Category: garden.

Late last summer I picked up a vintage metal plant stand at a garage sale.  In my opinion, it already had the perfect rusty, chippy finish although I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who would think this needs a fresh paint job.  But I work really hard to replicate a layered finish like this, so there was no way I was painting over it.

I didn’t do anything with this last year, I just put it away in the carriage house to be stored for the winter.  I pulled it out recently to get it ready for gardening season.  I cleaned it well with some soapy water and then once it was dry again I gave it a coat of clear sealer to add a little protection.  I used the Rustoleum matte clear spray, but there are several brands out there that make a similar product.

What I needed next were some pots to fit in the holders it had.  I pulled out some of my clay pots to see what size worked best, and it ended up being my Queen Bee Laundry Co pot, which has a 5.5″ diameter.

I love that pot!  It’s perfectly aged, and quite beat up, but that’s what appeals to me.  I added the graphic using the transfer gel method and you can read more about that here.

But I only had one spare pot this size, so I put the pot in a bag to take with me for size comparison and headed to my local Hobby Lobby.  I thought I’d easily find a selection of clay pots to choose from.  As it turned out, Hobby Lobby had a bigger pot, and a smaller pot, but nothing in this exact size.  So then I went to Michaels.  Same story.  Then I went to Home Depot, and that’s when I started to realize that 5.5″ wasn’t a readily available standard size because they didn’t have it either.  Jeesh!  Who would have thought finding the right sized pot was going to be an issue here?

I finally ended up at my local Menards store and they didn’t have the right size either.  But that was when I decided to make do with the next size up, and at only $1.49 each even if they totally didn’t work I was only going to be out around $6.

So I brought them home and gave them a quick makeover.  I whitewashed them with a very watered down Dixie Belle Drop Cloth paint, added a Classic Vintage Label transfer to each one and then protected them with a coat of clear wax.

Now, at this point you are probably wondering how well the transfers (and the paint for that matter) hold up on the clay pots.  As we all know clay pots are porous on purpose.  That’s so that excess moisture can escape through the clay. So, good for your plants, but not so good for something trying to stick to the outside of the pot (like paint, or a transfer).

Luckily I started a little experiment with similar pots last year just so that I could ultimately answer this question.  I planted a house plant in one, and some geraniums in a couple of others to see how well each held up.

Here is the indoor house plant version …

When I water this plant I put it in the sink, add water, wait for it to drain and then put it back on its saucer.  So, it doesn’t typically get wet on the outside of the pot, but the plant is planted directly into the pot and thus water is seeping through the clay behind the transfer.  If you look closely, you can see that there is some bubbling of the transfer as a result.  The paint is holding up quite well.  Frankly, I didn’t expect results this good.  I thought for sure the transfer would be toast after a year of this, but I think it still looks pretty darn good.

I definitely expected worse results with the two outside pots.  I planted the geraniums in them and left them outside all of last summer.  I watered them with the hose, and they weren’t protected from rain either, so they got plenty wet.  Last fall I brought them in to my office to try over-wintering the geraniums (which, I might add, worked quite well in a bright southern facing window).

I was astonished at how well these pots held up even outside.  Obviously they aren’t fresh as the day they were created, but I rather like the look of them with a little age.

Unfortunately, the paint and transfers do little to protect the pot from breaking when you knock it off the table on the very day you plan to take some photos of it for your blog post.

Drat!  But as you can see from what’s left of it, the transfer on the 2nd outside pot also held up well right up until the pot broke.

Anyway, this brings me back to the pots that aren’t quite the right size for my plant stand.  Here’s how the new pots look in the stand.

I really thought I could live with this look, but the closet perfectionist in me is rebelling.

Here is how the proper sized pot fits in the stand.

Darn it anyway!  I was going to ask all of you to weigh in and let me know if you think I can get away with the larger pots, but I am betting you’ll all agree that they are wrong and I need to keep searching for the 5.5″ diameter pots.

I fear it is back to the drawing board on this one.  I think I’m going to tuck this plant stand back away for now and maybe I’ll get lucky and find the correct sized pots at garage sales this summer (I tend to see a lot of clay pots at garage sales).  Wish me luck on that!

Somehow gardening season always seems to sneak up on me.  And when I say gardening season, I don’t exactly mean that it’s time to get out in the garden, more that it’s time to get some garden themed merchandise ready to bring into the shop where I sell on consignment, and that happens a tad earlier than actual gardening season.

This year it really feels like it has snuck up on me with temps in the 70’s over the weekend.  That’s not exactly typical for the first weekend of April in Minnesota.  I have to keep reminding myself that it is only early April, there is still plenty of spring left.  We really don’t even plant out our annuals here for six more weeks (unless you’re one of those risk takers who plants early and hopes there isn’t a frost).

Anyway, I took full advantage of the warm weather and I painted outside on Saturday!  It’s amazing how much more I can accomplish in a day when I can spread out multiple projects to work on.  I just don’t have the space for that inside the house.

Some of you may remember that I purchased this pair of old chairs last year …

This was one of those cases where I totally overpaid for something.  I paid $10 each, and these chairs should have been on someone’s burn pile (ie. free).  There are several missing pieces, including the cane seats on both.  Plus by the time I got them home, one of the legs had even broken off!  But I wanted to turn them into planter chairs, so they don’t have to be sturdy enough to sit in, just sturdy enough to hold a plant.  And I loved that empty canvas of space on the chair backs.  So I splurged (OK, it’s maybe a little silly to consider $10 a splurge) on them.

By the way, if you are new to my blog and don’t know what I mean by ‘planter chair’, here is one I painted up last year.

Chairs without seats can usually be found dirt cheap, and they are perfect for holding a large hanging basket of flowering annuals.  Although usually I choose chairs that are in better shape than this pair!

Step one was finding just the right stencil to use on those nice, big backs.  I went through my stash and was once again reminded that a good garden themed stencil is hard to find.  I had nothing.  So I went on Etsy and did some searching.  I ended up ordering two stencils from The Stencil Market on Etsy.  I paid just under $22 total for both of them (including shipping), and the seller shipped them super fast which was awesome because I had them by the weekend and was able to finish up my chairs.

The prep was a little bit more work than usual on these chairs.  First of all, they went over to my handyman Ken’s workshop for some regluing and repair of that broken leg.  Then I sanded them quite a bit more than usual because they had a very dried out, flaking finish on them.  Then I cleaned them using Dixie Belle’s White Lightning Cleaner.  This cleaner is a trisodium phosphate (TSP) product.  TSP is toxic and should be handled with care.  If you want to get some legit info on TSP, you can see what Bob Vila has to say about the pros and cons of using TSP here.  This is why I usually use a TSP substitute cleaner rather than the real thing.  But these chairs were so gross that I thought they warranted breaking out the White Lightning.  If you ever use it, be sure to follow all of the safety precautions on the label.

I went with two different sorts of looks on these chairs.  Let’s start with the neutral, farmhouse-y look.  I painted this one in Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky and then added the Fresh Flowers stencil using Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

I couldn’t fit the entire stencil on the back, but I felt like it didn’t need the words “fresh cut” for this purpose anyway.

I like to use Dixie Belle’s Gator Hide as a finish on my planter chairs to give them a little more protection from the elements.  It definitely has a shinier finish than my usual top coats.

I’ve seen quite a few comments from people that have had some difficulty with it looking streaky over black, so here’s today’s q-tip.  The solution to that is to mix a little bit of your paint color in with the Gator Hide. I did that here and it worked perfectly.  I wasn’t sure if that mix would look streaky over the white lettering though, so I did that area first with clear Gator Hide.

For the second chair I once again decided to go with a brilliant pop of color.

First, a little background.  Remember the dresser I recently painted in Flamingo?  I didn’t mention in that post that I made an attempt to do some color mixing for that piece.  I wanted the color to be a deeper coral.  The Dixie Belle website suggests mixing Flamingo and Peony to create ‘coral’, so I just jumped in with both feet (I should have tested it in a small quantity first) and mixed up about a cup of this color.  The resulting color was quite a bit more pink than I wanted (I suggest adding their Barn Red to Flamingo to make a deeper coral color).  Here’s a quick comparison of the Flamingo straight up (on left) and the Flamingo mixed with Peony (on right).

Yep, that’s a lot more pink I think.

Anyway, I ended up just using Flamingo on its own for that dresser, but rather than toss that cup of mixed paint I used it on chair number two.

Yep, that’s definitely a pop of color!

Wouldn’t it be gorgeous with a huge basket of brightly color annuals though?  Or, you could add a basket of white geraniums for a slightly more subtle look.

I used Dixie Belle’s Fluff for the stenciling on this one because I wanted more of a true white as opposed to the creamy white of Drop Cloth.

Isn’t that stencil sweet?  It was perfect for a planter chair.

This chair also got a top coat of clear Gator Hide.

Let’s just chat a minute about durability.  Although I gave these chairs their best shot with that Gator Hide, they were originally manufactured for indoor use.  They will hold up for a couple of seasons, more if you store them inside over the winter and add a fresh coat of clear sealer each spring (you could even just use a spray poly for that) and also more if you use them on a semi-protected porch.  But that being said, they won’t last forever outside.  The glued joints won’t hold up.  But who cares?  They were ready for the scrap heap anyway, so just use them for a couple of years and then toss them when they start falling apart.  That’s what I do anyway 😉

It’s a bit early for baskets of annuals here in Minnesota, so you’re just going to have to use your imagination to envision these chairs with big pots of flowers in them.  But can’t you just see it?

So which one is your favorite?  Are you loving that pop of color?  Or would you prefer the more dignified classic black and white?  My neighbor nnK thinks the pink one will sell more quickly than the black one, but I think it will be the other way around.  I’ll keep you posted on that.

These are both available for sale locally, so if any of you locals could use a planter chair this year check out the details on my available for local sale page.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle for providing their products used for this project.

Anyone else out there have a thing for watering cans?

That is my friend Sue’s watering can non-collection, so I know that she does.  I have quite a thing for them myself as well.  How about you?

Watering cans are such a quintessential gardening tool, yet I’ll admit I rarely use one to actually water my plants.  I mostly use the hose for that.  For me, they are more for decoration rather than actual function.

I’ve shared a few watering can transformations here on the blog, one of my favorites being this one …

I simply added the small version of the IOD Le Petit Rosier transfer to a can that had already been painted white.  I ended up selling that particular watering can, but I loved it so much that I did another one just like it to keep for myself.

That was one that was also already painted when I found it, as was this green one that is part of my own non-collection …

I enjoy painting them myself as well though.  I painted this one in Miss Mustard Seeds Flow Blue.

This next one is also painted in milk paint, Maritime Blue from Homestead House.

That one was another one that I loved so much that I kept it.  I also decided the color should be called Hydrangea Blue rather than Maritime Blue since it was such a lovely match to those pretty hydrangeas.

Your q tip of the day;  I have found that milk paint will adhere fairly well to clean galvanized metal that has a dull finish that feels a little toothy to the touch.

The next little can had a shinier, smoother finish and probably wouldn’t have been a good candidate for milk paint.  Instead I just added a Classic Vintage Label transfer from re.design with prima …

This next watering can also has a Classic Vintage Label added, and this is another that I’ve kept for myself since I love it so much.

I’ve found that the original version of the IOD French Pots transfers (the grey ones from Prima Marketing) were a bit too pale for use on galvanized metal.

Unless of course you like that very subtle look.

The newer French Pots transfers that were released by IOD are black rather than grey, so they stand out quite nicely.

Anyway, all of this wandering down memory lane was my way of gathering inspiration for another watering can that I picked up at a garage sale last season.

If you look closely, you can see that it isn’t sitting flat on my work surface.  I don’t know why watering cans often develop a sort of bulge in the bottom.  Maybe because water is left in them over the winter and it freezes and expands?  For whatever reason, they are often wonky like this when I get them.

That is easily remedied by turning the can over and smacking the bottom with a hammer a few times so that it become concave rather than convex.  Now it sits flat.

After reviewing those watering cans that I painted in pretty shades of milk paint, I decided to pull out the Sweet Pickins Patina for this one.

I absolutely love this color, couldn’t you just eat it up?

Unfortunately, I’ve found that it is a tough sell on furniture.  I painted a dresser in it several years ago and it took a quite a while to sell.  So now I tend to reserve it for smaller projects, like this one.

I felt fairly sure that the milk paint would stick to this piece, but just to be on the safe side I scuff sanded it just a bit.  As you can see, I did get good adherence for the most part, with a little chipping here and there … in my opinion, the perfect result.

I got the most chipping on the handle, which makes me think that I didn’t clean it well enough to remove any oily residue from the previous owners handling of it.

As I’m sure you realize, I love that chippy look though, so this is just fine by me.

In order to preserve it, I gave the watering can two coats of Dixie Belle’s Flat clear coat.  That should reduce any further chipping down the road.

I waited until after the clear coat was dry to add the IOD transfer.  I find that transfers adhere really well over the flat clear coat.

Now, you may be wondering what happened to that medallion sort of thingie on the side with the bee on it?

Well, I was unable to remove it, so it’s still there on the other side.

Before selling them on, I like to test watering cans to make sure they are water tight and they function properly.

This can is water tight, but oddly enough the rose (that’s what they call the spray nozzle thingie on a watering can) is removable.  Which also means that it leaks quite a bit.

So I wouldn’t use this as an actual watering can, but it makes a fantastic vase for a bunch of tulips.

This one won’t be joining my own non-collection though, I think I’ll sell it on.  So it’s in the pile of stuff to take to Reclaiming Beautiful and has a price tag of $22 on it.

I picked this item up at a garage sale at some point in the past.  Honestly, it was in my front hall closet for at least a year, maybe two.  Then it got moved out to the carriage house workshop last spring so that I would be sure to get to it over the summer … and well, here we are in February and I’m just getting to it now.

I suspect that this item was some sort of promotional giveaway from Frerichs Construction.  I bet it came with beer inside, hence the bottle opener on the side.

But if you ignore those two things, this has a lot of potential as just an adorable little tote.

So I removed the bottle opener (and am saving that for another project that I have in mind).  The company logo seemed almost branded into the wood, so I added a little of Dixie Belle’s Mud to fill it in.

I just smoothed it on with a putty knife and once it was fully dry, I sanded over it to smooth it out a bit.

A quick q tip on the Mud; never wash it down your sink drain.  You don’t want this stuff hanging out in your pipes.  Instead I use a damp paper towel to clean off my putty knife, and then I can just toss the paper towel in the trash.

Next I simply painted the tote with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy.

Then came the fun part, digging through all of my transfer scraps to come up with some fun things to dress up it up.

The front of the tote got some scraps from the IOD Label Ephemera transfer.

The sides got the left over bits from the IOD Flora Parisiensis transfer that I used on a washstand I painted back in the fall.

Once I had the transfers applied, I sanded the tote to distress and than added some clear wax.

I also lined the inside with some pretty scrapbook paper.

I asked Mr. Q to pick up some tulips at the grocery store so that I could stage this with some real fleurs.

Aren’t they pretty?  They barely survived the trip back to our house in the 20 below wind chill, but I’m glad they did because they added such a lovely pop of pink to my photos.

This was such a fun little project for a cold winter afternoon, and also a great way to bring a little early spring into the air.  I suspect we all could use a little bit of spring right about now, am I right?

Today’s post is going to seem totally out of context for January.  I started this small makeover last summer and I never shared it with you guys because quite honestly, I just wasn’t all that happy with the results back then.

But let’s start at the beginning.

I purchased one of these hand shaped signs quite a few years ago online.

I’m willing to bet that many of you have seen one of these yourself.  I think they might have been offered by Decor Steals at one time, and I also see them now and again at local boutiques.  They were a mass produced, reproduction sort of a thing.  One of those things that look really cool in photos, but under closer inspection they look a bit fake-y.

Anyway, I attached mine to the photo cottage and it looked pretty good there … at first.

However, the problem with buying something like this online is that pictures can be deceiving.  This looks like something that can be used outside, right?  And it looks like it’s paint on metal.

Well, that was not the case.  It is metal, but the design is printed on paper that was glued to the metal.  The photo above was taken in 2017 and the hand was starting to look a bit shabby then, despite my spraying it with a clear sealer every spring.

Flash forward to spring 2020, and the hand now looked like this …

Yep, not good at all.

So I decided it was more than time for a refresh.

I took it down, sanded all of the paper off and gave it a paint job using Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

Then I decided to decorate one side with some transfers, and the other with a stencil to see which I liked best.  I started with the stencil …

Nope, don’t like that look at all.

So I tried some transfers on the other side …

Nope.  That look isn’t really working for me either.

So recently I took it down again and started over.  I sanded off the transfer, and decided to go back to black.  So I painted it again, this time with Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.

Then I searched through all of my stencils (and I do have quite a few) and I simply couldn’t find anything that I thought would be perfect for the hand.  So I went online and looked around to see what I could purchase.  I ended up ordering the Fresh Honey stencil from Wallcutz that I shared a couple of weeks ago on the small chair.

It was a perfect fit for the hand.  Well, at least the way I placed it.

I placed the bottom portion of wording vertically, and the rest of it fit perfectly on the palm of the hand.

I’ll admit, I still don’t love this as much as the original look.  But I do like it much more than the first two refurbishments I tried.

I took the photo above the Sunday before Christmas and as you can see we had no snow.

According to MPR, we have around a 70% chance of having a white Christmas each year in the Twin Cities.  I really thought we were going to be in that other 30% this year, but at the last minute (December 23) we got around 5″ of snow during the Holiday Lights Howler (LOL, they just love coming up with clever names for storms, don’t they?) so we had a white Christmas after all.

I have to admit I have mixed feelings about the snow.  I do think it’s really beautiful, and I love nothing more than cozying up on the sofa with a warm blanket while watching it fall.  A layer of white snow on the ground also really brightens up the dark nights, especially if there is a clear sky and a full moon.  I also like how much more quiet my neighborhood gets when there is a little snow on the ground, I don’t know if that’s because the snow dampens sound or if people just don’t go out in it, or maybe it’s a little bit of both.

However, spending most of November and December without snow sure made me realize how much easier it was to get around without it.  I could still get to things I had stored in the photo cottage without having to drag out my boots.

So how about you?  Are you a fan of snow, or do you consider it a four letter word?

Hi guys!  I’m headed up north to my friend’s cabin for the weekend so I’ll be taking a social media break for a couple of days.  Rather than leaving you hanging though, I thought I’d spread some sunshine.

But first, I want to thank those of you who responded to my ‘for sale.’ post on Wednesday.  I’ve got sales pending pickup for almost everything.  The lamp with the green base is still available, and the blue ironing board.  I have some fun ideas for re-working that ironing board, so I won’t be disappointed if it doesn’t sell ‘as is’.  Also, if you didn’t leave a comment to be in the running for one of my ‘hello fall’ book page banners, you can still do that.  Just leave a comment on that post by Sunday at midnight.

OK, moving on.  Back on Labor Day weekend, my sister, my niece and I drove up to Andover, MN to check out some sunflower fields.

My sister-in-law had mentioned these to us the last time we got together, so we just had to check it out.

The team at Fish Sunflowers has been planting random sunflower fields for five years now.  As they say on their website, their ‘goal is to spread joy and provide a free and beautiful place for families, photographers and sunflower fans to gather and soak in the beauty! No politics. No donations or admission fees. Just joy, joy, joy!’

So, all you have to do is show up and enjoy.

This year it looks like they planted 11 different fields around the Twin Cities.  You can find a list of their locations and the dates they are open here.  Although I’ll tell you now, they are all done this year except for the Albert Lea field.  But if you’re local, keep this in mind for next year.  Or maybe you need to take a road trip to Albert Lea this weekend!

We happened to visit on an overcast day, but I always think that’s a good thing for photos.  No glaring sunshine, no harsh shadows, no washed out colors.

I was surprised to find that there were props provided at each of the sites, and in some cases quite significant props.

Both of the fields we visited had a piano.

And one of them had a mirrored vanity.

How cool is that?  Although I have to admit that part of me really wanted to rescue that vanity!

I’m curious, does anyone plant sunflower fields like this where you live?  Or maybe you are a local and have been to one of the Fish Sunflower fields.  If so, be sure to leave a comment and let me know!

Hope I was able to spread a little sunshine with this post.  I’ll be back next week with some more painted projects, so be sure to stay tuned.

Welcome back to the rest of the garden tour from last week.  Today I’m sharing my garden with you.  You might want to grab a cup of coffee, this is going to be a long post.

I always think the garden looks best right about now in mid-June.  We haven’t had any hail storms yet, so the hostas are looking fabulous.  Well … except for the ones that have been munched on by deer.  The other evening I looked out the window to see a momma deer strolling up to my garden with her little fawn trailing behind her.  That fawn was adorable, but I shooed them away nonetheless.  Now I’ve started calling this part of the garden the ‘salad bar’.

They seem to especially love the Sun Power hosta, which is the bright chartreuse one on the left.  If you look closely you can see that the ends have been munched off quite a few of the leaves.

My fairy garden is in the cracked birdbath that is poking out of the hostas in the photo above.  I found the bird bath at a garage sale, and since it no longer held water due to the crack, it was super cheap.  That made it perfect for my fairy garden because it provides for drainage.

I lost a few of the plants in there over last winter (we bury it for the winter next to the house in a pile of leaves to protect it), but some came back.  The big clump of bright chartreuse on the left is a miniature hosta called Feather Boa.  I divided it last year and it has come back stronger than ever.  The much smaller blue-ish colored clump on the opposite side of the path is another miniature hosta called Blue Mouse Ears.  Just behind the buddha is Berberis thunbergii ‘Concorde’, I gave it a little pruning and it’s looking good.  The rest of the plants are new and they are annuals, so they won’t come back next year.

I had some trouble finding fairy garden plants this year.  Usually Bachman’s has a great selection, and so does Rose Floral in Stillwater but this year it was slim pickins.  I have to assume that somehow the whole COVID thing made them hard to come by.

Much like my friend Sue, a good chunk of my garden is in the shade.  But I’ve learned to love shade gardening.  For one thing, working in the garden is much more pleasant when you aren’t roasting under the hot sun.  Also, a shady garden doesn’t need to be watered nearly as much as a sunny one.

Of course hostas are perfect for a shade garden …

But other shade loving perennials that do well for me include ferns of all kinds, bleeding heart, lily of the valley, wild ginger and foam flower.

If you’ll remember, last summer we lost two trees in front of the house so now there is a bit more sun in that garden.  Luckily all of the plants I have in that bed seem to be enjoying the extra sunshine.

In addition to the hostas, I have some Purple Palace heuchera, some white and some purple astilbe, and a variegated sedum that is really happy to finally get some sun.

I try to change up the front window box every year.  This year I went with a chartreuse and white theme using coleus, sedum, white New Guinea impatiens, white trailing verbena and Diamond Frost euphorbia.

Since it’s getting a little more sun this year, I think this bright lime green sedum will do really well here.

I added one of the Classic Vintage Label transfers to my watering can, doesn’t it look fab?  And it’s holding up perfectly well outside.

I’m a big fan of adding pops of lime green foliage to the garden, especially either in the shade or planted next to darker green plants.  This ‘Lemon Frost’ lamium is a perfect example of that.

Most of the ‘decor’ in my garden has come from garage sales including this sweet concrete bunny.

The gal who was selling it had several concrete garden items and said that her son had been experimenting with making them using molds.  I only paid $8 for it, and it has held up quite well.

This fountain was from a garage sale …

It sits just below the galvanized boiler window box which is also from a garage sale.

Well, or at least the boiler was from a garage sale.  It had a rusted out bottom, so I only paid a couple of dollars for it.  Handyman Ken added some wood slats to the bottom so that it would hold soil, but still allow for drainage and then he devised a way to hang it on the wall.

And all of the pretty china I use to decorate my garden is from garage sales too.

While the ladies were touring my garden, they asked if I don’t have problems with breakage having china in the garden.  But really, I don’t.  I think I’ve had one or two plates break over the years, but since I get them dirt cheap at garage sales it’s not really a big deal.

Both of these planters were garage sale finds …

Although I have doctored them up with Dixie Belle’s patina paint to make them look like rusty iron planters (see how to do that here).  In reality one is black plastic and the other is made out of that foam faux concrete looking stuff.

Even Cossetta, my large statue, is from a garage sale.

She manages to make her way into the background of quite a few of my furniture photos …

Many of my plants are also from garage sales including that variegated sedum that I shared earlier.  Another of my favorite garage sale plant finds is Sweet Woodruff, it’s the ground cover that is under this concrete planter …

It’s nearly done blooming now, but a couple of weeks ago it was a carpet of delicate white flowers.

A quick q tip about garage sale plants, there is a good chance that plants you buy at a garage sale are considered invasive.  There is a reason the seller has enough extra to sell some.  For me, invasive isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  It just means that you need to control it by planting it in spots with natural borders.  In this case there is a tree at the back, large hostas on either side and a stone border in the front.  When the plant starts expanding beyond those borders, I just yank it out.  You have to be a little brutal about it.

I have many ‘invasive’ plants in my gardens including a rather large bed of ferns that has taken over the space to one side of our driveway.

This area is in deep shade though, and prior to adding the ferns I really had trouble getting anything to grow well in that spot.

Another favorite plant of mine is the clematis.  I added three new ones this year, bringing my total to 7.  They don’t all bloom simultaneously.  I wish I could say that I planned it that way, but it really just happened.

This one goes first …

Then a week later, the blooms on this one start to open …

The rest haven’t yet started to bloom.  One of the new ones I planted is Sweet Autumn, which blooms in late summer to early fall.  So now I should have clematis blooming for most of the season.

I have one last thing to share with you guys, my cutting garden.  It’s tucked away behind the carriage house.  The sole purpose of these plants is to cut the flowers and bring them in the house, so the plants don’t have to look pretty in place.

In case you haven’t noticed, I really love peonies so most of the space back here is taken up by them.

You might remember that about a month ago I shared the idea of using an old chair to support your peonies …

.  As you can see, the peony has grown quite a bit since then …

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this tour of my gardens even though it got a bit long.

And I also hope you’re a fan of these sort of ‘tour’ posts, because on Friday I’ll be sharing another tour of a really lovely home in Stillwater.  Here’s a little sneak peek …

So be sure to stay tuned!

Two years ago I shared Jackie’s garden here on the blog (part 1 and part 2).  At the time I promised to return the favor and let Jackie and her friend Netti tour mine.

It took me two years to get around to it, but I finally reached out to Jackie a week or so ago and asked if she was still interested.  She jumped at the chance, I believe her exact words were ‘finally … something to look forward to’ and ‘we’ll mask up and be over.’

My sister stopped by to join in the fun as well, and we all donned masks so that we could get within 6′ of each other.

To make up for my two year delay in reciprocating a garden tour, I threw in a tour of my friend Sue’s garden too.  Sue is my picker/garage sale mentor/co-worker/Carriage House sale partner and friend, and she only lives a few blocks away from me.

That huge lush thing growing on her arbor is a Hardy Kiwi vine (Actinidia).  The leaves have white tips on them.

Sue focuses on white and green in her garden, so this vine is perfect for her.

I love the feeling of serenity that is created in her garden with its white color scheme and her use of vintage pieces scattered here and there.

Everywhere you look you can find some unique touch that has been tucked into the garden.

Sue’s garden is mostly shaded.  Although the sun peeks through to certain spots as it moves across the sky, it is fleeting.  So she uses a lot of shade loving plants like ferns, hostas and bleeding hearts.

No garden is quite complete without a water feature, and I remember when Sue found her fountain at a garage sale.

Sue’s garden isn’t completely green and white, she does have some lovely peonies scattered about as well.

Over the years Sue has divided and shared quite a few of her plants with me, including some anemone that look fantastic interplanted with my hostas.

And although that glimpse of my garden makes it look like I also stick with green and white (and I do in some spots), I also have a bit more color in my garden.

But you’ll have to come back on Monday to see that.  I hope you’ll stay tuned!