LOTS of pics today!  SO, if ya want, you can stop reading and just look at the pictures.  OR you can allow me to take you on a personal tour of our outdoor space.

As mentioned on The Cottage tab, we moved to this newly remodeled 70 year old  home last June. So during this past year we have been working hard to turn a kudzu, weed ridden plot of land into a fun and restful AND PRETTY place to hangout.

So first of all, please meet my stump.  Since it is located at the back corner of our house it either had to be removed or have a makeover.  We chose the latter.  My hubby did some impromtu rock work with some leftover concrete mix and then dumped a bunch of good soil inside of it.  (I wish I had dumped in a bunch of ant killer!)  Then I just started throwing the plants in: some perennials (they’ll return next spring) and some annuals (good fillers). Somehow a rouge sunflower seed got in there as well.  My ma-in-law surprised me, for no reason, with a cool plant that I potted so it wouldn’t have to share it’s glory!  A few weeks later: Wala!

Walk a few steps north and you’ll find my zinnia and sunflower garden.  I thought I had done everything right: I planted plenty of a good variety of seed.  I left enough space to comfortably walk thru them for cutting.  And, I weeded them regularly, or rather, occasionally. OK, I’ve weeded once…

BUT THEN, I made a huge mistake with the fertilizer.  Rather than toss my non-organic 10-10-10 around the base of the growing plants, like I SHOULD HAVE, I tossed it generously, sorta like Tinkerbell did with the fairy dust.  Sho-nuff, some of the tiny granules got stuck in the leaves, thus affecting the developing flowers.  The picture shows the damage done.  Ugh.  THAT will NOT happen again next year…

And over this way is my NEW PERENNIAL garden.  NEW, like started in May, as in two months ago!!  MOST of the plants came from a kindly lady who posted PLANTS FOR SALE on Craigslist for $1-$3.  BARGAINS.

All of the other plants came from the LOWE’S CLEARANCE RACK!  YUP, it is a little known fact that LOWE’s will discount their plants several times during the course of a week as much as 50-90% off. MOST LOWE’s have those racks towards the back of their garden centers.

CRAAAAZZZZY!  We have done almost all of our landscaping with these sorta sick plants that we have revived.

Now please saunter with me down our sidewalk.  It may seem as though I have ventured into the flagstone laying business but it ain’t nobody’s business that it almost cause the demise of our 30 year marriage.  (I’m artsy, he’s a numbers guy.  Not a good combo when laying a flagstone walkway) …but it is down and walkable.  AND ya might notice there is no blog on “how-to lay a level, symmetrical, perfect-in-every-way flagstone walkway”.  Oh, well. 

The large basket on my front porch is a POTATO-PICKERS basket from my grandfather’s potato farm in Houlton, Maine.  It is one of my most favorite pieces.  It makes me smile.  No really, it literally does.  Even now I am grinning!

The back deck simply has a few washtubs dangling over some strategically placed lamb’s ear (easy to grow and prolific perennial). All those wonderful rocks are from around the property.  Lugging them is part of my intensive weight training program. On the deck are all of my herbs.  NOTE, there are no pictures.  Alas, they are tasty but not very pretty.

One day, while eating supper on said deck (it woulda been ‘dinner’ if we’d a had company), a hot air balloon appeared in the distance.  As we watch it, we realized that it was landing in the back pasture.  We donned our mud shoes and headed over to cross examine the air-born trespassers.  We learned that the balloons can’t actually be steered. Rather, they can only move up and down.  So they let the wind carry them, picked a place they could safely land and then descend.  On that day, it was in the back pasture.  

As an aside (I loooooove “asides”…) I used my new app called “Waterlogue” to play with one of the pics.  (Thanks Amy Smith, Charleston, SC!) It is the only app I’ve ever actually paid for and I LOVE the way the app did a number on the deflating hot air balloon.  Next time ya see me ask to see it on my phone’s home screen.

Thanks for letting me take you on a tour of my outdoor areas.  There is a whole lot more…however, squash and beans may be  good to eat but a bit boring when it comes to photographing! (Don’t tell my husband I said that!)

For more fun, click on the pics below and they will magically enlarge for a terrific slideshow.

And YES, I would LOVE IT if you pinned them!

Yet another washtub

A closer view of my flagstone!

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Quaint!

My first bouquet!

My attempt at cobblestone! Do you see the heating vent? hehe

My sweet mother-in-law gave me this FOR NO REASON! She just loves me 🙂

Apple crates put to good use

We have 4 hummingbird feeders.

Front door!

Swedish Ivy LOVES Zone 7b shade!

My kitchen window sill. Ahhhh

Common site. This is a Cardinal in honor of ST.LOUIS, my dad’s and my siblings’ favorite baseball team

Papa on the swing under the big oak tree

My grandmother’s chair. (I hope she doesn’t miss it!)

Ah, I love my sunflowers…but what a MESS when the pollen sheds!

Fire pit in progress!

More of my zinnias!

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