Tag Archives: plants

September 20, 2013
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Simple Arrow Planter

Ok, ok, I try and keep myself on a blogging schedule with weekly goals and what not, but my guy just came home (a day early!) from his two week writing/recording trip and I’ve been so preoccupied by his presence that I almost forgot to put up this latest post. Whoopsie!

Anyways, this isn’t so much a DIY since it’s a super simple little project that doesn’t need much explanation, but I just thought I’d share it in case any of you are also plant lovers that are looking for a new planter idea.

All you’re really doing is using a paint pen to draw your own arrows (or whatever other doodle you like) on your planter to give it your own personal spin. See? Easy! But what once was a boring pot now has a little pizzaz, don’t you think?

I don’t know about you, but I’m really looking forward to this weekend. It looks like the weather will be simply beautiful, my guy is in town, and I’m planning on squeezing in some brunch and pizza dates. Happy Friday!

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August 26, 2013
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Outdoor Plant Chart

I am finally done planting for the year! I knew when we moved into our new house last September that the backyard needed some major TLC. It’s not necessarily that it had a bunch of dead/ugly plants that needed to be removed, but it had the opposite problem- no plants at all. I mean, who knows how that could have happened. Maybe the last homeowners were allergic to the sun and they just didn’t feel like putting the effort into the backyard if they weren’t going to sunbathe back there. While we loved the privacy fence and all the trees in our new backyard, it was pretty obvious that we needed to add a lot more greenery into the space before it would really feel inviting.

I waited until my parents came to visit me this summer and my Mom helped me get started on making new flower beds and filling in the spaces (she has an amazing green thumb). I tried to keep all the tags for each plant so I could keep the care information on file, but they got lost so easily that I decided I needed a master chart of where plants were placed and what they were called. I figured I could always look up plant info on the Internet if needed, so as long as I knew the name of a plant and where it was, I would be set!

Just to catch you up on the yard makeover so far, here’s a few shots to show you what Todd and I have been working on the past few months…

SO. MUCH. BETTER. Of course, the Boxwood shrubs and Azalea bushes will take a few years to grow to their full height, so I’ll have to be patient until those guys grow up. In the meantime, it will be fun next summer to think out a little more of what I want the overall backyard style to be, but it’s a good feeling to at least have all the perennials in place for now.

Hope you got all your summer planting checked off your list this year!

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June 20, 2013
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Planting (with Mom!)

Have you ever had a project that needed to be done but you felt too intimidated to even start it (so you keep putting it off)? That’s how I felt about planting in our backyard. Thankfully, even though I’m a big dummy when it comes to plants, my Mom is something of a green genius, so I’ve been waiting until she visited this week to get started. This lady knows her hosta from her honeysuckle, her petunias from her peonies, her hydrangea from her hyacinth, her…well, you get the idea.

I had a few days off for their visit, so we spent the better part of the first day at several gardens and nurseries looking for just the right plants. It was a bit hotter than you might want it to be if you’re standing in the hot sun for hours, but we were determined to find the right specimens (and Todd found out that running through the nursery sprinklers can also help cool oneself down).

Once we found what we needed, we set our alarms and got up early the next morning to beat the heat while we prepared our planting beds. We removed two long rectangles of grass from in front of our deck and broke up the soil with a garden mattock. I’m not that strong to begin with, but let me tell you, my muscles were so sore the next day! If you’re looking for a hobby that will simultaneously give you wrestler arms and lush green surroundings, I highly suggest gardening.

Once our soil was tilled and soft, we mapped out where our plants should go, and started to relocate them in their new homes. I chose to do a lot of lamb’s ear because I’m a bit obsessed with it. It’s impossible for me to pass it in a garden, park, or stranger’s front lawn, without running up to touch it. So. Soft.

We got a lot of planting done that morning, but we had a 24 hour bout of monsoon the next day and steady rain ever since, so I haven’t gotten to finish the job yet. I told my parents though that those planting hours were some of my favorite their whole visit.

Gardening is something that I completely associate with my Mom, and I’ll always remember my high school friends who were stunned to see her outside at 11pm gardening under flood lights. I just thought all Moms did that. In addition to the green thumb that goes hand in hand with my Mom, my Dad’s signature hobby is guitar and I was lucky enough to have him playing on the deck outside while my Mom and I were planting. It was such a memorable experience to have so many sights and sounds of of my childhood home here in my “grown up” home. I couldn’t help it, I just had to take a mental picture to freeze the memory in time.

*Click*

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