Contessa’s Signature Service

Our ongoing clients usually have us four times per year. So what exactly does a Contessa Signature Service include?

• Weeding all beds
• Pulling and trimming along brick borders; we will reset stones, bricks and any border that has recessed deep into the edge or that has moved a from a straight position
• Trimming/pruning all bushes
• Deadheading all blooming plants
• Amending soil as needed and refreshing soil around existing plantings; giving them a boost.
• Transplanting/dividing and plant relocations as requested
• Deep Edging all bed borders
• Cutting back all dead growth
• Mulching beds upon request
• Fertilizing spring and late fall.
• Raking all lawns, removing dead grass and rejuvenating new growth after mowers have weighed them flat all summer.
• Complete Watering (watering maintenance offered by the month)
• Final “Tidy” to all the sidewalks; remove all leaves and gather all leaf, twig and branch debris in large paper debris bags; positioning curbside for PFX to pick up at your location.

Our clients pretty much know the drill now, and they completely rely on us to come, execute and “do our thing,” They trust us  They leave us to our work and usually they communicate by txt from indoors, if they have requests or suggestions.

We also offer “monthly maintenance plans” that include three day a week visits to water, complete “light tidy” and leaf removal and sidewalk tidy. Please  do call and inquire about this service. Once you get used to it, you will be hooked. Its way worth subscribing too. All of our last years clients retained us from June through the end of November. It’s our pleasure and we are pretty certain “their JOY.”

We love what we are doing and clients know that we treat their garden work, as if we were working in our own yard. A  personal but professional approach.

Please do contact us if you have questions or would like to book with us, for a 30-minute “free gardening consultation.”

“Contessa” says….. it’s a very good thing!

One job….for the record books (REVISED ) Wed – 1/4 – 3:10 pm

Day 1

36 degrees by 9:30 am on Thursday 12/29 and imagine that we are gardening today. It was in the mid/teens most of the days during the Christmas holidays.so the earth is fairly cold  but only two if the night were in the teens  so we don’t think the duration of intense cold was enough to freeze everything underground  

Our repeat client has had a bucket load of family issues. So for her the fall season slipped away from her radar. But…. Steady-Edfie, moi’ is going to her house this morning to dig up 200 Daffodil bulbs from years of being covered by deep dirt and mulch. Ha! They might just bloom this spring if we can dig them up and bring them more to the surface. Cover with, and add some new soil…. plus spread them out in the generous bed she has.

VA winter weather can be unpredictable. 25 degrees one day and 65 the next. And although we are not quite that warm, we are going to complete this task. And some very well established “Iris” need to be moved as well. Total will be around 5 hours.

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Day 2

Please stay tuned for a final wrap up and a video with the bulbs planted. We are positioning them about only 5 inches deep, because we will add more mulch. It turns out our client divided them up into large (32), medium (90) and very small, over 100. We will find neighbors to give them too. Typically when bulbs are tiny they just have become so overcrowded in the bed,  and are so compact they are unable to produce. So all in all,  this “dig and divide” process was way overdue. We are hopefully going to see the 32 bulbs produce lovely blooms come spring, which is really not that far off. Oh what a blessing. We can’t wait!

“Contessa”

(REVISED) Wed – 3:10 pm – 1/4

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We promised a “final” video, so there you have it  32 latest bulbs spaced nicely in the bed and covered back up with the mulch that was originally covering the bed. I have  ordered  a 2 cu ft bag if the “black” Quail Ridge shredded mulch from the nursery in MD because supplies are low Post Christmas at the Alexandria location. It should be here Sat,  so we’ll spread in just in case we get a hard freeze in the remaining winter days. After all our hard work to recover the bulbs we surely don’t want to loose them …. and we must admit we are slightly out of sync with Mother Nature on this project.  But with a little luck and a prayer we will produce blooms come late March or early April. It was such a fun project and our homeowner admitted that first thing each morning, she goes right to her window to keep her eye out for any new “popping up.” from her little guys. Awesomeness!

Wildflowers in Iowa at the Farm

          FOXGLOVE – Digitalis

Dearest Lord, I’ve been thinking about my roots. My cousin sent me some pictures last night of native and rare prairie flowers at the farm in Marshall County, Iowa. I am unable to share them as he has restrictions on copying. But receiving them reminds me that I come from the roots of these plants. I’m thinking that it’s taken me 75 years to find myself working with soil and Your earth. I cannot tell you how privileged I am to serve your purpose as I tend gardens. It’s definitely where you have planted me. Thank you Father my God. You are my Father and have been since I was a child, as my earthly Father was absent. But You alone have brought me the comfort that I needed. You have always been very loving, kind and nurturing. I always counted on your love for me. But I do not wish to ever take your love for granted. “Teach me your way, oh Lord” was my prayer, “and when I grow old,  I will not depart from it.”

The Iowa farm is alive and well and is being planted and harvested every year. My cousin shares progress every week with me. He is one of my only relatives remaining from a very large Irish immigrant “prairie settling family.” He and I are blessed to share stories with each other of our childhood days on the farm. I treasure these memories and we both are thankful to You, our almighty and gracious God,  for our farming heritage. My Lord and my God, I cling to your goodness and your provisions both materially and most importantly, spiritually. Thank you Father in Heaven.  Amen.

       NATIVE WILD CONEFLOWER

Classic Hardcover Book Set, Four Volumes, Abraham Lincoln, The War Years, by Carl Sandburg

Excited to share this item from my #etsy shop: Abraham Lincoln, The War Years, Four Volume Set https://etsy.me/3qSdMG3

Book, The Private World of Katherine Hepburn – Etsy

A memory in photographs and text about the later private life of Hollywood legend – Katherine Hepburn. One of the most photographed faces in stardom. This book is a memoir of her “private world.” A fascinating collaboration of 150 photographs. She was an American Hollywood icon who preferred to be called “Kate.” A rather simple woman; fiercely independent. John Bryson was the editor and photographer. Kate said she did this book because she trusted him. Her own words were dictated to create this extraordinary look into the places she loved the most. For Sale on Etsy at $45.

The Book jacket is “ever so slightly” frayed around the edges. A classic however, and if you admired her movies you will love this book. Kate was not a fancy female. She was just “who she was.” This book gives you a rare glimpse into her rather un-fancy and down to earth lifestyle. Quite the dame she was!

ContessasHome Etsy Site – two new (classic) books listed – For Sale

 

Picturing Nantucket reveals a complete spectrum of the islands artistic heritage. Complete with 125 color and 180 black and white reproduction photographs from the Nantucket Historical Associations extensive collection. If you treasure Nantucket Art, this book is an essential reference for your personal collection.

Pristine copy. Measures 10.5” x 12.5” x 1”
A beautiful coffee table book. 253 pages.

A true Art History of the Island.

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English Furniture, From Gothic to Sheraton, an Antique Dealers or Collectors reference guide. Originally published in 1937. This copy is an unabridged republication, of 1968 by Dover Publications of New York, NY

For those who have a home that is more than a mere dwelling, who appreciate the work of bygone ages, when the craftsman lived for the joy of his art. Complete with 900 illustrations.

Soft Copy, 406 pages. Beginning with the dawn of construction in Wood.

Library of Congress
Card Catalog Number 68-19173

 

ContessasHome “ETSY” site…..(Revised)

All ETSY Customers and ContessasHome viewers;

We have completed a process to reactivate and upgrade our current ETSY site. Administrative changes are required. We will announce our new launch date. Please stay tuned……..

Revised:  it will be a few business days before we are able to re-launch our ETSY site  This small snafu is now in process. Please be patient.
We Thank you!

“Contessa”

ContessasHome our virtual “selling” site will be reactivated and we will be launching it for browsing at 12 Noon on Monday, February 1, 2021.  We have preserved numerous items from our brick and mortar store in Delray, Contessa’s Garden and Gift, Alexandria, VA. Our items will be selling in best condition and priced according to the current market value. 

Shipping charges will be the responsibility of our buyers. This is standard policy on ETSY.

ETSY is an easy and fun way to purchase treasures without leaving the comfort of your home. We trust you will enjoy shopping our online store. Feedback and questions on our Etsy site are welcome. We are happy to engage your comments and suggestions. This has been a practice we enjoy. It’s always fun to know our customers virtually. Perfect for the life we are all leading during COVID isolation.  All of our items are purchased at local auctions. Our inventory will include, what is known in the business as “vintage smalls.”  And we will sell restored lamps/lighting, art, mirrors, “classic” hardcover books, silver, home decor and garden decor. We also have small/petite vintage furniture in our inventory.

CONTESSASHOME looks forward to serving you!

 

 

 

A New Novel

Contessa enjoys recommending good reads. This is a special one. We are half way through this delightful book. We certainly recommend it.

A “Small Town” very wholesome story.  It just feels …..s w e e t !!

Enjoy!!

Ahab’s Wife – a novel

An excerpt from this cherished book…….

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I convey this message…….

Every day I knocked on his door and he on mine. I felt a happiness at our being merely in the same room that transcended any specific language.

Strange it is,  that as I use language, as I shape it into re-creations of people and places, I can feel its inadequacy.  It can serve to describe the past; it cannot describe what I presently feel.

….a plea of understanding. We are friends. Be my friend forever is what is in my heart. My soul mate.

There is only one hand for me, and that is yours. When I will squeeze your hand, then my heart will be….home.

“Be my friend forever” he said.

“Yes, but what am I to do with that flare of feeling that comes when a woman loves a man because they are woman and man?”

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Great literature speaks for itself.  An epic novel.  

 

WALDEN……..a book for our time

Walden May be the most famous act of “social distancing.”

It’s also a lesson on the importance of community while you are sheltering in place.  

In 1845, a shy young man named Henry David Thoreau “went to the woods to live deliberately.” Using old boards from a nearby shanty, he and a few friends built a small cabin near Walden Pond in Concord, Mass. Determined to break a spell of writer’s block, he stayed there more than two years, trying to “suck out all the marrow of life.”

He was not always alone during this time, as some carping high school student will point out. But Thoreau’s experiment, immortalized in “Walden; or, Life in the Woods,” became the world’s most famous act of social distancing.

Since the coronavirus quarantine began in the United States tens of millions of us have begun something like Thoreau’s retreat, but with a better Internet connection. As the days accumulate into weeks and then months, the burden of remaining cloistered has surely grown more challenging. Thoreau went there before us. He knew there can be contentment alone, just as often as there can be loneliness among company.

Read this book in spurts….. it will bring new meaning to your COVID isolation.