Easy Fruit Cocktail Cake Recipe – and a new friend in the cottage garden

Orange Salamander on Pink Flowers

My granny used to make this wonderful recipe for us. This is a very simple cake using a can of fruit cocktail and a few other ingredients – and it is unbelievably moist & delicious!

FRUIT COCKTAIL CAKE
2 c. unsifted flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 scant tsp. soda
Pinch of salt
2 beaten eggs
1 (1 lb.) can fruit cocktail
1 tsp. vanilla

Sift together flour, sugar, soda, and salt. Add remaining ingredients. Beat well. Bake in greased and floured 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan at 300 degrees for 50 minutes. While cake is hot, pour icing over it. This cake freezes well. If cake batter looks thin, add a little more flour. Some fruit cocktail has more juice than others. Ice with Fruit Cocktail Cake Icing.

ICING FOR FRUIT COCKTAIL CAKE
1 stick butter
1/2 c. evaporated milk
1 c. sugar
1 c. coconut
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

Cook together the ingredients. Pour over cake as soon as you take it out of oven.

*Pictured above – a new little friend in our cottage garden! I was coming out of my front door, and there he was… this beautiful little orange salamander having a peek around the garden! We couldn’t resist this little photo opp before sending him on his merry way 🙂

Build Your Own Garden Pond

I wanted to share a few letters from readers with you today. After reading some of the articles about building your own garden pond that I’ve written over the last few years, they wanted to let me know of their success. A water garden (no matter how large or small it is) can add wonder to your garden space! I also wanted to share links to some of my articles about water gardens as well.

Build Your own Water Garden for Under $10

Garden Pond Directions & Pictures

Water Gardens for Small Spaces

Pond Liners – Creative Garden Pond Liner Ideas (that means cheap 😉

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Just saw your page on the net. I have a new house with a big yard, few ideas and even less money. I’ve always wanted a pond, but thought they would be too expensive. I want to thank you for the inspiration and the first in a line of many projects. Monica in Buffalo, New York
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Hi Pearl, I recently came across your article on building a pond – most informative & helpful!! Thank you so much for sharing with everyone! I must say though, I did gasp with the frozen goldfish and yes, I did “calm down” with a sigh of relief at their amazing “thaw” – hehe

I too, did not know that that was possible and we live in northern Indiana where the winters can also be rather nippy, so to speak – bbrrr!!!

Again, thank you so much for your most helpful information!! Kind Regards, Phyllis
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Thank you so much for the pond instructions. It is truly wonderful. I have been wanting one forever but they are really expensive to buy the kits. Now I can build one with your wonderful instructions at a fraction of the cost. Linda
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I’d love to share your pond pictures & ideas! Just send them in!

Flowers for the Cottage Garden

This week I made a stop at my local Lowe’s garden center. I try to stop in frequently throughout the summer, because there are always so many unadvertised specials to be found! While I was there this week, I overheard a sales person talking with a customer, trying to explain the over abundance of plant material. She said – they have a contract with a large wholesaler, and they receive a certain number of plants whether they need them or not. This usually means that they have way to many plants & need to mark them down – or else they will risk loosing the plants due to lack of proper space & care.

There is almost always a rack of plant mark downs when I stop in. I routinely find deals of 50-% – 75% off!

I am so thrilled with my latest finds!

This is an evergreen ground cover called: Lithodora – Grace Ward
Lithodora Ground Cover

It flowers in May & June, only gets approx 6″ high, and is one of the best blue flowering ground covers available!

This little beauty is a wonderful option for; ground covers, rock gardens, spilling over walls, hanging baskets, or edging your flower garden borders. I think this plant would look wonderful with the white version of this plant which is called “‘White Swan”. I think I might also mix mine with some ajuga.

I was VERY excited to find this Longwood Wisteria plant with a few flowers already on it, especially when some types of wisteria plants can take up to 7-10 years to bloom!
Wisteria - Purple Longwood

They like to grow in sun or partial shade, and can reach 20 – 30 feet tall! It will grow in zones 5-9, and I was surprised to find out that this particular wisteria is a US native! Although this plant blooms from late spring to early summer, there are also reports of this beauty showing off again right through September!

Delicious Summer Pasta – and new visitors to the cottage garden

Salad Mix

This is a quick, easy, cheap, come back for seconds family dish!

Pasta salad is the perfect side dish for any summer meal! You can also change the recipe very easily by tossing in any of your favorite ingredients right from the cottage garden!

Cook your favorite kind of pasta while you’re making the sauce to save time! (we like using small pasta such as angel hair or bow-ties)

* Feel free to double the recipe – or add your own favorite ingredients 😉

While your pasta is cooking, mix together the following ingredients & let sit until pasta is done.

4 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped basil leaves
2-3 cloves pressed garlic
1 can sliced olives (I prefer mushrooms)
2 T. balsamic vinegar
2 T. olive oil
Add salt & pepper to taste

Top your pasta with this delicious sauce & be prepared for seconds 😉

Some ideas for extra favorite things to add:

– Cheese bits (or freshly grated parmesan cheese)
– Diced green, yellow, red, or hot peppers
– Broccoli
– Beans
– Sugar snap peas
– Celery
– Onions
– Chicken
– Pepperoni
– Bacon

I know your family will enjoy this one!

I also wanted to share some of the newest guests to our bird feeder with you!

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I call this little guy Fred 😉
I thought he had a piece of string tied to his tail! It took several days of seeing him at the feeder to realize that his little leg was broken. He gets around very nicely – even though he is “disabled” 🙂

My Friend Fred - At the bird feeder

My bird feeder gets lots of traffic! This wild turkey is our latest guest 🙂 Don’t forget… although we have several acres of land surrounding our cottage in the woods, we do live in a little Victorian village! Nice to see such a variety of “guests” come out even in the village 🙂


Wild turkey at the bird feeder

Humming Bird Feeder – Vintage Glass Look

Red Hummingbird Feeder

I wanted to show you this great new humming bird feeder that I picked up at my local Walmart for $9.95!

The reason it caught my eye (besides the fact that it was deep red – my favorite color… for now ;), was because I thought that it was a thick red wine bottle that had been made into a humming bird feeder. It reminded me of some of the other thick bubble glass that some of my other garden features are made out of.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was actually plastic!

It has the look of a vintage wine bottle with a cork. At first, you might think about how hard it would be to keep the feeder filled after you take out the cork, but you actually unscrew the bottom of the feeder, turn it upside down, fill it, then turn it right side up – (after you put the bottom back on of course :).

Both the hanger & the bottom of the feeder are made out of metal, both of which help add to that vintage feel.

Peach Begonia

I purchased this feeder a week or so ago, but while I was working in the office today, I saw a little humming bird come up to the window. He was trying to get to the beautiful begonia flowers that a friend had given me (he must have been spying on me through the window :). So… I figured it was finally time to share the pretty red “vintage looking” feeder with him – and not just keep it all to myself 😉

If you get a chance, go check out the garden center at your local Walmart… maybe you can find one for your cottage garden!

Pink Roses That You Can Make

Pink & red roses are in high demand this time of year, and as well they should be! After all, we are honoring the most important women in our lives – our moms!

Pink roses that you can make

With Mother’s Day being just around the corner, I thought I would remind you of a very simple way to decorate those pretty packages!

Pink tissue paper roses!

They are so easy – very inexpensive – and so beautiful!

I remember making this kind of rose when I was a child, except they were as big as a dinner plate! I loved them then, but for some reason, I haven’t thought about them again until today.

This morning I was wrapping my mom’s Mother’s Day gift so I could put it in the mail, when I remembered the paper roses I used to make as a child.

I decided to wrap part of the package like you would a piece of candy – with twists at each end. But instead of folding the ends & taping them as I usually do, I decided to make them into pink roses instead.

Here’s how to make the roses when you are wrapping a gift.

Wrap your gift using 2-3 sheets of tissue paper (I kind of roll the gift so there are several layers of paper at each end – this makes a nice full rose). Tightly tie a ribbon around each end. Be sure to leave several inches on each end, so that when you gather it tight, you will have enough paper left to “pull” into a rose. Then, gently pull each layer of the paper apart, and shape into your rose.

Here’s what mine looks like from the top.

Pink paper roses

You can also make paper roses without wrapping a gift first.

– Decide how big you want your roses to be, then add a few inches extra for gathering
– Cut 2-3 strips of tissue paper that length
– Roll the paper into a loose roll (you can wrap it tight to begin with to make the center of the bud if you wish)
– Gather at one end & secure with a piece of wire, or a twist tie
– Pull the layers of the paper apart to make your desired rose shape

Think about all the beautiful colors & patterns that tissue paper comes in these days! You could add a few different colors (or patterns) together for a great effect! And tissue paper is so inexpensive, that you could make a room full for a few dollars! You say your a shabby chic, country cottage, or Victorian kind of girl? Hey – why not use these little beauties to decorate your space!

Oh – the possibilities!

Pink package with pink roses