Category: garden.

One of my very first blog posts was about my window box and how I fill it up for winter.  Yikes, that seems so long ago!  But I’ve survived the long winter, and it’s time to fill the window box for summer.

It runs the full length of my front porch, which faces the street.  So I give it full priority each season because it is the mainstay of my curb appeal.

For the past several years I’ve been filling it with coleus in a mix bright lime greens and dark wine colors.

As you can see, they fill in nicely and do really well out there.  My house faces north, so I have somewhat limited options.  Big bloomers that love full sun aren’t at home there.

I tend to pick plants more for their foliage rather than their blooms anyway.  That’s just the way I roll.

I wanted to change it up this year though, so I searched for some pinspiration and found this.

More subdued.  All shade loving plants.  I went a little more monochromatic and left the hot pink impatiens out of my mix.

I added some white and green Caladium and some Euphorbia.

Euphorbia likes at least part sun, so I’m taking a chance that it will do well here, but I love its ethereal quality.

I also used a fern that I discovered last year at Bachmans called Nephrolepis Jester’s Crown.  It’s a little more compact and upright than the fern in my inspiration photo.

I have a little tip for you if you garden in the burbs like I do, head outside at 7 a.m.  No one else is out and about so the neighborhood is quiet, the birds are singing, there is amazing light for photos and it’s just all around sublime.

Here are my tools of the trade.  Coffee in my favorite Disney mug, plants, gloves.  In that order.

Have I mentioned that my window box is clad in some old metal crown molding that I purchased at Oronoco Gold Rush?  It started out painted white (as you can see in the first photo above), but it has chipped to reveal a layer of blue and then rusted in a most magnificent fashion.

Isn’t that delicious?

So, here it is all planted.  I confess, I have artfully arranged these photos so that you can’t see how really sparse it looks right now.  Also, I faked it with the Caladium.  They are still in their pots because they tend to be very sensitive to the cold, and just in case we get one more cold snap here in Minnesota, I need to be able to pull them out and put them in the house overnight.

In another month or so it will fill in and the plants will spill over a bit.  By the end of summer it will be bursting with white impatiens.  I’ll try to remember to share some more photos with you then.

I am very patiently waiting for spring.  It starts ever so slowly here in Minnesota.  I see signs of it though.  It starts with some crocuses and scilla.

But while I wait for it, I thought I would put together a little miniature garden to enjoy for now.

I bought this ironstone tureen at Junk Bonanza.  I just loved how crackled it was.  It didn’t have its lid any longer, and I just thought it would be fun to use as a little planter.

It has a great mark on the bottom.  Apparently this is a “classic shape”.

Anyway, I popped in to my local Bachman’s store and came away with some miniature plants and a bag of pebbles.

I put some pebbles at the bottom of my tureen, since there won’t be any proper drainage with this planter.

Then I just tucked in my little plants and added some tiny little white pots that I found at a garage sale last summer.  I had added my house numbers to them and they usually reside in my fairy garden outside.

Ta da!  A sweet little garden.

For now I am going to put him in the window at the bottom of the stairs.  Hopefully I will remember to keep him watered.  Maybe I’ll reconsider and bring him to the office to remind me of gardening while I am crunching numbers at the day job.

The garden takes on a certain beauty in winter.  And winter has definitely struck here in Minnesota.

Ask me about this at the end of March when winter has been dragging on for months and spring still seems far away and I will completely deny it.  But, for now, I think the snow is beautiful.

There is a certain quiet that comes along with winter.  Every sound is muffled by the snow.

In winter, I find it easier to give myself permission to spend an afternoon wrapped in a fluffy blanket watching old movies without feeling guilty about the weeds that are taking over, or the roses that need pruning.  I think having a long winter helps make me a better gardener.  By the time spring rolls around, I’m more than ready to get back at it.  But, for now I enjoy the break from garden tasks and can just enjoy the beauty of winter.

 

 

A couple of years ago, I asked my neighbor Ken to make a window box for me.  As is always the case, Ken did a bang up job.  I had already purchased some old tin crown molding that I knew I wanted on the front of it.  I also had some plastic rectangular planter boxes that I wanted to fit inside.  Ken took some measurements, and voila, created a window box.

It’s kinda huge.  But one of my biggest decorating rules is ‘go big, or go home’, also known as ‘never do anything half way’.  I wanted it to be the full length of my front porch windows.  However, it can be a bit expensive to fill up.  I consider it the ‘focal point’ of my front yard though, so it’s a priority to make it look fab for summer and winter.

Originally the tin had a coat of white paint.  Despite numerous clear coats every spring, the paint continues to flake off, first leaving that lovely shade of blue, and then just the rust.  Since I pretty much love anything rusty, I consider this a good thing.

To fill ‘er up without breaking the bank, in winter I use stuff from the garden.  Mostly hydrangeas, but there are some other things tucked in there as well.  Some seed pods, and even some dried Astilbe.  To make it pretty at night, I’ve added twig lights that can be found at Target.

I also include some fab rusty metal ornaments that work perfectly with the rusty tin.

As you can see, I don’t really go for a traditional Christmas look with reds and greens, or silver and gold.  I want something that’s going to look good for the entire winter … and here in Minnesota that means it has to last a good long time.  It won’t be long now before the window box has a couple feet of snow under it.  Dare I admit that I am looking forward to it?