I pruned and shaped the boxwoods in front of the house yesterday, as well as the tall bush in the big garden bed. Do you remember my saying that the hens & chicks that I had planted in front of the porch didn’t come back this spring? Well, you never know what some pruning might reveal:
Hello! I was wrong to doubt you, little one. You were there all the time.
Behold our funky, rusty glider. Don found it when we were living in San Diego. He arrived home with it in the back of his Blazer. $25.00. It’s been with us for years. Some might think I should paint it, but I really love it this way. I do, however, want to find a cushion that fits the entire length of the glider.
And no, I’m not in the mood to make one.
But for now, this works just fine. For those of you who are new to the blog, the floor of the porch is made of bluestone and I fell in love with it when I saw this cottage for the first time.
Caroline, the owner of the dollhouse, has her own potting shed. I do not. So this is what you see as you enter the porch. Supplies, clippers, soil, mulch, garden gloves, recycling bins. I guess you can say my potting bench is this bench, along with the picnic table which is to the left.
I got the sign several years ago in an antique mall.
Currently blooming in the big garden bed: Nikko Dwarf Mound Deutzia. There are two of them. I planted them the first summer we lived here, so that would make them nine years old. They’re especially pretty this year.
And, I was standing in the kitchen yesterday, I glanced at the Vernors crate that is on the island and realized I had neglected to include one piece of McCoy Pottery when I did the series.
It’s a tiny little flower pot, a wee bit crooked, that I found locally. It holds all of our pens and pencils and sits in the crate. It’s from the 1940s.
It has the Nelson McCoy mark – an intertwined NM.
I didn’t want this little piece to feel left out!
Last night, we had a frost warning. Next week, the temps are going to hit ninety degrees. This has been the strangest spring!
Happy Saturday.
Claudia, At least you use your collections. I love that you had pens/pencils in that wee pot. I need to get new hens and chicks. I had them for years them they died out…probably my fault. I laughed about your potting area…I turned my little porch table into a potting area for a while myself. Let’s face potting sheds are never where we want them. :) This truly has been the strangest spring. Blessings to you, Don and Scout for a great weekend, xoxo,Susie
Very strange. I’ve never seen such dramatic changes in temperature! Have a lovely weekend, Susie!
I have that same glider! I use three cushions for the seat and three along the back. Your porch floor is gorgeous. Thank you for sharing your gardens.
I may have to buy three cushions, Betsy. Sounds like the perfect solution.
Always a delight to see your porch! Love the potting bench….it beats my corner in the garage! 90’s really? Hard to call that spring! Enjoy your day! ;)
I know! Not at all spring-like.
Claudia, the next time you’re in a thrift store, look for a baby-changing table. They are the perfect height for potting, with the bonus of storage shelves and drawers for your gardening gloves and tools and seeds. You could slap on some paint and it would blend right into your porch.
How I love hens-and-chicks. The hens are such good mothers to their babies.
And the little flower pot that was hiding in plain sight….so sweet.
I’ll check them out, Nancy. Thanks!
Oh, I am not ready for 90*! Quite lovely here today in the 70’s. We have rain for the next 2 days in the forecast, but we could use some rain, so won’t complain (too much). Trying to finish up some pots today. The “inventory” on the picnic table IS dwindling as it all gets planted. Yesterday I also found 3 little chicks which I had thought didn’t make it. yay! I hope you have a fun weekend working in the yard. It is what we dreamed of through those long winter months.
It is indeed, Chris!
Glad to see the hens and chicks finally arrived! After last Winter, I guess they just needed a little extra snooze time before they were ready to surface. I love that little plant – so cute. My mom had them in planting beds around the stone foundation of a barn on our property we had had to tear down when we moved there – or it would have fallen down. PS – no Blackwing pencils in your pencil cup? Bet you keep them in your tote, for work etc. Enjoy the holiday weekend! :>)
Blackwings are by my blogging chair and in a pencil pouch I carry with me.
I love the glider the way it is! No paint needed.
I had hens and chicks but I think the Day Lillies have covered them.
The suggestion of someone of using a changing table for a potting table is perfect. I will look into that also.
We have nice temperatures now through next Wednesday, but with those come thunderstorms. I guess we can’t have perfection all the time.
I don’t know if we have thunderstorms on the horizon, but we do have hot weather coming, Trudy.
We have gray skies and chances of 5-6″ of rain tonight. So many of my flowers in the ground have just rotted away. But, hopefully, this will give us a cooler summer.
Judy
Oh my goodness, more rain? You must feel like building an ark, my friend! Stay dry.
I love your porch. It is one of the things I miss the most living where I do right now. I have hens and chicks this year! I bought some last year and left them with Sara when I was out of town so long but they died. The new one’s are doing great!! I hope you have a great weekend. Love the little NM pot you missed….so cute and perfect for pens.
hugs,
Linda
There’s something wonderful about hens & chicks. I have little pot on the Funky Patio that holds one, as well.
I also love seeing your blue stone porch Claudia..It is a beautiful day here for planting pots and planting my usual petunias out at the base of the mailbox..the previous owners built a round flower box there and I have filled it every year except the year that I had heart surgery..We had a frost warning last night too so I hauled every plant I could into my little greenhouse for safety..That little NM planter makes a great pencil/pen holder…
Gorgeous day here, too. I’m going to go the nursery tomorrow for a couple of plants to finish off the Funky Patio. Then, I’m done. Well, except for watering, etc.
Our weird weather just keeps on going. We’re now getting the rain we would normally expect in April. We were worried in April about a year of drought. We didn’t have much of a winter to speak of.
Keep the seat measurements of your glider handy…you never know when you’ll spot something ;-)
Well, we have had some real worry with the sound of running water inside our walls and my husband, at 3am yesterday, said it had to be some sort of echo from pipes because we weren’t spiking water loss anywhere nor showing anything weird on the meter. Can you imagine, in our critically-dangerous SoCal drought, what a loss of water would mean…anyway, the City had to come out on Saturday at 7am of their holiday weekend and it’s city service to the main line (not service to the house), which means we as homeowner are not liable or in an unsafe situation (I nearly dropped to my knees in relief)…but, by the time anybody can come to work on it, waiting for clearance on gas and electrical underground lines, not to mention end of the 3-day weekend, we’re 5 days away from a dig-out/repair and they’re just hoping the sound is greater than the leak. I’ve been in knots thinking about lost water and we’re to be on the lookout if water starts bubbling out of the asphalt in the street, which means they then throw out mandatory caution and start digging without clearance for safety. Oh, and if it’s not a bubbly thing, it could be a geyser. I can’t sleep a wink and am hearing it in the quiet of my house this very minute at 4am. Totally unnerving. So, that’s how my weekend is going so far, Claudia! I’ve been watching Billy Joel concert clips at Madison Square Garden just now on youtube trying to de-stress and I’m just VERY glad my husband is home (whereas recently he was working out of state).
Thanks for the mention of your beautiful bluestone; I’d wondered about it.
Your glider looks like a perfect spot to curl up with a good book and a glass of lemonade!
I’ve never noticed before that your porch floor is stone not wood, what a beautiful surprise. I need a potting bench too or some way to store all my things. Just what I need, another thing on my list to find or make.