Summer Projects Started

Tags

alliums, hanging basket, iris, planter, roses, wicker set

I love Memorial day weekend. Amidst the barbecues, baseball games, yard sales and parties, it’s a weekend that I always seem to be productive. Maybe it’s that almost summer feeling, the perfect air and sun or the start of something new. This year’s four-day weekend really got the ball rolling.

Early Friday morning Hubster, who was running errands, came home to get me. He saw a four piece wicker set at a yard sale and asked them to hold it until he got the trailer. Last month, I had seen a four piece wicker set at a yard sale for $30 and wanted to get it despite the damage to the settee and the ugly cushions. Hubster ensured me it would be there after we had stopped at a few other yard sales, but it wasn’t. This time he had done well. We picked up the slightly worn out white wicker set and brought it home. (Other yard-sale finds include a trailer for Hubster’s lawn mower for $40, a brand-new dual receiver baby monitor for $5, a lightly used pack and play for $15, a plastic safety fence for 25¢, and a snow-blower for $60) I wiped it down and spray painted it brown. Spray painting wicker is almost impossible, you have to spray it from every single angle to get every nook and cranny covered. After going through 12 cans, I ran out of spray paint. The settee and one chair is complete, the other chair is almost done and I have to completely re-haul the table. The top is worn out and I have a plan. I want to paint the table the same brown, the middle of the table top needs to be cut out and replaced. I would like to find a nice antique map to découpage for the middle and then cover with it plexiglass. The set may not be finished for a while due to several hold ups… 1) I’m looking for the right colors on an antique map, 2) The store all seem to be out of the right color of spray paint, and 3) I cannot find the right color (all granny floral, yuck!) and shape (either for settee or for chair, none for both)  seat cushions and may need to make my own.
 I have 10 matching planters, 8 urns and 2 large pots, which needed to be filled for my patio and porch. I also have three hanging baskets on my porch. Last year I filed them with annuals but this year I wanted something more permanent. I planted 6 of the planters with small Mountain Gem Boxwood and Ivy trailing down the sides and the remaining 4 were filled with May Night Salvia. My hanging  baskets, I lined the coco fiber planter liners with plastic grocery bags to retain some of the moisture and replanted them with some cascading annuals. Next year I plan to filled them with perennials, maybe periwinkle…

I then decided to add some color to my shade garden (which I just planted a few months ago from roots) while waiting for it to fill out. I added 6 Plum Pudding Coral Bells between the oaks. I had  planted 3 Tatting ferns, 12 Lady Ferns, 24 Hostas, 20 Foxgloves, 12 Red Coral Bells from Spring Hill Nursery, a Bleeding Heart from my friend’s garden and 5 more Hostas from another friends garden.

I had planted three new lilacs I had got on Arbor Day, but Hubster said some strange weed-eating creature ate 2 of the 3. I guess next time, I’ll have to block them off from Hubster and his power tools.
Other recent plantings included 8 Hedge Roses on one side of our property, 24 (alternating red, pink and yellow), splitting my Purple Coral Bells (last year I split the three I had into 12 total plants and this year, I just pulled one more aside to fill a bald spot), a plethora of re-blooming Daylilies, and 24 new Hardy Gladiola Bulbs, and I replaced 4 Azaleas the died over the winter. I do have a few new potted plants that in excited to work into my gardens. I found a purple Iris growing amidst my , one I had never planted and have seen grow before this year. I also found a small Iris plant sprouting from the rock border of my shade garden, which I transplanted to my from garden, hoping next year it’ll bloom. I’m enjoying the mystery until then.
I also pulled aside some plants for my parents to take back to their garden; two different types of Sedum, some Winter-creeper, and some other small plant with purple flowers that I grow just outside the rock border of my front garden. Remember: A gardener’s best friend is another gardener.

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