Plants and a Planter

A few weeks back my daughter and I stopped a yardsale where it appeared the people had just opened up a ramshackle abandoned shed and hauled the contents out on the lawn for sale.  It was the dirtiest junk I've seen in a long time, and most of it was worthless.  I debated a few minutes over a $10 depression era china cabinet but there was a huge gouge in the wood in the front and I didn't think I was up to the task of fixing that.  I nearly left emptyhanded until something half hidden caught my eye.  For $4, I came away with this sturdy little planter box:

It may look pretty good in that photo, but the flash shows the real condition of the finish:

That was AFTER I cleaned it.  It was disgustingly filthy and the finish was un-pretty, so I decided it needed a dose of ASCP in French Linen, and some dark wax.  Now it has a home on my back deck.

I have some other plants filling out back there too, my go-to black eyed susan vine, and a double impatien, plus a few things still on the table that I have not found homes for just yet:

The double impatiens look white but they are a very pale pink:

I gave this planter a little bling with some chandy crystals:

I planted a little tub of herbs:

 And my rusty milk bottle carrier got $.98 worth of impatiens:

I found this little Cinderella carriage planter and filled it with supertunias (which I used to make my new header:

My magic bean seeds have begun to sprout, so that means I need to dig out around my lightpole pretty soon so I can get these in the ground and climbing. 

This weekend I finally started the foyer flooring project.  It looks awesome but is harder than I'd hoped it would be.  More on that later.

Front Yard Gardening

I have a tiny yard between my driveway and the neighbors, which had a lot of weeds and little actual grass.  My daughter Manda got me motivated to do something about it, so we expanded the garden into the lawn several feet. Then I had the idea to put in a stacked stone wall, and decided to go even further out into the yard.  This shows our first dig and the pile of stones that was delivered:

A few evening hours of hard work, some heavy rocks, about 1200 pounds of dirt, and some haphazardly chosen plants later, it's looking much better.

I'm going to put an evergreen near the door to disguise the gas meter, and I still have to dig out around the light pole... I have some magic bean seeds to put in there, hoping to get a few vines to grow up the ugly pole and make it pretty. View from the window:

Can't wait til it fills in!  What do you think, should I dig out the rest and go for a two-tiered garden, or try to get some grass to grow?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Junk Weekend

I spent some quality time with the kids this weekend.  My youngest is home from college for a quick break before her summer session starts at Pitt, and we went to some yard sales together on Saturday morning.  I got a cute little straw hat in an upscale neighborhood for fifty cents:

I picked up a rusty milk carrier for $8 (plants not included, these are waiting to be planted on my deck).  I've got to see if I have any small pots that will fit in here so I can plant some herbs in it.

Sunday my middle daughter joined us and we went to the flea market.

My little English coffee set was $5, and I paid just a few dollars for each of the other items shown.  I've already painted the gold frame and I'm replacing the faded print.  No idea where I'll put it, but couldn't pass it up, it was too cute.  I love the "Ladies" room sign and I'm thinking of hanging it on the bathroom door.

I also bought a little shelf for $1, which I painted ASCP French Linen.  I love this color but I have not yet figured out how to work it into my decor. 

So it was a pretty junky weekend.  I got my new flooring and expect to tackle that this coming weekend, but in the meantime I started a whole other project.  Please excuse the dark pics taken in the rain through a window screen:

I had a tiny (350-lb) pallet of stacking stone delivered Monday.  Despite the rain I went out and hefted some rocks around to get a rough idea of whether I had enough to execute my new garden layout:

Yes, I need to dig up more grass.  Hopefully it will stop raining soon so I can get on with my plan.  Have a great week!