Adding Color and Whimsy to the Garden

Welcome to the 237th Metamorphosis Monday!

This weekend was a first for me. It was the first time I’ve ever planted annuals in August. When I went shopping, I wasn’t sure if I’d find any since I’ve never shopped for them this late in the season. Surprisingly the usual places (hardware stores, big box discount stores and garden centers) do have them, even in August. The selection isn’t what it is in mid April (annual planting time here) but it was better than I ever expected. Before my yard succumbed to shade, invasive tree roots and a gazillion acorn bombs, you would find me in the garden centers the first weekend after the magic planting date of April 15th.

Before Landscape Renovations Began: Buried in the trees

House Hidden and Overwhelmed by Trees and Shrubs 1

With a newly liberated home and garden, even the late date and heat of August couldn’t sway me from planting a few things. The first spot screaming for a bit of color was this area in front of the shrubs.

Annual Flower Bed

You can see it a bit better in this overhead view.

Zeon Zoysia Sod, View from Window

I’m not a big begonia fan and I don’t normally use red/orange in my plantings, but these Dragon Wing Begonias were pretty big. Big is good when you’re planting toward the end of the season.

Dragon Wing Begonias

Normally I would have spread them out more but since they’ll only be in the ground a couple of months, I planted them pretty close together. I’ll have to get more creative with this space next spring, this is a bit too “commercial” looking for me. But it’s color. And it’s pretty. 🙂

Dragon Wing Begonias 2

Come October, it will be time to pull them out and plant pansies. Pansies do really well here and you get almost three seasons out of them (fall, winter and early spring) so they are definitely worth the investment each fall.

Dragon Wing Begonias 3

The area at the foot of the gas lantern needed a little something.

Curved Brick Walkway

I found some pretty lantana, again a fairly decent size. Since it is so late in the season, I kept looking for plants that were big, yet not too expensive since they won’t be in the ground too long. I’m going to be incorporating some perennials into my annual beds to save on cost. More on that in a later post. The label didn’t show the variety for this particular lantana but it’s definitely an annual and not a perennial like “Miss Huff.”

I had originally been thinking about planting a climbing vine here, but I’m not so sure now. This weekend I passed a house that had a vine of some sort (may have been clematis) growing up the pole of their lantern and I didn’t like the way it looked. The vine had become so full, the lantern itself looked tiny and lost sticking out at the top of the huge vine. I do have plans to give it a fresh coat of black paint, but I think I’ll nix the climbing vine idea, at least for now. There would be some serious maintenance involved to keep it from looking like the one I saw this weekend.

Lantana Planted Around Gas Lantern

Can you believe a blue mushroom grew right out of the ground here? Amazing, right?!

Garden Art

Remember the little area on the other side of the walk in front of the magnolia?

Bushes Removed From Walkway_wm

This little spot next to my bird girl…

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Eveil, Bird Girl in the Garden

I filled it with pink and lavender Vinca. Couldn’t get a great pic of the colors to save me. The colors are much prettier in person than in this photo below.

Vinca in the Garden

Switching gears, years ago I found these little hose minders in Smith & Hawken. That’s what I call them but I think the correct term is hose guides. They are heavy (feel like cast iron) and they keep hoses from being dragged right into the flower beds or shrubs. I only purchased three because even on sale, they were a little pricey. Totally worth it though since they look as good today as they did years ago when I purchased them.

Hose Guide

This past weekend, I purchased a few more. These didn’t come from Smith & Hawken since they have all closed in our area.

Hose Guides

They aren’t cast iron so not sure how long they will last but I loved the cute pine cone shape.

Pine Cone Hose Guide

I worried a little about the chipmunks during all the this grading and sodding process. I can quit worrying.  I’m pretty sure they all survived just fine because my beds are FULL of chipmunk doorways. Wonder how deep those tunnels go?

Chipmunk Houses

 

Nutsedge Wars:

Changing gears again, remember our little discussion about nutsedge. You may remember some of the Zeon Zoysia that was delivered and installed recently contained nutsedge. Well, the sod farm brought out around 40 new pieces and replaced the bad nutsedge pieces. We had a few left over so I placed those pieces in areas where we could have used a bit more sod toward the side/back.

Nutsedge

Later this weekend, I found three more pieces of sod containing nutsedge and replaced two of those myself with the newer sod. Man, that stuff is heavy to haul around! One of the pieces containing nutsedge only had one plant growing up through the grass, so I left it and I’ve ordered a product called Sedgehammer.

The sod farm recommends a product called Certainty, but it appears that’s it is just available to businesses, not the general public. I did find one place that sold it, but the price was INSANE!  In the comments for the previous gardening post, you guys mentioned a product called Sedgehammer. It has good reviews online and I found it available in packets for a reasonable price. I purchased a couple of packets to have on hand and I’m going to try some on that one piece of nutsedge I found. I’m afraid I’m going to eventually find more.

I took one of the nutsedge sod pieces and dug out the nutsedge so I could show you why it’s so invasive and so difficult to get rid of. You can pull out nutsedge ’til the cows come home, but it keeps coming right back because of these things–tubers (or nuts) that grow on underground stems. This one nutsedge plant had three tubers attached (see arrows). The tubers are hard, round balls about the size of a pea. I think nutsedge is the cockroach of the plant world.  No doubt it would survive nuclear war or a meteor/asteroid hitting the earth!

Nutsedge Tuber

Okay, I can’t leave you on a depressing nutsedge note. There’s a  little pot of flowers spilling out onto the walkway this morning. It was so pretty with the morning sun shining down on it.  🙂 Happy Monday!

Purple and White Flowers Spilling Out onto the Walkway

 

Did you work in the garden this weekend? Go to a movie? Eat dinner out with friends or family? How was your weekend?

 

Metamorphosis Monday:

One on sidebar

 

Update: Recently, I made a change to how the links will display for Metamorphosis Monday. They will display randomly each time you visit BNOTP so all participants will have a chance to have their link displayed near the top of the group of links. You’ll easily be able to tell which links you’ve already clicked since those links will change color once visited.

If you are participating in Metamorphosis Monday you will need to link up the “permalink” to your MM post and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on your post name, then just copy and paste the address that shows up in the address bar at the top of your blog, into the “url” box for InLinkz.

In order to link up, you’ll need to include a link in your MM post back to the party so the other participants will have an opportunity to receive visits from your wonderful blog readers.

Please observe these few rules:

Only link up Before and After posts that are home, gardening, crafting, painting, sewing, cooking, DIY related.

Do not link up if you’re doing so to promote a website or product.

Do not link up a post that was just linked last week since a lot of readers will have already seen that post.

Do not type in ALL CAPS. It spreads the links waaaay out.



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Comments

  1. Susan, your yard looks fabulous. Wish we could get zoysia. The company that treated our yard this year used Certainty and told me it is $100 a small bottle. Crazy. My back yard is eat up with nutsedge, but the whole back yard is weeds. I hope we can get it redone some day.

  2. Hi Susan- I’ve been watching all this progress on your yard and it’s been fabulous to see! You really did enhance the beauty of your home. I like all the annuals you planted. I think the begonias look great in front of the shrubs. You are a powerhouse lately with all the outside work you’ve been doing! I grew morning glories on our mail box one year…that turned into a mess! I agree you probably don’t want to grow a vine ont he lamp post. I bet you are excited to just stare out the window and see all the improvements you’ve made outside!

  3. Everything is looking so pretty, Susan! I am fighting nutsedge here, too and have found that Image works well for me. It’s great for Bermuda because it seems to kill everything but Bermuda…not sure about Zoysia, but I would think it would work for all turf grasses. Have a great week!…hugs…Debbie

  4. Susan,
    Love your late Summer plantings in the flower beds!!!
    Like you, I usually stick with one or two colors within the realm of my beds, but your choices are stunning!!!
    I adore those hose guards. . .may have to invest in those for the Spring!
    I’ll be watching for the end~of~Season $ale$!!!
    It was a beautiful weekend to go for a walk in one of our local Parks!!!
    Thanks for hosting Metamorphosis Monday, each week!
    I enjoy participating!!!
    Fondly,
    Pat

    • Thanks, Pat! My fave colors for flowers are pink, lavender, white, yellow and blue. I do love red geraniums though. 🙂 I found my hose guards in Home Depot. I think I need one or two more…need to go get them today before they are all gone. Sounds like you had a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

  5. Your front lawn is beautiful! Thanks again for hosting a great party!

  6. It is so interesting that you look forward to planting pansies in the fall, when in the north they are strictly a spring flower 🙂
    All your added color looks really pretty!

    • Yep, we go pansy crazy here in the fall. They will even last through snows, though we rarely see the white, fluffy stuff. The trick is to get them in early enough so they get some size on them before winter arrives. They don’t grow a lot during the winter but they bloom beautifully.

  7. Hi Susan, thanks for hosting! We have Zoysia also and nutgrass is the pits! I love the pot with flowers spilling out. Just beautiful. DD2 had new sod put in her backyard this summer, so we’re all thankful for all the rain.
    I noticed the party links are jumping around – is this something new? It makes it hard to see everything and it’s too easy miss something. I usually start at the first linked blog and go from there.
    Allison
    Atticmag

    • Yes, I changed it to a random display last week and folks seemed ot like it. I did that so everyone would have a chance to be in the first few rows since I was getting questions/complaints from folks who don’t feel like they get as many visits when they are further down in the links. The link should change color when you visit it so you’ll know which ones you’ve already visited. Is it changing color for you?

  8. Love how beautiful everything looks. Thanks for hosting. fondly ~lynne~

  9. Great post….love how open your front yard is now and all those little areas of color you put in. I had an idea on how you decorate your lantern area because it stumped me too….you have to be careful of electric lines and it’s next to a sidewalk so you don’t want to have guests walk up an get hit with a barrage of bee’s or leggy blooms….how about a trio of outdoor pots in your favorite style? A tall one, then a medium and a small (like the one you have shown laying on it’s side….You could even make one a homemade water fountain…Well, whatever you decide I’m sure it’ll be great!

    • It’s a gas lantern so no risk of electric lines and the gas line is pretty deep. I also built up the soil a bit with some top soil so I wouldn’t have to dig so deep. Thanks, Christine…love container gardening so will definitely consider that next spring. 🙂

  10. Your garden is lovely Susan! Love your walkway path too!Thank you so much for hosting!
    xx
    Anne

  11. Your yard is looking so beautiful Susan…I love the “instant gratification” of the large plants…the begonias look great against the shrubs…and I so love planting Lantana for their color and the deer stay away from them!!….Thanks for hosting Susan…have a wonderful day!

  12. Oh the wee mushroom is wonderful. Thank you for hosting!

  13. Hi Susan! Oh, I’m loving all of the things you’re doing to your front yard and it looks so nice! Love your flower beds in front of the shrubs. I’d love to do something like that. How fortunate to find nice big plants at this time of the season too. Pretty pretty! Now, I’ve been seeing your little face on blogs who went to the blogger’s conference. You look so cute!
    Hope you’re doing well.
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia 😉

  14. It seems no matter how hard our yard guy tries, there is unwanted seed in the premium seed he sows in our yard. Those with tubers would be so hard to get rid of. I love vinca and plant it every summer, so easy to maintain and gets so big when it has all summer to really get established. Your yard is looking amazing Susan!
    It was such a pleasure meeting you at Haven, had a wonderful time!
    Blessings,
    Cindy

  15. Isn’t it fun to see flowers in the yard?! I’ve been feeling like working outside lately as well, even though it is August, but it’s been such a cool one. Got a bad cold though so didn’t actually do it yet.
    Thanks for the great link party every week!

  16. Wow! I was looking for my link and it moved up to the top row! Your new grass is so beautiful and I’m glad you mentioned the product to control nutsedge. I am battling it constantly! You will love those dragon-wing begonias because they will give you a big show for the money!

  17. Your new plantings look fantastic! Thanks so much for hosting!
    KC

  18. Wow everything is really looking nice! Love your home. Thank you for hosting!

  19. Your yard looks gorgeous! I know it’s been a lot of time and $$. I love begonias basically because they are so hardy and the long hot southern summers don’t deter them. I love your dragon wing ones, never heard that term! The tilted pot is a fun surprise!

  20. I have a couple of those porcelain mushrooms and like you I planted annuals in August as well. We both suffer the same kind of insanity! lol

  21. The annuals you planted look beautiful. I love putting in pansies in the fall also, however, for the last several years I have used Violas and love them even more than the pansies. They fill out so much more and last longer into the summer. Give some violas a try along with your pansies. Vinca was a good choice as they will self seed and you will probably have some next year. The lantana looks great around your lamp. There is an perennial lantana called Ms. Huff but it gets huge and would outgrow that area in no time. Wish the growers would come up with a smaller perennial lantana. Something you could think about for the lamp is a Mandeville vine. They are not hardy in your zone (or mine), however, I have 2 in pots and one is growing in front of some lattice that hides our trash bins. It blooms all summer and the red blooms look great against the white lattice. I bring them into the garage in the fall, water them maybe 2 or 3 times during the winter and they go back outside the next spring. Love the blue mushroom! I’ve had 3 of those in a flowerbed for several years…such fun. 🙂 Vikki in VA.

    • Vikki, thanks for reminding me about the violas…I love those sweet things. I’ll have to look for some of those this fall. So they will last through our winter like the pansies? Yep, I was thinking about how big Miss Huff gets…they actually described it as a shrub online. That’s bigger than I would want for sure. Mandevilla sounds like it might work…and not take over the whole post and get too large. I could hide the pot with a few annuals. Great ideas, Vikki!

  22. Your landscaping is beautiful, Susan.I love the additions….Christine

  23. Hi, Susan……what a metamorphosis in your yard! Everything looks perfect and I wouldn’t change a thing…..it’s amazing how opening up the front area of your house changes the look of the house! All the tiny little touches are perfectly placed and you should be commended for all that work – it’s downright inspiring! Thank you for sharing your beautiful home with us!

    ~Faith

  24. Your yard is really looking lovely. Love the mushroom. The begonias are beautiful. Did you know that you can take cuttings, root them in water and have potted plants all winter? Then they are ready for planting outdoors as soon as it warms up. You just need to make sure that when you take the cuttings you have those little joints. Everywhere there is a joint new roots will come out.

  25. I have lots of little pieces in my garden tucked in for the visitor to find. I love visiting gardens where I see lots of color and lots of “art”.

    Your garden is wonderful.

  26. Mary from Virginia says

    I love all of your plants! The dragonwing begonias look beautiful! They do really well in our area. I planted one down at my mailbox, really thinking it would die. It is the size of a small shrub. I love it!

    Vinca is always a happy easy plant too. I am sure your’s will be fat and full in no time. I need a couple of those garden guides myself! Thanks for the reminder!

    Hope you don’t have to haul anymore sod, you be careful girl!

  27. Susan, your lawn and flowers look terrific and you are such an inspiration. Our Landscapers came yesterday- a Sunday I know was odd, but my husband had made the arrangements-. Anyway, new sod on the side front yard, back side yard was cleared Saturday morning of haul away stuff, weeds are all gone leaving edges to fill with colorful flowers, bushes trimmed and front lawn aerated . I will send pictures. Wish I had taken before pics, but it looked so terrible I didn’t want to see it again. Best part, this was all my honey’s idea and initiative. Parkinson’s meds a miracle drug for him! Looking forward to more posts. Oh! And LOVE THE BLUE MUSHROOM!

    Love, Carol

  28. After sowing the grass in our previous house, we’d be hand pulling the ugly weeds that it left behind….my little daughters back than, loved to do this, lol.. Your yard with house is looking marvelous, Susan…gorgeous I would say! Have a wonderful week and thank you for the cool MM party .
    FABBY

  29. Margo Kuhn says

    Susan, I love your posts and all your lovely flowers and accessories. Thanks for sharing about nutsedge as I think I may have it too and just thought it was a wild grass of some sort, but thanks to you, I will be checking it out more thoroughly and attending to it.

  30. Susan, your yard is looking SO PRETTY! Lots & Lots of work that really shows the house off to its best advantage.
    Didn’t you consider putting in some fall mums for autumnal color? Mine come back every year, too, if you buy the “hardy” ones.
    I’m sorry I haven’t been by lately…mega computer issues. I just bought a NEW HP Envy with 2 TB. Wonder how long it will take me to fill THAT? LOL

    I spent the weekend cooking & sewing…my 2 favorite pastimes. Come see my cute cuppies…they will make you smile, I promise.
    Hugs,
    Rett

    • Our mums don’t always come back here and I’m just not ready for fall. It will be hot here for a couple more months. Rett, don’t rush my summer! 😉
      Ooooh, a new computer! Mine only has 1 TB! It’s barely full after 4 years so you’ll have lots of space for ages to come. I know you are loving it! I want bigger monitors but I have to upgrade the video card and some other stuff to get the ones I want, so no new computer or monitors for me for a while. This past weekend, Georgia had a tax free weekend for back to school…ideal time to buy that kind of thing.

  31. Love the spilling pot of flowers. So that is what that is called, Nutsedge, I have not had any trouble with that one yet but I have fought an ongoing battle with bindweed. Same story, you can pull it till the cows come home but any little bit left and it sprouts tenfold. I feel your pain, I hope you Sledgehammer stuff works. Thanks for the party too. Cheers, Pamela

  32. I thought kudzu was the bane of the South, but I guess nutsedge is a close cousin. Love your purple flowers spilling out of the pot and the little mushroom for its whimsey. Your yard is wonderful. Did the neighbors all come out to comment?

    Thank so much for hosting and letting me join in.

    • Thanks, Madonna! I know they were cringing when it was in that between stage, all tore up for about two weeks until the tree guy could get finished and the sod guy got started. A few folks have stopped and commented while driving by or while on walks. I still have so much to do! It was fun to do something fun and pretty and not practical this weekend. 🙂

  33. Good Day Susan
    I live by the Chesapeake Bay, every Sat; morn; I listen to a 1hr. garden question and answer show. They also have the web site I listed above.
    Don’t go to box stores to cure your lawn and garden woes, use a reputable garden center. Alot of over the counter box store grass and garden foods and killers contain to much of 1 thing and not enough of another to combat the problem, also depends on type of soil you have in your area.
    Try the web site !!!!!
    Your house is beautiful, the yard looks nice.
    Thank you for uplifting Mondays.
    Blessings, Terri

  34. Susan, your yard is looking so beautiful! Thank you for teaching me about nutsedge as I had no clue! Your yard has inspired me to continue working on mine as well and this Atlanta weather has been perfect for it this season. Thanks again!

  35. Girl you must be exhausted! but is paying off! your yard looks amazing….and those pesky things, nutsedge with all those tubers no wonder is pretty darn impossible to get rid of them…good luck with the “Nut Killer” oh by the way…I’m loving your blue mushrooms!!! LOL..so whimsical! have a great week Susan!

  36. Susan, if we didn’t have “whimsey” in our gardens, decorating, etc….wouldn’t life be a little dull!?!?! franki

  37. hi Susan, your recent series of things to do with old jeans inspired me to do a post on making jeans into sit-upons, something I had done years ago with my Girl Scout troop! Hope you might have a chance to check it out. Thanks for the inspiration! -Dawn

  38. I get the need to add color in the garden mid season, I just did that recently too. But our season is much shorter at least you will have yours for a while. Thanks for hosting, Laura

  39. Hi Susan, your landscaping looks fabulous and the annuals you planted only enhance it. I love that we can see right to your red now, the begonias pick up on it. I personally would not put a vine on your lamp post, each time you want to spruce it up with paint, it could be a problem. The under planting will be pretty enough and don’t forget dressing it for Christmas!! 🙂
    No gardening for me for the past two weeks, am sick with a sinus and another bug I picked up. The antibiotics are sun sensitive so I cannot be outside until they are finished.
    Hmmm….I wonder if Blue Mushrooms are good for this bug!!! 🙂

  40. Oh, Susan, I think your new landscaping looks amazing and really accentuates your beautiful home. Thanks so much for hosting this great party!

  41. yarlette g says

    Everything is looking beautiful just as I thought it would. You have such good taste. I love lantana and angel wing begonias .They flower all summer until we get a frost in the fall. I am not a big fan of climbing vines on a lamp post either they hide the beauty of the post . I always use bedding plants around the base. Yarlette

  42. I can’t believe the total change in your yard. I know it was a mess and you were probably thinking “what have I done” for a while there. LOL But, it is beautiful! Thinking of you. xxoo

  43. Susan, your yard is looking gorgeous! What a difference all the clearing away made. Thank you for hosting! Have a grand week. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

  44. Hi Susan, Your house and your yard look sooooo pretty. I love the look of your home now that you can ”see” it. Your brick sidewalk looks so inviting to come up now. I know you must love it all and are so glad to have all of those trees out of there, you probably wish now that you had done it a long time ago. All of it looks wonderful!!!! Love the pot on its side with the flowers. Take care…

  45. Thanks for the info on nutsedge and sedgehammer! We recently noticed a bit of it in both our front and back yards. We spoke to our lawn care company and they came and applied something to take care of it already! We had no idea what it was but when I saw your pics I immediately recognized it as the culprit! How co-incidental! Thanks again!
    BTW…absolutely love your blog!

  46. Debbie Zinser says

    Not sure where you are located but here in the Memphis area, all my lantana’s are perennials. Might try just leaving them and cutting them back to the ground in the winter and see if they come back in the spring.

  47. Hi Susan
    Your yard sure is looking great. I do love the flowers. As soon as your all done with your yard and think you can take a breather it will be time to decorate for the holidays. 😉 Have a great blessed week.

  48. Marilyn in Mt. Vernon, VA says

    Congratulations — your lawn looks so wonderful — all neat and manicured. And I like very much the tilted pot with the sweet flowers spilling out…nice idea!
    I did see a movie this weekend, “Blue Jasmine.” Which I plan to see again, because I want to enjoy Cate Blanchette’s (have I spelled her surname correctly?) wardrobe some more…just fabulous…so Chanel. Oh, and an engrossing storyline also. Went out for Salvadoran food, more interesting (and better, I think) than Mexican. I love ethnic food!
    Thanks for a beautiful post, Susan, as usual.

  49. Peggy Thal says

    Just looks gorgeous Susan ! What a great job you did. Like your new plantings and your bit of whimsy. Your house just shows off so beautifully. I too look forward to pansy planting time. They are such sweet flowers with their little faces. Big Bang for the buck too. Enjoy all the hard work you did. I bet you just keep planning and planning new projects. It is so hot here. Doing inside projects!

  50. So that’s what that’s called,,,nutsedge. I had my guy plant some sod and roses and some day lilles in a house we were flipping. That stuff popped up everywhere!! I was sooo mad. You’re right. You can pull for days on end and not get it. I’m going to get that hammer stuff!!

  51. Susan,
    The Angel dragon wing begonias do very well here in our Sr. Citizen’s community, as do the pastel, multi-color lantana. This year they have mixed a short/medium height zinnias withe purple salvia..they have not held up to the heat, despite being watered regulary. Something they have planted for second year in a row and I intend to get some of it next year is Angelonia. It is so pretty and comes in lots of pastel colors. You could decorate that lamp post for all seasons and holidays and I bet you’ve already done that for Christmas before.

  52. Marilyn in Mt. Vernon, VA says

    Susan…”Blue Jasmine” is Woody Allen’s new film, and it’s a good one.

  53. Your lawn looks beautiful! You’ve done a wonderful job. Thank you so much for hosting each week. Have a wonderful week. 🙂
    Hugs
    Kathy

  54. pam ~ crumpety cottage says

    Susan, that little pot spilling flowers at the end is so pretty! I imagine it was built that way, but I suppose you might could do it with a regular pot. It puts me in mind of Rome for some reason.

    I’ve never heard of nutsedge. And I thought the whole big deal with zoysia was that it didn’t take weeds very well so it kept a beautiful, weed free appearance. 🙁 I hope you can get it in check because I know that was a big, tiring and expensive project and it would be a shame if it kept creeping it’s way in. Fathead nutsedge!

    But everything is looking beautiful. Your neighbors must be thrilled! And I’ve never seen those little hose minders. Ever! I could really use some of those so I’ll have to watch for them. We don’t have Smith and Hawken here. I wonder if places like HD and Lowe’s have them … I’ll find out. I am forever smooshing flowers and bushes dragging the hose around, so those will really come in handy.

    I hope you have a wonderful week. 🙂

    • Thanks, Pam! That’s my new mantra: Fathead Nutsedge! 🙂 Yeah, Zoysia chokes out a lot but apparently nutsedge is some strong stuff. I’m not happy it’s been imported to my yard! 🙁
      I found the pine cone hose minders at Home Depot this past weekend. You are right…the pot did come designed tilted like that. They are on sale for around 1/2 price ($7.99) at Lowes right now. It has a good size drainage hole in the bottom. I bought the flowers already in a pot together…white petunias and some kind of cute purple flower. I started to just put the pot in it but decided to actually plant them in it…looked better that way. They had them in several colors…orange, goldish yellow, etc… Hopefully they have them at your location, too.

      • pam ~ crumpety cottage says

        Oh, thanks for the extra info. 🙂 I’ll hit up HD for the hose minders and stop by Lowe’s for a tilted pot. I really love that look; so haphazard and carefree. Funny how much work goes into making things beautiful, natural and ‘care-free’ looking though, lol. 😀 (Don’t tell my husband.) 😉

        Btw, my neighbors have a habit of copying EVERYTHING I do around the exterior of my house. And now that I plan to look for hose minders and tilted pots, they will also be copying you, by extension, lol.

  55. Rattlebridge Farm says

    It was a delight to visit your beautiful yard and to see what you planted. Love the color and whimsy (darling mushroom!). Thanks for hosting MM!

  56. Your yard renovations are just gorgeous! I recently saw Smith and Hawkens items in the garden section of Target. You may want to check there for the hose “minders”.

  57. Ah man, I hate those darn weeds! Why is it they are so easy to grow but it takes so much work to get the grass to grow? ugh?

  58. Ah, I miss Smith & Hawken too 🙁 The last owner was Scotts co. and they ran S&H in to the ground. So sad. That was our go to store for all things garden and gifts. Oh well. Hope someone comes along with something similar someday. Your new plants looks so nice! The Begonia’s look pretty. Don’t they come back next year there? And Lantana is my new favorite this year! We planted some earlier and they look so pretty, I love all the pinks and yellows in the flowers. Maybe a little frog will find shelter under that big blue mushroom! Your yard looks wonderful, quite a transformation. I’m glad the chipmunks made it through the redo 🙂 They are so cute. Bet they love their new garden!

    • Such a shame! I miss that store, too. They had neat stuff you just couldn’t find anywhere else. Thanks, Nancy! You know what’s funny…all through this landscape renovation, there have been these teeny, tiny baby frogs hopping around everywhere. I kept trying to catch one to hold it, they were so cute. My sod guy did catch one, one day, of course he let it go. Maybe it’s all this rain we’ve had.

      • I am so behind, sorry! You are so lucky to have those little frogs. We had them in abundance when I was little growing up in Houston. We called ours tree frogs? I guess because they clung to trees? Suddenly they seemed to disappear. I think that may have been around the time they started “fogging” neighborhoods for mosquitoes? Ugh. If only we knew then what we know now! I am not a fan of pesticides. What kills something, surely kills more. I think those little frogs fit in that “more” category. Maybe they are making a comeback!

  59. Good morning Susan! Your home looks absolutely lovely. We’re in the process of re-creating our property as well so I know what you’re going through. I just mentioned to my husband this week-end that I’ve hardly seen any of my little chipmunk friends this summer. They used to dash back and forth from the far side of our garage to our deck all day long. I haven’t seen one do that this season. Now I know why. After ten years of asking him, my husband finally planted a beautiful side garden in that area for me. I suppose all the work and his invasion of their space has kept them away. Secondly, I hired a Master Gardener to help us plan our landscape design. We too had clematis growing up our lamp post. She had us remove and relocate the clematis in the new garden. The sun exposure was wrong. Clematis like their “feet” to be kept cool. She designed a lovely bed surrounding our lamp post. I had to laugh at your lovely “mushroom”. We spent part of our week-end in nearby New Hope, PA and in front of one of the many lovely shops were planted all these colorful mushrooms. Now I want to go back and get a few! We enjoyed a beautiful week-end here in northwestern NJ. We had dinner at an open air garden in New Hope at an amazing French restaurant “Zoubi”. We spent Sunday back at our old church on Staten Island reuniting with old and dear friends. It was a busy but wonderful week-end.

  60. Oh, my! Your yard is looking prettier and prettier every time you post!

    With all the work on the interior of our house, we decided not to do much with our yard this year. Still, some basic maintenance needs to be done anyway, and as my husband was sick this weekend, I had to pick up his part in the yard maintenance as well. I spent whole day Sunday picking up the fallen twigs, raking leaves, mowing both front and back lawns, pulling some dead plants and weeds out, snipping off the new shoots of volunteer elm trees (no matter what we do, those keep coming back)… I also harvested grapes from our sprawling grapevine, and last night, I made 6+ pints of freezer grape jelly from them. Now, this is the very first time I’ve ever made grape jelly, so fingers crossed it will come out OK and not turn into “vine jelly” or even worse, “vinegar jelly.” 🙂

  61. Susan, Your house is getting more beautiful each and every day! I absolutely love your lamplight; it’s so pretty as is the little pinecones! I am going to have to look for a side pot to plant some spilling flowers – yours looks so pretty! Thanks for showing the before and after picture; I appreciate you doing that. What a remarkable difference between the two! Your house was beautiful before, but now, well, Wow! It is gorgeous, just gorgeous!! 🙂

    Pat F.
    Las Vegas

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