Happenin's in the flower gardens

 Finally the snow is over! The fear of frost is gone. The rain has been a bugger--and the weeds have just grown and grown. Last year I didn't do much in the gardens and the weeds were taking over. I spent a lot of time away from home visiting my mom. And then she died, and there was the funeral and my emotions, well I wasn't in a place where I cared what my gardens looked like. Then this spring has come and the rain inspires me.

This is my russian sage that Jilly and I trimmed and used some of the trimmings to make our lamp.

It doesn't look like much, but it grows into a beautiful fragrant bush. I love, love, love my russian sage.

Well this year I wanted to add color and depth and interesting pieces to my garden. I also know that if I put plants in planters there is much less of the weeding to be done.






 The first planter I got this year was actually a plastic bucket. It was flexible and advertised it could be used for laundry, garden supplies, anywhere you would need a bucket. I fell in love with the vibrant yellow (its the color I want to paint my front door! Hopefully that blog will be in the near future!)

I did the typical planting put a tall plant in the center a mounding plant on the side of it and then a dangling plant. Its already starting to grow, and I am excited to watch it throughout the season.  Jilly helped me pick out all the flowers.

 I drilled some good drain holes in the bottom. Moved one of my stumps, painted the stump white to make it look more aged, and placed the pretty planter on top.

The best part? The sprinklers water the plant for me so minimum care. Just a little dead heading so far.

 

These are my tulips as of last week. 

The next pictures are ones I took tonight after Korey and I finished up a bunch of weeding. I've been going out at least 15 minutes a day this past week. working on getting the weeds under control. I finally feel like I am winning! 

I have also been able to place several planters out with plants. I am so excited for the affect it is having in my garden I wanted to share it.

Now this picture was taken tonight. It may look a lot like the one from last week, except if you look closely you will see less weeds and grass cutting into the area, and the plants in the planter are growing a bit.

move your eyes over and here is a super fun element I found at a local consignment shop . Its an old seed or fertilizer  spreader that had been painted this fun lime green color. I was so excited when I saw it. There wasn't a price tag on it, so I found a gal to find out for me.


She called the vendor, and I was thinking, I can't go over $40. You have to walk away if its over $40. She came back with the price. $19. Inside I was giddy, but I remained calm on the surface. What a steal!! Jilly picked out the purple flowers in it and the pretty contrast is exciting to me. I can't wait till the flowers grow a bit bigger.

  

The same purple flowers are planted here next to one of my stumps. I love the earthy-ness of putting the stumps in the garden. I love that it is natural and visual--and that they were all free. (free is always good) on either side of the stump is an orange plant I put a while ago. They didn't grow very big last year because the weeds were choking out their light. Well this year they will have room to grow and I think it will be visually stunning.

Looking at the other side of the garden past the stump are some more fun planters and my new rose bush. behind the stump is my lavender plant that needs some serious trimming to get it back under control!! And more fun planters

This is a iron wheelbarrow planter that I have had a couple of years. I still want to spray paint it this year, but its still cute and will do for now. The flowers are gerber daisies that were given to me by my boss-lady for Mothers Day. I love the blue planter and how it contrasts with the orange flowers.

Close up of the rose bush and other planters

I've had the teapot planter a few years now. but previously have made the mistake of putting it up on the porch...where I had to water it all the time. I didn't and my plants always died. So this year they too are going in the flower bed where the sprinklers can take care of that for me. I put just some greenery in the top on for this year. The orange pot has pineapple sage in it. It smells and tastes just like pineapple too--I'm excited to add it to my herbs this year!

This Stump is in the flower bed in the front of the yard. I found another red bucket, drilled holes and put a pretty pink perennial in it

These are my tulips this week--I love my tulips

This bed gets my attention next