A cup of coffee and a visit with a friend......

Take the time.....

 

My garden friend, Rhonda, has the perfect spot for a visit!

Hosta gardening...in planters

This spring...

I was delighted to find this pot of hostas coming back to life to enjoy my garden once again!  Spring 2013 I had a few pieces of hostas, that weren't up enough to donate to plant sales I participate in,  so I decided to pot them up.  By fall I had decided to see how they survived winter in the garage in their temporary home.  This spring it was great to have such an attractive planter ready to use in a bare spot in part shade!  Needless to say, that container has become not so much a temporary home for them!   They must have been happy there cuz I'm probably going to have to split them a bit in the spring so they'll continue to be happy in that pot! 

This was taken in June this year and I plan to use it again next year!  I loved adding a planter and not spending money for plants for it!  Oh, the little birdhouse I picked up previously at a garage sale for 50 cents!  I liked that, too!

A planter for part shade!

Yes, hostas & companion plants make attractive containers!

It is getting towards that time of the year to get new perennials planted in the ground so their roots have time to settle in and grow a bit!

My hosta beds are full to over flowing so where do I plant another hosta?  I decided to increase my hosta container inventory!  I have three others that I planted last year and found them very helpful this summer in filling in some part shade spots that were looking a bit bare in the early summer! Their portability added to their value! They wintered over so nicely in the garage!   

I  have a new hosta 'Gila River', which has green and blue in the leaves,  and also a Heuchera  'Ruby Bells', which has blue leaves with green veins,  to compliment the hosta colors.  Adding a bit of the green with 'Lady Fern' brought in another leaf shape and texture to complete the look! Then I discovered a bit of garden art I hadn't used,  a rustic bird house to provide the personality and focus spot!

The white container (I found in my stash pile) repeats the white margins on the hosta and it is all set!  It will be fun in the spring to see this come back to life and have a new accent planter to use!  The fern will add some much needed height as it grows!  It is a shallow rooted one so easy to keep under control.

Spooks in the Fairy Gardens....

Well, I suppose the fairies get to celebrate also!

Today I picked up some pumpkins for outdoor décor and decided to also get my fairies "in the mood" for fall!



My new indoor Miniature Garden

Quick Fire Hydrangea Tree...

Quick Fire Hydrangea flowers change color with the season...

In July I posted a picture of my friend Rita's Quick Fire Hydrangea tree and now I want you to see what happened to those white blooms in August & September!   Lovely changes for the landscape!

July

August

September

Rusty Iron Festival...

Rusty iron, awesome garden beds and fabulous hydrangeas.....

A garden friend suggested a visit to a fairly new event in this area... so I gathered up a few friends on the spur of the moment and off we went!  Husbands were not too enthused but came along (I think to guard the checkbooks) and mine won the prize for spending the most money!  Ha!  We discovered a beautiful display of old restored iron stoves, 93 vendors, awesome garden beds and fell in love with Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas!  The warm freshly made Kettle Popcorn was perfect to munch on while we explored the displays!
(Thanks Joe!)

Hmmm... I'm looking for a new hydrangea...maybe this is it!

Garden Shed Envy.....

Do you have a garden shed?

 I don't and I don't have room to have one...but it sure would be fun to decorate one!   I have a nice potting bench on my porch and a spot in the garage for storage.  This one is my friend, Barb's.  It is a feature to wrap some garden beds around.  Hmmmmm.... yes indeed I do covet my friend's shed!