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

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.

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!