Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Bella Has A Playhouse


Our friend Chad's Mom had this playhouse built for his little girls that have now grown up and it has come to our house for Bella. She and we are thrilled and so happy to have her a little playhouse.  We plan on removing the wood bench and adding more stepping stones to her front door and with some minor fixing up and paint it will be as good as new.


Bella sweeps and cleans every morning in her playhouse


 new midnight marvel hardy hibiscus


new luna red hardy hibiscus


oriental lily blooming this spring


one of many surprise lilies up and blooming


trumpet vine blooming everywhere
it has spread to all the lilacs next to it


gorgeous tropical hibiscus


tiger lilies were in full bloom last month

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

More New Pots


We have been hitting all  the Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Marshall's & Ross stores in our area over the last couple of months looking for spectacular buys on flower pots and have managed to snag a few.


beautiful purple/blue pot from
 Home Goods clearance counter
with a purple glass frog from Marshall's
clearance and planted with a curly fries hosta 


beautiful 4 in 1 pot from Lynn
planted with hens/chick on a 
newly painted base and Velvet


bright red/black pot from Bates Nursery
they had 50% off 1 item
planted with a hosta and new guinea impatiens


another Home Goods clearance pot
planted with a Luna Red Hardy Hibiscus



and the best for last


I had seen a picture of these spheres somewhere months ago so we saved our whiskey barrel rings as the barrels fell apart and had to be thrown away.  Then I went to the hardware store to get my hooks after deciding we had enough to start and came home to tell Alan what I wanted and would he make them.  After making a second trip to the hardware store and getting the right stuff this time I came back and he whipped out 4 of them this past weekend.  Didn't even have to dig my pictures out.  He did a fantastic job with them and they look great hanging in our trees in the flower garden.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Wonderful Break


The garden is doing so well this year especially after the rain and cooler temps we had last week.  It was a wonderful week to be off work.  The past few weeks the temps had been over 100 and last week they fell to the 80s although we did have the humidity back.  Of course we are now back in the mid 90s with little rain here and there.  Summer is back!


the doves are back for another year


yellow water lilies are blooming very good
black elephant ears looking good too


pink water lilies are making a strong showing


beautiful angel stand we found at Marshall's


tall blue pot we found at TJ Maxx
with a hosta in it


short fat strawberry pot I picked up last year full of purple million bells


new galvanized tub
on an electrical spool I painted black
 full of pitiful looking geraniums


old tub with pink daisies


new pot I found on Craig's List
with red mandevilla doing well


gorgeous new pot found at a nursery in KY
with a royal red butterfly bush


little pot full of pink periwinkles
in a birdbath full of water hyacinths


new pot from TJ Maxx 
full of dark red ivy geraniums


new pot from Ross' with a pink mandevilla
behind it is another galvanized tub full of zinnas on an electrical spool painted green


old pot we've had forever with hens and chicks

I must say we have gotten on a pot kick this year.  In the spring we went to see a hosta garden and they had planted a lot of their hostas in pots and elevated them to be seen. It has given us many ideas and now we are on the hunt for lots of new pots and stands to put them on.  I think we've gotten a good start on finding them this year.  Can't wait to find more!