Attempting to Grow Pretty Things Outdoors

 

I kill houseplants.  Seriously, I can’t work them.  I’ve killed ivy, violets, even bamboo.  Bamboo, people.  For the sake of the plant world, I have given up on indoor gardening.  Growing stuff outside, on the other hand, I can (sort of) manage.

 

 

No, I did not grow this chair, smarty pantses.

 

I did however make my husband pull over to the side of the road in the pouring rain to put that crate in the back of our brand-new-to-us car.  Somebody was just throwing it out! 

 

Now I need to find a plant or something to set on top of it, right?  Maybe a plastic one that I can’t kill?

 

 

If you have been following my Front Porch and Deck board on Pinterest, you saw that I had a very specific plan for my flower boxes this year.  I actually ended up sticking to it too. 

 

I used red and pink petunias, blue lobelia, and bright green sweet potato vine.  The sweet potato vines are threatening to take over the whole front porch the way they are growing.

 

 

The only spur of the moment addition to the planters were those lovely coleus plants in the back.  They are a dark maroon-y pink with hints of bright green.

 

And, yes, that is a random weed in the middle of my flower box that I didn’t notice until after I had taken these pictures.

 

 

I think the two flower boxes turned out very well, but I am not sure that the plastic bunting doesn’t make us look like a car dealership.  I would LOVE real bunting but it’s so stinking expensive.  ((pout))

 

Also, I would like to have something hanging on that blank “wall” at the back of the porch.  Are there any cheap/free tricks for hanging crap on siding without wrecking it?

 

In this picture, you can only see a fragment of the chaos of perennials in the flower bed in front of the porch.  We inherited the mess when we moved in, and even with some thinning out of the plants it’s still very jungle-like.

 

 

We inherited some other unspecified perennials in the back yard as well. 

 

 

These pink and blue numbers popped up alongside of the deck.  I am not sure what they are, but they are pretty and don’t require me to pay any attention to them, so they get to stay.

 

 

At the beginning of summer, my mom transplanted some of the front yard flowers to our backyard beds.  I added some of the leftover petunias and some solar lights from Dollar Tree.

 

If I was less impulsive, I would have waited to take this picture until after I had weeded and my husband had mowed the lawn.  But, no.

 

 

I was happy to see some day lilies (or ditch lilies as we sometimes call them) spring up in the back of the flower bed along the deck.

 

 

The fuchsia ones were an extra pleasant surprise.  Again, no maintenance required = happy Jess.

 

 

I popped a few ever-bearing strawberry plants in the beds too, and my son and I enjoy watching the berries ripen…. and grieve when the bugs turn them into little buggy townhouses.

 

 

The deck came with some built-in planter boxes, and I decided to use them for my first herb garden.  These chives have made their way into quite a few summer dinners.

 

 

The chocolate mint plant is going CRAZY!  I have a plan for this harvest that I will be sharing with you soon.

 

 

I added some fresh oregano to the pasta salad I made last night.  Maybe I am finally acquiring a green thumb!

 

 

Or not.

 

If anyone can tell me how I managed to KILL DILL WEED, please tell me.  It’s a weed.  That I was purposely trying to keep alive.  And I killed it.

 

How does that happen?!?!?!