And rain will make the flowers grow...

It's been a great year for my plants this year. Everything has grown huge it seems. It's just been raining at the right times and I haven't had to water much. I ended up planting a lot of pots this year, and thought I would share them with you.

On the lamp post at the end of my driveway are some pretty pink geraniums.

A trio of mixed pots:

I've made a few dish fairy gardens this year as well.

I love how these turned out!

Then there is my two barrels:

The dahlia's are especially big this year!

I love planing in unexpected containers, like this teapot:

This the best year yet for my clematis.

And last but not least, I took an arty pic of one of my hydrangea bushes and a rusty chair in the backyard.

I'm in love with all the blooms! How is your gardening going this year?

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

Garden Mushrooms

I saw this idea somewhere (can't recall where exactly now) for making garden mushrooms out of upside bowls and vases. I thought it would be fun to add some to my garden.

I thought they added a fun bit of whimsy to the garden. They were super easy to make. I just found various bowls and vases at the thrift store and glued them together using E6000. I've had them outside through several rain showers so far and they've held up great. Have you used any ordinary objects to decorate your garden lately?

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

*Planning to share at: Metamorphosis Monday;  Made by You Monday; Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party;  Whatever Goes Wednesday; Wildly Original Linky Party; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Serenity Now Weekend Blog Hop; 

Mini Fairy Garden

I've been drooling over fairy gardens on Pinterest. In fact, I have a whole board dedicated to ideas. I've started one in the backyard under a tree, but I'm not satisfied with how that looks yet.

I also planted an enameled pan with a small fairy garden. Here's what it looked like shortly after planting:

Here's what it looks like now:

I bought the bench online. I made the mushrooms from buttons and floral picks with wire.

The fence I made from wire and mini popsicle sticks.

It's been so wet and rained so much here that today I found out I have a real mushroom growing.

Maybe the fairies planted it.

I love how this little garden turned out! I'm hoping to get my tree fairy garden in better order to show you soon.

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

*Planning to share at: Metamorphosis Monday;  Made by You Monday; Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party;  Whatever Goes Wednesday; Wildly Original Linky Party; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Serenity Now Weekend Blog Hop; 

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I showed you my plantings here, but I thought I would give an update on what some of them look like now.

My wine barrel:

I rearranged the front steps a little and added a fun old crate:

The flowers have been filling out nicely now that sun has been finally shining!

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

Outdoor Solar Chandelier

I had a metal chandelier that held candles for a long time. I was always going to do something with it, but I wasn't sure what. One day, I stopped by the Dollar Tree (love that store) and found some bright solar lights. Then it hit me, why not use those for the chandelier and make it an outdoor one?

My supplies:

I sprayed the chandelier with lime green Rust-Oleum paint. (sorry, missed the action of this one.)

Then I popped the ends off the solar lights like so:

The ends didn't quite fit into the candle cups so I used regular plain old fun tack to get them to stay in there. I could've glued them, but I wanted the option to change them out or even used regular candles in it someday.

And here it is hanging up:

Here's the best picture I could get of it all lit up at night:

Not the clearest pic, I know, but that's the best I could do without a flash to distort the whole shebang.
Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

*Planning to share at:
Metamorphasis Monday; Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party; Trash to Treasure; The Power of Paint Party; Wildly Original Linky Party; Transformation Thursday; What have you redone?; Shabbilicious Friday; Start at Home Paint Party; Funky Junk Interiors' Party Junk. 

Burlap Planter Liner

I had a problem. I have a planter on my deck rail that has one of those coconut liners. But after a couple of years it looked like this:

Try as I might, I could not find another liner that would fit in the basket. I started thinking about the materials I had around the house that might do the job. That's when I thought of this:

A pile of burlap left over from various furniture projects. Aha! I took lined the basket with several layers of the burlap and filled it up with dirt:

Time for the flowers!

I put in some alyssum, pansies, and blue ageratum. I wasn't too sure about using the burlap, but shortly after I planted this, I saw this post over at Penny's Vintage Home where she lined an entire shopping cart to use it as a planter. I wish I had that shopping cart to use as a planter!

I planted this a few weeks ago, and it has filled out some. I will post an update pic after awhile to show how the flowers are doing.

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

Gardening at Last!

Winter  finally went away, so I went crazy at the greenhouse buying flowers and veggies to plant. Then it rained and rained and rained. Today the sun finally came out and I am getting some of that stuff planted! I thought I would share some pics with everyone.

The front steps of the house:

I love using random containers to plant in!

The other side of the door:

My hubby surprised me with a half whiskey barrel planter for Mother's Day:

I love Gerber daisies! You can't tell from this picture, but these have two-toned petals.

I found an old bike basket awhile back and thought it would be great straddling the railing on my deck:

More Gerber's!

This year I planted all of my herbs in a metal wash tub:

It's so nice to keep them all together like that. Here's some shade lovin' pots:

Look at those gorgeous double impatients!

I also planted a pot for the sidewalk in front of my office:

It might look like some of these pots are a little sparse now, but come another couple of weeks they will be filled out and overflowing! I haven't got everything planted yet, so be sure to check back in a couple of days to see the rest of the beauties!

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!


*Planning to share at:
Metamorphasis Monday;  Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party; Trash to Treasure;  Wildly Original Linky Party; Transformation Thursday; What have you redone?; Fridays Unfolded; Shabbilicious Friday.