Trash to Trellis

What do you do with used, weathered wood

that you just can't bear to toss in the trash?You design and build a garden trellis of course!

Pretties to Share

I thought I'd share a few pretties today. The first being that pretty little "J" that you notice up there by the http://.
It's called a blog icon or fav icon. It replaces the big orange square B that's next to almost every blog address. It makes my blog name stand out and be unique. I love it! Cara, the RockSTARRMom, designed it for me. Thank you Cara! She can personalize your blogicon too. Just go visit her at Your Blogicon and tell her I sent you. She'll create something wonderful for your blog and give you step-by-step instructions on how to install it. She's such a sweetie!

As you know I've been a little light on my posting lately which has given me time to catch up on things. I've been doing some yard work (finally!). Of course there's still more to do. Lots of flowers to plant and the weeding is never done. But I wanted to share a few photos of my yard.
The roses look spectacular this year. My clematis has never had so many blooms. I'm amazed that everything has managed to thrive even with my neglect. I learned a lesson from my flower beds. They look great because I planted plenty of perennials. I applied that lesson to my huge flower pots and planted perennials in them this year. There's beautiful hostas in the pots under the trees. And fragrant lavender in the pots out back. With perinnials in my pots I can enjoy their beauty this year and for years to come.

My Love of Doors Has Crept Outdoors!

One of the great things about a door is that you can close it to hide whatever unwanted site may be lurking on the other side. That's exactly what my outdoor doors do. The farthest door leads to our vegetable garden. I enjoy the yummy tomatoes our garden produces and I especially like the gourds, pumpkins and other decorative items it so willingly grows for me. However, our garden would never win a beauty contest, the prize for most supportive maybe, but not for beauty. The door hides it's flaws and gives the illusion of beauty.

The doors that need a fresh coat of paint (yes, it's on my list of things to do) help to hide a swing set. My kids are getting older, and some have moved away, but when we took a family vote about getting rid of the swings, they all voted to have them stay. Yeah, I've learned my lesson. Next time I'm not putting it to a vote! But in the meantime, the kids can still enjoy the swing set and I don't have to see it from my kitchen window. I have recently discovered only one problem with these doors, however. For some reason my eleven year old son had no clue that the glass could actually break. That's what he told me when I walked outside to discover the source of the crashing sound. Luckily the overgrown rose bush hides the broken glass. Now if I can just figure out how to hide the other flaws and weeds in my yard. . .

A Little Tipsy

You may have already seen these cute little planters, often called "Tipsy Pots".
I decided to make one last year and liked it so much I've replanted it this summer. I had a lot of little pots that weren't being used. I prefer to use pots that are much bigger in size because they require less watering. I gathered my pots and arranged them by size. I purchased a piece of rebar from the home improvement store. (Okay, both spell check and the dictionary say that rebar isn't a word, even though that's what we've always called those long roundish metal sticks that you place in concrete foundations.)
I decided upon a nice little shady place right outside my back door and close to an automatic sprinkler. I pounded that metal stick into the ground about a foot or more. Then I added my pots. A little word to the wise here: put the stick through the hole in the bottom of the pot, tip the pot and then fill it with dirt before adding the next pot. Other wise you get a pretty little post of empty pots that suddenly all come crashing down inside each other. I tipped each dirt filled pot, alternating the direction, then I planted my flowers. This year I planted a potato vine in the bottom pot. I love this vine because it's such a beautiful chartreuse color and by the end of summer it will grow and spill out of the pot about four to six feet.
So, if you have some extra pots just lying around you can be a little tipsy too---try it, you like it!