There are lots of tiny gardens and planters or container gardens in the streets and alleys of Bruges, Belgium. Most of the streets and fronts and backs of the houses in the city center are lined with cobblestones or other paved material so there isn't a lot of greenspace. So the residents of this lovely city have taken to making every square inch of dirt count and added in lots of container gardens too. Here are some of my favorites from my … [Read more...]
Purple and White Container Garden
The colors for the Easter season are purple and white, so this Easter-themed container garden is just perfect. It sits in front of a church with another paired on the other side of the door. The plants in this container garden include: White Nancy lamium (Lamium maculatum) Pansies (Viola spp) Wallflower (Erysimum linofolium 'Bowles Mauve') Dusty miller (Jacobaea maritima) All of these flowers are early spring bloomers and … [Read more...]
Low-Maintenance Container Gardens
With the hot sun and the high humidity of our Mississippi summers, having a lot of container gardens sprinkled around my yard usually means I'm going to have to do a lot of watering each week. Watering my garden is a tedious chore. The hose gets tangled on everything, my shoes usually end up getting wet, and it gives the mosquitoes plenty of time to suck my veins dry. It's a Catch-22. If you have container gardens here in Mississippi, … [Read more...]
Tropical Plants Container Garden for Summer Color
I decided to go for something a little more unique for a couple of my container gardens this spring. It took me a while to find the right container, but I finally found these lovely, lightweight ashen colored large containers to use. I decided I wanted bright, colorful plants to greet me at the sides of my carport -- I went tropical! The neutral color of the containers I found makes the tropical plants stand out even more. The Tropical Color … [Read more...]
Don’t Throw Out that Old Bird Bath! Make It a Planter
One of my neighbors recently sold their house and as the new owner was cleaning out some debris from the yard, I walked over to introduce myself. I noticed he had an old, chipped, worn concrete bird bath in the trash pile, so, of course, I asked if I could have it. He even helped me load it into my hatchback! Upcycle An Old Bird Bath: How to Convert Your Bird Bath into a Planter When your bird bath can no longer hold water for the birds to … [Read more...]
My 2016 Fall Planter
I'm not cheap, I'm frugal. When it comes to my garden, that means I often repurpose plants from one planting or flower bed into another one. There's nothing wrong with that, right? In this case, I repurposed a croton from a container garden that had long outgrown its original pot and mixed it in with some heliconias that I purchased on sale with an existing fern and calla lily. The only new plant was the Ixora with the orange blooms. I know … [Read more...]
Adding A Little Magic to My Garden: Using Fairy Lights
This content includes affiliate links. I get a small percentage of the sale for purchases made through links in this post. However, I use each product I review and only recommend those that I like and have worked well. Read my disclosure for more information. This year I planted Mandevilla in the spring/summer container gardens I planted for my mom. I just took out those summer plants and replaced them with fall mums, pansies, decorative … [Read more...]
What’s Eating My Jalapeños?
You'll never believe what I found eating my jalapeños. It's a hot pepper so you would think that it would be protected from hungry critters. But, that is not always the case. I planted my jalapeño peppers in containers this year. They were grown in part shade just along the edge of my driveway. I have four plants and they are growing 10-15 peppers each thus far. I picked my first batch of peppers this weekend to give to a friend. As I was … [Read more...]
The Secret to Watering Container Gardens
I hate to water, but I like to grow things in containers. These two things don't mix. It's the same in my kitchen though. I hate to cook but I really like to eat good, healthy, delicious food. *Sigh* What's a girl to do? I'm always looking for ways to simplify or even automate some of the tasks in my life. Rather than spend 20-30 minutes watering my gardens and container gardens outside, how can I make it easier to do the watering? More … [Read more...]
Got Bad Soil? Go With A Container Garden
Post Updated: November 8, 2016 The soil around my parents' house is pretty much Mississippi clay. When it rains, it holds the water for a long time, but it dries out to a hard shell in the sun. This makes it difficult to grow eye-catching plants around the house. They don't want to work too much with the soil because plants that are so close to the house can also trap moisture against the sides of the house and cause rotting problems. This … [Read more...]