Container Gardening - Mid summer Refreshing

One of my favorite combinations - impatiens, elephant ear, maiden hair ferns and coleus- perfect for my shady terraces.

Still looking good after being planted in early May.

Pots of basil grown from seed by the back door.

Succulents mixed together in an old cement urn



Love this table Mr. RTH built for me out of our old juniper limbs and a fallen tree base.

The color of these leaves is breathtakingly beautiful.



The urn I purchased from Carla at Grayslake on Sunday- my inspirational piece.

A small urn found in the garage was planted with happy miniature petunias.

A privacy fence by our grilling area built from 2 salvaged columns and an old trellis stored in the garage.

Happpy faces are planted in an urn by the front of the privacy trellis

Planted in urn by privacy trellis

Collection of urns rescued from corner of garage and planted on Sunday.

Coral sedum - love this color!

Angel vine and old wire basket  with moss, ferns, ivy and violets. - perfect additions to the screened porch.

These old wire baskets are perfect for miniature plants.

Old etched glass door that is the entry to our detached garage.  Added a basket of nasturtiums and ivy to the side.

Little garden gate in pot of begonias and greens.



Back side of new "privacy fence"!

Ornamental hops just in at our local nursery

I went to Grayslake on Sunday hoping to find some great antiques but they were far and few between.  Seems everyone headed to Elkhorn, Wisconsin to the antique flea market.  But I did get   inspired by one booth.  A really cute girl- Carla- had planted the most adorable pots of flowers.  She used old buckets, tool boxes, logs, chairs- just about anything she could find and made wonderful ornamental finds for the garden.  I purchased a classic black urn filled with purple and green plants from her  and went home to place it on my front porch. Driving home,  I realized how many urns and cool containers  that I had sitting in my back garage and detoured to our  local nursery to see what was new.  Purchasing mood moss, basket moss and a cart of plants, I headed home and spent the gorgeous afternoon planting my containers. As it is so late in the season, I purchased plants that should last into October.   I pulled out all the scraggly plants and replaced them with zinnias and marigolds and potato vine.  This is the first time this summer it has been cool enough to enjoy outside so I wanted everything to look fresh and alive. Just adding these little pops so color and green really made a difference.  Hopefully we have another 6 weeks of enjoying dinner outside!