Category: Gardening

Friday Favorites {05.06.22}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

The past week and a half have felt more like…many weeks. Both of the boys ended up with Influenza A, and some really terrible side effects of Tamiflu. The washing machine was running non-stop all week, if you know what I mean. But I think we are finally on the up and up again. This year has just seemed particularly bad with viruses. I swear one or both boys has been home every other week since the beginning of the year.

But, dare I say, I’m really excited for this weekend! We are back at soccer on Saturday, and celebrating Mother’s Day on Sunday.

This morning, I’ve got to get myself ready to take the boys to school for Muffins with Mom at their daycare. It’s our very first in-person holiday party at school since December of 2019 when Harrison looked like this…

So to say I’m very excited to get to celebrate with my boys at school is an understatement!

I’ve got almost all of the plants I need for my garden this year! This year’s colors are…all of them. Every last thing that looked pretty and drew my eye.

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My Top 5 Products for Gardening

Posted on by Lauren Lane

It’s Earth Day and spring is here, and in just a few weeks in Kansas City, the garden centers are going to be brimming with gorgeous annuals calling my name! I’m sharing my five most favorite products for gardening today. I love gardening. It brings so much joy to watch things grow and take care of them all summer.

#1 Gardening Gloves :: There are a million different types of gardening gloves, but these are my favorite. They dry quickly and allow for good movement. Mine have lasted many seasons.

#2 Drip system irrigation :: If you don’t have beds that have underground sprinklers that cover watering the beds, drip system irrigation is the way to go. You can lay your irrigation system out before planting and then cover with mulch after you’ve planted everything and not worry about watering all summer. This is my favorite starter pack and timer. I wrote an entire blog post on installing drip irrigation HERE. I also love it because I don’t have to worry about my plants surviving when we go on vacation!

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Friday Favorites {12.17.21}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

I feel myself getting caught up this time of year in trying to have the perfect Christmas. Mostly ideas of peaceful cookie decorating, picturesque holiday movie watching on the couch with the whole family and a fire going, and doing all of the festive things like visiting Santa, looking at lights. And then there are little things too, for me, like wrapping each present perfectly. And I can find myself, if I don’t catch it early enough, with these high expectations of what this time looks like for our little family.

The holidays, and pretty much all special events, are better when I lower my expectations. When it doesn’t go perfectly, I don’t want my kids remembering a mom that was flustered and upset. I want them to remember these special celebrations as moments of joy strung together.

So as we head into this holiday week, I pray for you, friend, a week where we let go of the reigns a little bit. We lower the expectations of our children’s reactions and actions, the perfect picturesque holiday scenes we have in our minds, and remember that the best thing we can give our kids is a happy, joyful mom in the chaos and mess of it all. (And then let’s just all plan to have a virtual glass of wine together at the end of the night. ☺️)

Happy Friday, friends. And Merry Christmas week! ~Lauren

We went and visited Santa a couple weeks ago. I wasn’t sure how this would go, honestly. I was prepared for tears. Harrison hadn’t visited Santa since he was 1, and obviously has no memory of it.

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Winter Outside Containers

Posted on by Lauren Lane

I’ve admired for years winter containers put together by some of my very favorite garden accounts. I’ve admired my own MIL and mom’s winter containers, but I finally had the time and energy to put some together myself this year!

Even though this is my first time doing winter containers, I love that it’s a cross between outdoor gardening and flower vase arrangements. You can play with and re-cut, re-arrange as much as you want! Watering doesn’t matter as much if it’s below freezing, and you can make it all look just to your liking!

To put together these winter containers, I had picked out the containers around my home that I wanted to spruce up with evergreens this winter when I pulled out my annual flowers this fall, and I left the potting soil in the pots. The most cost effective way to create a base for your arrangement 😊. I’ll clean out the old potting soil in the spring before I re-pot them with spring flowers!

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Fall House Tour 2021

Posted on by Lauren Lane

It’s FALL HOUSE TOUR day! I little peak inside our house this fall. And a look outside, as well. This is the first year I really decorated for fall outside, and our patio looks so friendly and fall-ish! Why didn’t I do this ages ago??

Harrison looooooves the addition of the skeleton that talks when you walk by it. I saved some of my gladiolus bulbs and realized that their dried leaves were actually the perfect addition to my front pot to decorate for fall. It looks a little like dried cornstalks. But not as big. And free.

And these cute little planters are switched out for fall…

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July Garden Tour

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Gardening brings me a lot of peace – wandering outside to water in the morning and see what’s growing and blooming that day. Today I’m sharing my July garden tour. If you missed my June garden tour, go back and take a peek here!

Here’s how it works: I walk around my yard and take pictures of the gardens. I don’t clean up, put away toys that have been left out, or weed. This is just how life in my gardens look today!

Here’s how things are looking in the garden today!

Limelight hydrangeas are starting to bloom. That lantana is growing as big as I thought it would! Loves its spot!

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Friday Favorites {06.25.21}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

This summer seems to be flying by. Can you believe that next week is already Fourth of July weekend? Where has the time gone?

We had so much fun last weekend celebrating Father’s Day with our favorite dad around! While I barely survived making breakfast with both of the boys for Nathan (i.e. there were absolutely no pictures taken! Only repeated “don’t touch that’s!” and answering endless requests to “taste test.”) We went on a family walk to the park, where Harrison showed off his ever improving climbing skills, and went out as a family for a barbecue dinner! We love our Dada!

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Friday Favorites {06.18.21}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Thankfully, work was a little slower this week. Which was helpful given that I ended up at the doctor with a double ear infection and sinus infection. 🙄 I thought adults didn’t get ear infections anymore. But somehow, I was able to achieve it. Two times over. Here’s to antibiotics and the weekend ahead celebrating our favorite Dada! Hope you all have a wonderful one!

This is the face of the bravest little boy I know, who is super excited to have started swim lessons! He went head first into jumping off the side and the biggest splashes of his whole class. (The girls in his class were less than impressed with being splashed. I can relate, because I was totally that girl growing up. Boys, amiright?). I am so proud of him, and I love watching him learn to swim! I have yet to brave the pool with both little boys by myself, though. Not sure I’m ready for that.

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Garden Tour – June 2021

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Oh my goodness. It’s been a week. Well a week and a half! We had so much fun as a family a couple of weekends ago, and I was just feeling uninspired to write blog posts, that I inadvertently took last week off. Then the whole family, except for Nathan, passed around a miserable head cold last week. It was terrible. Baby J and I got it the worst, but I spent the better part of last week trying to learn a new job, while simultaneously dealing with a head cold that at all hours of the day made my head, sinuses, throat, and all the things feel bloated and painful. I think we’re turning a corner, though. On the mend, *fingers crossed.*

Today, I wanted to share a June garden tour! I filmed this a little more than a week ago. Gardening is a hobby in the summer months. I can’t keep a house plant alive for the life of me. 😳. But about once a month during the summer, I love to share a little walkthrough of the gardens.

I always feel inspired getting to virtually walkthrough other people’s gardens. It gives me ideas of ways to combine plants that I hadn’t thought of before, or plants that I want to try the next season. I actually keep a running list on my phone of plants that I’d like to incorporate the next year. You all are the best inspiration and such a wealth of knowledge, and that’s what I love most about this space and Instagram. It gives me access to virtual friends that I learn so much from.

Anyways, enough blabbering, and on to the tour. I hope you enjoy!

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