Annuals - Part 1

I love planting annuals in my pots. I love trying out new color and texture combinations, trying out new plants, and filling otherwise bare corners with life!

I was every excited to do my annuals this year and do more than last year, since I didn't go crazy our first year in the house.

I'll start with the biggest and best pots!

 

 

 

I haven't done big pot in a few years since my last house, mainly since we didn't have any!  So during the late winter/early spring I started looking for some pots.  I wanted a very traditional style square faux lead paneled planter, but I figured I was dreaming since they are usually pretty expensive.  But a stroll though a nice garden/home furnishing store did the trick since they had a pair of 15" squares at a great price.  A price so great, the lady at the store assumed they were mismarked! ha! SO they quickly came home with me! : )

Cumberland Square Planter

Now, time to fill them!  So many options....so hard to narrow it down....The key to a nice large annual planter is a main larger planter, some medium level plants, then some plants that spill over the side.

 

Here is an image that you may find helpful when picking annuals for medium to large planters:

from Proven Winners

For the larger planter I went with a pale orange Hibiscus, then layered down with Blue Scaevola, Wave Petunias, Million Bells and Bacopa.  The trailers are Sweet Potato Vine and Creeping Jenny.  The Hibiscus, Petunias, Scavola and Sweet Potato Vine are the main elements, as the rest are small or towards the back of the planters and not that noticeable.

(links may not be the exact flowers, but close)

 

 

 

This is the first time I have used Blue Scaevola, and I love it!  The Hibiscus on the other hand, not sure if I love.  When in bloom it looks awesome and adds a nice color contrast to all the green and purple BUT it is rarely in bloom. : (  It looks great one day, then flowerless the next and it is really annoying when you have company on the flowerless days.

Enjoy some pictures as this planter has taken off this summer.

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see where I put them and when they were first planted and you can still see the pots themselves. Sadly, a critter (deer? ground hog? monster?) ate the hibiscus to the left, so my symmetrical planters are not quite symmetrical at the moment, but it is starting to fill out again!

grrr critters!

 

 

I planted more annuals, so stay tuned for the others!

 

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

I have always wanted to be able to paint furniture fun colors with a nice distressed look, but learning seems so daunting...I would read blog articles and not really understand how they did what they did, or have an understanding of the different products they used.  And I never found the time and energy to really dive in and just learn by doing.

With that being said I noticed Annie Sloan Chalk Paint was becoming popular (not chalk board paint) and was seeing it more and more on blogs and in nicer antique stores.  I decided when time and energy magically appeared that was the paint I was going to try and learn more about.  Around my birthday we were in one of those nice antique stores, that also happens to sell the paint, and I started asking questions.  Enough questions that the lady asked if I wanted to sign up for an Intro class to Chalk Paint.  DO I??????? Oh course I do!!!!!  Well at first I thought it might be too expensive and I should try and learn via blog and youtube, but since that has never worked well for me in the past AND Colin was on board to join me, we signed up! Yay!  It wasn't so much the painting I needed help with, it was the waxing and distressing I thought would be easier to learn in a class.

 

 

So sure enough we signed up and our class was last weekend.  It was awesome and we learned so much! And one of our neighbors was there too, we should have a block painting party! : )

Here are some images from the interwebs that show chalk paint being used so you get an idea of what I am talking about:

 source     source     source

source        source      source

And here are some images to our sample pieces we worked on in class.  I'll tell you a bit about each piece, but not too much, since I don't really know what I am doing yet and am not ready to give advice! I need to practice a bit and now that I have a basic comfort level, I want to check out a few blog posts and learn a little more. : )

The paint seems pretty easy to use, but waxing it after painting was a little tricky.  The wax protects the paint and the finished piece once you are done with it.  You can use clear wax or a dark wax to get a more distressed look. 

 

These frames they had pre-painted a dark base coat, then we picked a topcoat.  Once the top coat dried, we distressed with sandpaper to take off the second coat and reveal the darker first coat.  Then one of us played with a metallic wax just to see how it would look. 

 

 

 

On the pieces of ornate frames (how fabulous btw) we used multiple colors, then would distress by wiping the paint off rather than sanding.  Know what colors to mix and how much to distress was a little tricky.  You can see ours look a little different.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This little piece of molding is where we tried the dark wax.  Pretty cool stuff!

 

 

Stay tuned since I have a old mirror, table and bench calling our for some Chalk Paint in the near future!  And if all goes well, I am sure I can find a lot more to paint!

Enjoying my Garden

Hello, I have been working way more then I usually do in the summer, leaving me little time to blog and enjoy my yard as much as I would like, but I have been taking a few minutes to cut things from the garden and bring them inside to enjoy myself and to share with family.  Check out these blooms!

 

 

For anyone who is interested, these plants are Endless Summer Hydrangea, Purple Cone Flower and a variety of Daylilies.  I LOVE the coral one with the red throat.  I almost ripped that one out last year before it bloomed since it is kind of behind other plants crammed again the rock wall. 

 Good thing I didn't!

 

 

 

 

I bought some new mason jars for gifting flowers but put my name on them so they find their way back to me. haha Not that I am cheap and don't want to gift inexpensive vases BUT if you return then, I can give them back to you over and over with flowers! : )

 

 

 

 

And I also left the metal ring on per this post I noticed....hard to tell in my pictures, but I do like the look.  They are many copy worthy things in that post, that is one of my new favorite blogs. Check it out!

ps I have been thinking about "water marking" my photos, so I played around with some options in this post, not sure why I need to watermark since no one reads this blog that I don't know, but it has been on my mind....so I played around with it

The Cone Flowers are here!

Do you want to know one of the best parts of July????  The cone flower are in bloom!!!

 

 

 These pictures are from last year since they are only just about the bloom right now.  I love cone flower and I was lucky enough to move into a house where the previous owner had planted 2 of them.  I think they are so fun and they have a nice long bloom period!

 

 

 

I wante to add some white ones to the garden at some point in the future.  Enjoy!

 

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you all had a good one and are savoring the little bit that is left of the long weekend! : )

 

Potting Bench

Remember when I was trying to figure out what to use as my outdoor serving piece?  Well, I decided on the World Market Potting Bench!  I bought it in the spring and a few weeks ago, Colin and his dad put it together for me! Yay!!! And attached the bottle opener I got on Etsy for it! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although small for serving, the piece is a good size for my space and I am very happy with it.  I have only used it once for a smaller party, so I can keep you posted throughout the summer, if I remain happy with it! haha  I am assuming I will though! : )

 

 

 

 

I want it to look nice even when it is not being used, so I have been adding gardeny knick-nacks to it!  It stills need a little "Staging" and perhaps another plant or two, but it looks cute when not in use, and that was the goal.

 

 

 

Here it is set up for the small party I had.  Punch bowl of Sangria anyone? Yes Please!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll post again once I have more parties to really show its full potential! : )  I wish I had thought to do this at my last house, it would have been well used!

New Outdoor Living Room

Sorry for the lack of posting, life and work have been busy!  I do have things to share, so hopefully I can find some time. : )  I found some time today so I figured I would start with how fabulous the yard is looking!  Check it out!

I have wanted to share this post for a while, but I wanted to have everything set up before I shared.  We got an outdoor wicker living room set! Woo Hoo!  When we got our patio done last year, we had the dining half the patio set up with a grill and the patio table I had at my old house, but the other side was empty empty empty......

 

 

I had eyed a set at Home Decorators (aka poor man's pottery barn) last year, but we never took the financial plunge....Plus I wanted to see what other options might be available....I didn't spend a crazy amount of time shopping, but I did look around and never saw something I liked as much ( for the price at least).  So when I noticed Home Decorator basically had the same set again this year...I let Colin know. : )  And he said we could get it! Woo Hoo!!!

It is outdoor wicker so it is plastic not wood.

 

 

 

The set came with a love seat, 2 big chairs, a coffee table and small end table.  And the set came with the cushions and the pillows.  At first I was not a huge fan of the black pillows, but they do look nice with the set.  A full size couch would have been nice in theory, but this set fit so nicely on the patio and once you get the full sized, you watch that price go up and up!

We had it all set up, but still needed an umbrella since that side of the patio is HOT until dinnertime.  So we checked a few places out and decided on a umbrella from Home Depot.  The cantilever umbrella scares me a little when it get windy or stormy, but so far so good!

I set everything up so there was an open area so for larger gathering we could pull the patio chairs over to double the sitting on this side of the patio.  We have had some smaller parties and that plan has worked out well!

 

 

So check it out!  On the screen and in person! Come over and sit in it! I'll cook you dinner! : )

 

 

This is such a great addition to the backyard and I can't wait to enjoy it all summer!

My own Peony!!!

What makes this picture of a peony different from any others I have posted...
it is from MY YARD!!!!!
YAY!!!!   Having a yard is the best!
(remind me that later when I have to weed! ha!)

 

 

I impulsively bought a small peach peony plant at Home Depot (no idea what type and the tag was generic), then I impulsively bought a 'Sarah Bernhardt' Peony when I bought some new plants for along the side of the house.  And by impulsively I mean, I didn't plan on buying them, nor do I have a place to put them....Well I am going to put them in the perennial border on the side of the house BUT some hosta need to be removed first.  So right now they are still chilling in their containers needing to get watered way too much! haha Hopefully Colin will have some time soon to help me get them a permanent home in the ground.

 

I only got one good bloom from them this year, but I'll get more next year! Peonies are up there as one of my favorites, they are just so amazing!  I always said when I have a big farmhouse and a large barn (aka shed or garage-no animals) I would line the barn with peonies and have a big peony party every year! haha!  Well not sure the farm house and barn are going to happen, so perhaps I should start lining the side of my detached garage with peonies...... : )

 

Spring time is Busy Time

Hello! I am still here! And I actually took lots of pictures to share from around our yard!  I just have been working too much to sit down at my computer and share them.   Hopefully this weekend there will be a new post up! : )

 

In the mean time, the peonies are blooming!!!!