Tag: plants

Landscape the Front of the House

This was one of the items on my 30 Before Thirty list. We’ve lived here for three years now, and the front has been a bit bare the whole time. There was a dead Rose of Sharon that we removed, but not before leaving it up for a year first (“maybe it will come back!”). We also added some hostas (free from my dad’s house) and two boxwoods (small, and not holding up so well).

I feel like there’s more pressure to make the front of the house look nice because that’s the public part that everyone sees. I’ve been having fun experimenting with the garden in the back, adding and subtracting, moving and rearranging plants as I see fit. And it’s looking pretty cute back there!

But the front? Nope. The front has remained bare because I’m too afraid to put the wrong plants in. Yeah, well guess what I did.

I went to the nursery looking for some flowers and a bush. I got five astilbes (good choice!), but then I also got an Ivory Halo dogwood (wrong choice). The flowers are excellent in the shade, which is what the front of the house gets. The bush is supposed to be in full sun. I didn’t even look at the tag because we have three of the dogwoods in the backyard getting partial sun, and I thought I remembered them being OK in part sun to shade. Wrong. So now I’m not sure if I should move it (to where, I don’t know), or take my chances and hope it survives.

Oh, and the front of the house still looks pretty bare.

June 1, 2010
Modern Plant Stands

I’m obsessed with modern planters on stands. How amazing are these Pod Planters? Or the Walnut Stand and Vessel? And I’ve always been fond of the colorful Retro Bullet Planter.

Unfortunately they’re all on the pricey side. Sure I could spring for one, but what I really want is a whole grouping. I do already own a set of similar planters from CB2 though, seen in this photo from three years ago…

The problem? They tip over really easily. And maybe that’s a problem with the others too, but I think they look sturdier. Another problem? The white paint is flaking off and the planters have become chipped and rusted. That’s not such a problem though because that gives me the opportunity to go ahead and spray paint them guilt-free. They’re already less than perfect, so I can only improve them by painting them!

I’m thinking yellow.

April 28, 2010
Elephant Plant Stand

I’ve found another new version of a thrifted item that I have. This time it’s an elephant plant stand.* It’s a little kooky, no? Sometimes I like a little touch of the bizarre (or even a little ugly) in decor. It keeps things interesting!

* I found a couple of other options here and here.

March 31, 2010
Evergreens Needed

I took a photo of our snowy backyard this morning, and I’ve been using it to plan for some new additions. The garden has come a long way since we moved in three years ago (it was essentially a blank slate), but it is still lacking the year-round color and structure that evergreens would provide.

I don’t know which evergreens to use, but at least I have an idea of where I want them to go. I love mountain laurel, but it’s not available here. Rhododendrons don’t grow well in my soil. Arborvitae, pine, yew, and juniper seem so common and boring, but I suppose that’s because they thrive in Chicago. I do like boxwood, but as someone warned me when I planted them, they are “going to bite it”. I didn’t heed the warning and indeed they aren’t doing so well (yet I want to add another?). I still have about two months before it will be warm enough to actually plant something, so I have a little time to figure something out.

February 25, 2010
Garden Growth

I could tell that the flowers in my garden had grown, but I hadn’t realized how much until I looked at a photo from last year. This is what they look like now:

This is the same area, last July:

A huge difference, no? And here now, from a different angle:

The area to the left of the egg chair is looking a little bare, but there are hydrangeas that just need to fill in. Any idea how long that will take? I’m thinking years and years. *Sigh.*

July 28, 2009
New Porch Details

Just because we had finished working on the porch for the BHG 48-Hour Challenge (have you voted yet today?), that doesn’t mean that we had completely finished. I love the way everything turned out, but there were a few other items that have since caught my eye…

These green astro balls are fun, aren’t they? I included them in my Great Green Outdoors post back in March, and I had wanted them ever since.

Actually, I just realized that the other two items newly added to our porch were in that same post from March too. The beachcomber outdoor pillow is looking nice on our bench…

And the MYNTA hanging pots look great filled with annuals.

So there you have it. A home-obsessed person’s work is never done. Although our front porch is. For now, at least. ;)

Psst… If you could take just a moment to vote today in the 48-Hour Challenge, I’d be ever so grateful. There are only three days left, and it’s gonna be a close one!

June 10, 2009