Container Gardens

One of my passions...besides scrapbooking and gourmet cooking is container gardening. One of my fondest memories of my Mom (yes, she's still alive) is of how she had these container gardens on the patio in the backyard and the front porch. They were fantastic! All sorts of exotic plants and some a little more domestic. The plants grew and grew and were so beautiful. I felt that it was like our own little peace of heaven on earth.

So through the years I have created various kinds of gardens at the various home we have lived in our the years. My favorite has been the floral gardens that I created in the front yard of the house we owned in Virginia. The scent of those flowers just hung in the air...to me it was heaven on earth. Peonies, Hydrangea, Gardenias, Azaleas, Lilacs, Wisteria, Fuschias in hanging baskets, and the Roses....dozens and dozens of them! I had a Rose Garden, lots of huge fragrant rose bushes and miniature rose bushes everywhere! They were in every color and some had a heavy fragrance and others a lighter scent but all of them together in the hot summer evenings in Virginia made our entire cul-de-sac smell heavenly! The scent is what I think that got the rest of my neighbors to add flower gardens to their front yards :-)

So where am I going with this today right? LOL! Well...my front porch needed something, it needed curb appeal! So my daughter and I looked at it and we planned something out (okay I did the majority of the planning and I let her pick out the flowers). The flowers hung in the garage for a couple of days and I said enough is enough and I got it started yesterday without her. I'm pulling out terracotta pots and arranging them on the front porch. Then I heaved out the heavy bags of soil for containers (be aware that there are many different kinds of soil in a bag and make sure to get the kind that is right for the job...it might not always be the cheapest one either- oh how I know that one). So any way...I get started on my container garden and a couple of hours later-WOW! Just some terracotta post and a few containers of flowers from your local nursery or home improvement store can add tremendously to the curb appeal of your home. For those of you that are getting ready to sell your home keep this in mind...it's not that expensive to add some charm to the front or backyard of your home with some strategically placed pots with great looking plants. Add a nice looking door mat and there you have it, a warm and inviting front entry to your home.

I'm also staring my container herb garden. I love using fresh herbs and have wanted an herb garden for years (it's just that I never started one). Now that we're going to be here a while longer...I decided that I am going to have my herb garden, I'm going to be putting the herbs into some larger pots (one I find the box that they are in out in the garage). I'm going to have them on our deck, it needs something green :-) I'm going to take pictures of my plants on the porch once they start opening and blooming. I would love to have a small bench to put on my porch where I could sit and admire our little garden. I know that it will be a while until we get to the landscaping of our yard. So this for me is the next best thing.

Do something fun today, make a little container garden be it herbs or flowers. Put them in an area where not only you can enjoy them, but others can enjoy them as well. I have a girlfriend who loves to create topiaries out of small evergreen bushes and trees. She has these pom-pom like trees (reminds me greatly of Dr. Seuss) flanking both sides of her garage and front door. It adds a classy look and when you put them in fancy pots it's a real eye catcher! I've found myself toying with the idea of flanking my garage with those topiary trees.

The neighbors across the street from us must have thought that I was nuts, seeing all of those flats and pots of flowers and then watching me heave these 4 big bags of potting soil. Then I happily sat in the sun digging in the dirt planting flowers. Anyone who knows me knows that I am all about flowers...I love to see them everywhere, outside and inside of my home. The scent of flowers is throughout my home, I either have floral scented candles burning or I have those Glade plug-ins going on.

Imagine my surprise when I went to Target yesterday and I came across their dollar section and there were garden tools for $1! There were many colors to choose from...green, yellow, purple and pink! I even bought some tools for Mother's Day gifts for a couple of friends and a set of tools for each one of my Girl Scouts. From kneeling pads, to watering cans, garden stakes (to mark what kind of plants you have) and more...go to your local Target Store and check them out, but you better get there quick before they sell out!