Monday, June 9, 2014

Flower Therapy

Happy Monday to you!  I just wanted to share a few pics of what I did this past weekend.


Oh, it was good to get my hands in the dirt once more -- rich, black soil enriched with Miracle Gro®.  I was definitely inspired by those lovely window boxes we saw while visiting Charleston.


I spent most of the weekend on this little project.  I went to the Farmer's Market in Greensboro on Saturday afternoon to select some of the plants.  That was where I found this pretty Verbena.  It's a shade called "Blue Patio."   I've been looking for "Homestead Purple" but haven't been able to find it this year.  As it turns out, I love this new color.  :)  I bought the Caladiums at a nursery here in town on Friday.


I have always loved the salmon pink Geraniums -- they're my favorite color.  This year, I almost didn't find any.  I saw reds galore, as well as pale pink and fuchsia pink.  The few salmon pinks I found were in big planters with other plants, or in hanging baskets.  I found these along with the Caladiums at the same little nursery.  You can see these Geraniums are a decent size and very healthy; I paid $5 apiece for them.  Not bad, I thought.

The white flowers are Million Bells, a type of mini Petunia.  The little blue flowers are Lobelia. 


I planted the same thing on the other side of the front door.


Now I'm showing these two pictures again because I want to point out something.  Do you see the clear plastic forks stuck all around the edges of the dirt?  That's my little squirrel fort.  Yep, I'm trying something new this year.  I have to give a shout-out to Lynn at Happier Than a Pig in Mud for this great idea (so far it's working).  I battle with the squirrels every single time I plant flower containers.  You too?  It's maddening, isn't it?  They don't want to eat my flowers.  No, they just want to bury their little acorns and such in that nice, soft, expensive dirt, and in the process they make a royal mess of my flowers.  I used to spend the weekend planting flowers, only to come home from work on Monday afternoon to fresh dirt scattered on the porch and rims of my pots, and the flowers looking worse for the experience.

You can read Lynn's post Here; I'm so glad I saw this and I really hope it continues to work.  I've tried just about everything so far, all to no avail.  Now if I can just find a way to keep the Geranium budworms off my Geraniums and slugs off my Caladiums, I'll be in business.  :) 



I'm just showing peeks of the porch right now because I still have some things to do before it's finished for this season.  I need to purchase a new doormat, one more plant (preferably a fern), clean the glass in my storm door, and a few more things.  It feels so good to spruce things up!


What kind of projects are you working on right now?  Whatever you're working on, I hope it's going well.  :)  Thanks for your visit and have a great week!

 Denise

I'm linking to:

Metamorphosis Monday
Inspire Me Tuesday
Home Sweet Home 

13 comments:

  1. Lovin' the red, white and blue vibe of your flowers Denise-they look great! Glad to hear the forks are working for you, so far so good here too-enjoy:@)

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  2. Everything looks just gorgeous Denise!
    Mary

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  3. Your pots look beautiful. The forks crack me up, but whatever it takes.Perhaps you should train Duncan to be a squirrel dog. For as many trees as we have here, we do not have any squirrels. I have planted the Sam caladium. Here is a shade plant on the patio. You might try putting crushed egg shells in your pots to keep slugs off.

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  4. Great job- this is my kind of favorite thing!! The planters look fabulous!

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  5. We're having our house painted right now so I am anxious to get out to the porch and make it pretty when they are done. You just flat out inspire me.

    Want to come do MY porch?
    I make you some schmancy coffee and snickerdoodles...

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  6. I hope the plastic forks do the trick. I didn't notice them at all until you pointed them out. (Pointed - ha!) Your plant combinations are lovely. I have a couple of more places where I'd like pots. Hmmm.

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  7. Thanks for sharing the fork idea. We'll have to remember it. So far so good this year. Maybe the neighborhood cat is keeping the squirrels away. Your potted plants look so nice! Got your email and will respond soon!

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  8. Long time, no comment. I am getting back into the swing of things so I'll have to go back and catchup on some of your posts I have missed. I hope you are well. Your flowers are beautiful. I have never heard of using plastic forks to keep the squirrels out but it's worth a shot. Luckily this year I haven't seen that they have been in my pots but i will keep the fork thing in mind if they become an issue.

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  9. Beautiful creation of planters on your porch!...and love the "fork" idea!!

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  10. Your planters looks so colorful,and cheerful, Denise! I love all your shades and the way you've arranged them. I have some million bells, too, only mine are purple with white geraniums and asparagus ferns. I tried Lynn's suggestion, too, only I used plastic knives. I think squirrels were eating some of my succulents...so frustrating! Enjoy all that beauty that you potted!! xo

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  11. What a great tip! Hope that it works...you say it is? Love the red, white, and blue arrangements.

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  12. Beautiful planters, so inspirational. I love the colors and flower pairings.

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  13. Beautiful flowers! It is so nice to have them for summer!

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND COMMENTS. I ENJOY READING EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM.

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