photographs without anyone in them, hope you enjoy...

For more information visit Brigit's Gardens

How about adding some green into your home...
The images below are all Green Walls/ Living Walls and Vertical Garden images from Green over Grey Living Walls and Design. They are an American based firm who install these wonderful creations. I love them and think they are really innovative, they bring life to otherwise bland buildings and create living works of art. If I were living in an urban area I would love one of these. My home is surrounded by wide open countryside with lush green fields for miles, but a green wall would still look good somewhere in any home or even a garden. What do you think??

{Images: Green over Grey}

You have have noticed that I am not very green fingered but I can appreciate some nice gardens when I see them and I love the natural environment, I love trees and flowers and when I get my new home I want a lovely garden too. I help out alot in my mother's garden. At the weekend I took these photographs of the garden centre and gardens at the estate we visited, hope you like them!

I took these photographs when I was at work today, walked over 9 mile so saw some lovely rural heritage

Such a pretty swing in the garden, we saw two cute wee rabbits running around here

Right behind this gazebo is a golf course, have a look