I grabbed the opportunity to do some work outside yesterday. I wanted to get the pansies, geraniums, and lavender that I recently purchased in some pots.
Don found that chair on the curb during our neighboring town’s trash day. I have to clean it up a bit. We’re thinking it might look good at the kitchen table. In the meantime, I sat in it while I added pansies to the white urns.
Then the dark gray urns:
I got the urns from The Christmas Tree Shops a few years back. They’re not vintage, but they look that way.
Happy flowers.
And I planted them in the ‘window box’ I bought last year because I had too many pansies. Same case this year.
There’s another pot over on the porch table with even more pansies!
This is only the second year I’ve planted pansies. I’m so glad I did; they’re perfect for this time of year when the weather is dicey and the nighttime temps are cold. Eventually, when the sun gets too hot, I’ll switch them out for some calibrachoa. Though I somehow managed to keep the window box going into October and it just kept on blooming!
I also did some sweeping and cleaning up on the porch. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the fern makes it. My mistake in putting it outside too soon, along with the wind knocking it down two times, has resulted in damage to the plant. And it was so, so beautiful right before I put it outside! I could kick myself. I’m hoping that it will revive over time. I keep apologizing to it. Over and over. Sigh.
We plant lovers sometimes make mistakes. This one was a doozy.
We have rainy days ahead. And I have more mulching to do. I’m going to tackle that today. I also have to buy more plants for pots. (I went through a 2 cu. ft. bag of potting soil yesterday!)
Don and I talked about plant budget yesterday. I’m not adding any new plants to the beds this year. That will save some money. The budget goes for mulch, topsoil (for the seeds I plant) and potting soil, along with all the plants for the porch, funky patio, and secret garden pots. Our little cottage and our gardens are a haven for us. Seeing flowers blooming, having secret places to go to surrounded by natural greenery and a splash of color from potted flowers, sitting on our porch or on the funky patio – and we do that every day – surrounded by beauty brings us peace. And we need that now more than ever. So it’s worth it.
Call it “therapy.”
I’m reading The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon. So far, so good. After that, I have two more Ian Rankins from our library. But, I imagine, like most of you, I’m getting less reading time in as I spend much of the day working outside.
Happy May! I hope it’s warming up in your neck of the country.
Happy Wednesday.
oh, your hard work is paying off … those flowers are beautiful … hooray! thanks for taking such pretty photos and sharing them with us.
the fern looks great in the photo! with your care, i am sure whatever is needed will rebound. love that you’ve apologized to your fern. hope you feel better about it soon.
the chair looks sweet … but may i suggest that unless you know well the owner(s) of that chair, please check it for pests … especially bedbugs. we had to deal with them at work a few years ago (GROSS! and yes, that is me yelling … though i am extremely grateful they never made it to my home; thanks be to God!) and ever since i’ve been extra-scrupulous …. sorry to bring up that topic, but i don’t want you or anyone else to have to deal with those gross and sneaky little buggers … they can hide anywhere!
(shudder)
sorry, again.
if you can’t get outside because of the weather, glad you have some books ready to read! i am working on a couple big projects at home. nothing as enjoyable as reading, but will be good to have them done … then I can finally get to “a gentleman in moscow”!
happy day! happy may!
kathy in iowa
You can’t see all the missing fronds in the back of the plant!
I’m not worried about bedbugs. We buy used pieces of furniture all the time. It will be cleaned thoroughly before it comes in the house – and that means bleach, as well.
good!
your talent with plants (among other things) is obvious so i am sure that fern will bounce back soon given your tlc!
kathy in iowa
xoxo
Happy 1st May! Last time I went to Paris, as we arrived at the airport terminal, young girls were handing everyone bunches of Lily of the Valley, which we thought was very sweet but didn’t know why until they told us it was Fete du Muguet which the French celebrate on this very day!. They give them to friends and family.
It’s not warm enough here really to be planting out properly. I’m still wearing a thick knitted jumper! I meant to say yesterday that the seed packets you showed are the same brand that my friend brought back from Chicago, if I remember correctly they had a colourful little tag that you could put in the ground or pot to remind you what you had sown.
How lovely to be greeted that way!
These packets just come with the packet but perhaps your friend had a special assortment of them. Thanks, Dee Dee.
Ferns are amazingly resilient. I have plant to repot myself but can’t get to it. Hopefully today.
I hope you’re right about this one! I’d really like it to come back, Jan. Thanks.
We are so behind on yard work this year. The only flowers I have right now are a pot of pansies on my porch and a hanging basket of them on a shepherd’s hook on the side of the house. All that’s been done is clearing out garden beds – and that was all done by Brian on one of his days off work. I can’t do any gardening right now because of my back. It really stinks. There’s so much to do but Brian works most days and on top of it, our weather has been mostly terrible. Snow twice in the past couple of weeks and tons of rain. In fact, we have flooding all around us again.
Have you ever thought of keeping a compost bin on your property so that you could have your own soil/compost? We have one in our backyard that we add all our fruit and veggie scraps to, as well as egg shells. I hardly have to buy any potting soil for my outdoor planters and Brian also uses the dirt to add to our little veggie garden.
I have thought about it, but we’d have to get one that the critters can’t access – we have deer, raccoons, field mice, and bears around here. But I’d sure like one because I know it would make a difference.
The weather has been just plain crappy, hasn’t it? Feel better, Melanie.
We have a lot of wildlife here, too. Our barrel type bin has a locking twist-type lid. We’ve never had a problem with creatures getting into it.
Do you have a link for the type you have, Melanie?
Here’s the one we have. However, a couple of years ago, Brian filled the bin TOO much – it got too heavy – and the metal support frame broke. So now the barrel is just on the ground and he takes off the lid and uses a shovel to “fluff up” the mixture:
https://www.amazon.com/Suncast-TCB6800-Cubic-Tumbling-Composter/dp/B002Z8DX1S
Thank you, Melanie. I appreciate it!
Happy May Day to you two! I love all your flowers and plants and I’m pulling for the fern!! It is well loved, that is for sure. The chair you saved is fabulous! Great bones. Can’t wait to see what you do for it.
Thank you, Tana! The back of the chair is quite lovely. Don sort of fell for it!
Oh, don’t you love the little faces on pansies? They just make me smile, all of them, all colors! These will be wonderful. For whatever reason my pansies lasted all summer too and they usually don’t. Maybe the varieties are hardier now. Now that my time at Rick’s is less I can get to the nursery and hopefully get more than a few blooms planted soon enough.
Most of what I’ll buy will be herbs and such and most will get in pots to go to the lake with me in July and August. But there will always be a few new flowers!
I assume that means Rick is feeling better and that’s good news!
Lucky you! Going to a lake makes me sigh. I grew up going to my extended family’s cottage in Michigan and I miss that so much.
Thanks, Claudia! Much improved — at least able to sit up full time, walk around, still on crutches. But he can play his guitar again and work and that does wonders for his mood!
We go to Otsego Lake, near Gaylord. Cannot wait till I can get there!
We used to camp in the Pigeon River State Forest near Gaylord – actually closer to Vanderbilt! We went into Gaylord to shop, but it was much, much smaller then!
Happy May! Oh…your pansies are just delightful. They have such happy faces! The weather here has been rainy and cold, so no planting yet. But, I’m getting anxious, you know? I believe starting Friday, we will be in the 60’s for at least a week…I’ll take it.
I’m sure your fern will perk up. It just needs daily loving, turning, and the whispering of sweet nothings unto its’ fronds.
Good for you if you can stick to a budget when it comes to flowers. I often go overboard with plants and flowers, thinking I have more room than I really do. So far, nothing has been wasted, I always find a home for the stragglers, but this year I will try to be more mindful…and shop from a list. I’m going to need a lot of will power, however.
Enjoy your day! ;)
I was spoiled for the past two years when Don was earning a consistent paycheck. I indulged myself in plants. Grateful for that time, but that is not our current situation, so budget it is! Wishing you lots of willpower, Donnamae!
Today…I bought a Kimberly fern…oops. And three perennials….that were not on the list. I slipped up already! ;)
Ruh Roh! xoxo
The bees are back! I haven’t seen much bee activity this year yet, but this morning, they are busy at my lavender plants. You’ve planted lots of good cheer, Claudia. I love the idea of sitting on your porch and taking in beauty. Hope you find a compost container you can use. I got mine free from the waste pick-up company, and it has a hinged top. I only put plant material in my compost bin, and the squirrels are too small to lift the lid, and the raccoons don’t bother with it. I read that egg shells in the compost bin attracts more critters. However, I have had to suspend adding to the compost pile because the path to the bin goes right by the hummingbird nest. At last peek, the babies are growing bigger!
So glad they’re back, Wendy!
I’m going to check into a compost bin. We’ll see what I find out!
I love to rescue “trash” from the street.
Don has found some good things, Kay!
Your Pansies are lovely. That chair is special. Spent the day mowing and cleaning up the front yard. The mowing was overdue.
Marilyn
We need to mow again and we haven’t even tackled the back forty yet! So much rain makes for long grass. Thanks, Marilyn!
Your efforts are paying off; such pretty spots of color now within your eyesight!
Just wanted to say, in terms of garden budget, I’m trying to stay disciplined about going to the nursery because we decided, for the first time in forever NOT to plant vegetables. Two of our three (wood) raised-bed planters collapsed after five years in the weather (lots of rain earlier this year); my husband doesn’t really want to rebuild them. We can get decent-enough veggies at the market with good, seasonal prices for what we’d be putting in the ground this year; so, no Jack In The Beanstalk for us. We have to have other yard work done this month, such as immense lot/hill clearing (takes a crew; impossible for one person to do) and the money HAS to go for that due to weed abatement/City requirements as we’re in the SoCalif wildfire zone. (But I feel your pain; it’s been one of my pleasures to be selecting tomato varieties by now. Or peppers. Or squash. Etc. Darn.)
I meant to ask, how did your lovely old hutch on the porch hold up to the winter; do you just tarp it? Seems like ‘damp’ would get to the wood. Just wondering. I haven’t had good luck with leaving things of wood outside and we don’t at all get the kind of severe weather you do in the northeast.
It’s not standing up too well. I do tarp it, and the wood is fine, it’s the veneer that is suffering. But I’m sort of fascinated by it and I want to see how it looks when the veneer peels away. It only cost me $60 at an auction over 10 years ago, so it’s not as if I’m out any money!
Color makes such a difference!
Pansies are my favorite too. I used to lose out at the nursery. They’d all be sold by the time I got there. Then, a few years ago, the local grocery store started displaying them right by the front door. That’s where I get them now and they bloom from April right through to the first frost in October. Right now, though they’re in big clay pots, they’re lurking in the garage until it stops dipping down into the thirties at night.
Because we’re spending big time on the kitchen, laundry, and powder room reno we also are not adding to the beds this year. I’m on a tight budget too. But I’ve got my pansies so I’m happy! Everything else will be a bonus.
Pansies guarantee a smile! Glad you got them, Kay.