Tag: garden

Mid-Summer Patio Flowers Update

Posted on by Lauren Lane

I’m going to do a little potted plant update today. I love having a lot of big potted plants around our patio during the summer. It allows me to switch out the types of plants that go in them every year, see how things fare and what I end up loving and what just doesn’t look that great by the end of the season.

I do in general keep the same color theme for all of the potted plants on our patio, and echo a handful of plants but in slightly different ways throughout all of them. Last year, I did sets of three of the same plants over and over, but this year, I wanted a bit more variety.

If you’re interested in how I put together a pot, I wrote a blog post on the four easy steps of that HERE.

All of my patio plants were planted in mid-May, so this is a little mid-summer update.

In May…

When I planted this series, I thought it was going to be my least favorite combo of the three sets of pots. I was soooo wrong. It’s in the running for most favorite now.

The zinnias fared so well, that I actually pulled out one of them and put it it in its own pot.

Plants in this series:

  • Large Pot: Superbells in Double Blue, Magilla Purple Perilla (coleus), Sweet Potato Vine in Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime, Salvia in Majesty Arctic Blue
  • Middle Pot: Euphorbia in Diamond Frost, Zinnia in Double Zahara Salmon
  • Small Pot: Lantana in Sunrise Rose

In May:

Also in the running for my set of favorites. The hibiscus wasn’t blooming the day that I took this picture, but wanted to show you how beautifully everything came in. And one of my favorite things to do is to use the creeping thyme in a pot, because it starts to cascade over the sides of the pot and looks so cool by the end of summer.

Plants in this series:

  • Large Pot: Superbells in Blue Moon Punch, Magilla Purple Perilla (coleus), Sweet Potato Vine in Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime, Salvia in Majesty Arctic Blue
  • Middle Pot: Hibiscus in Passion Wind
  • Small Pot: Creeping Thyme

In May…

When I initially planted all of these planters, I loved this set this most. And now it’s my least favorite 🙂

I think it’s something about the colors in the coleus against the million bells here that I don’t love.

Plants in this series:

  • Large Pot: Superbells in Doublette Love Swept, Sweet Potato Vine in Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime, Salvia in Majesty Arctic Blue, Euphorbia in Diamond Frost
  • Middle Pot: Magilla Purple Perilla (coleus)
  • Small Pot: Creeping Thyme

One thing remains true, this coleus that I’ve been using in my pots for years is a stellar performer. I’m getting to a point now that I cut it back in my pots just about every week so it doesn’t take over, but it is truly a beast. That’s one of the reasons I was curious as to how I would like it by itself in its own pot this year.

We’ve reached the time of a year in mid-summer, where I’m dealing with the most pests to my flowers, they need a lot of water (as in, I water these pots daily), and fertilize them once a week with a water soluble fertilizer. This will be the routine until early September when the heat starts to subside a bit.

Hope this was helpful to see how much plants fill out in just a couple of months! Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions! I love to hear from you!

Garden Path Tour Summer 2020

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Our garden path holds a special place in my heart. After Nathan single handedly designed our entire patio remodel, and then built over three years through hours of digging with a shovel and laying stones usually BY HIMSELF, we went from a patio that looked like this when we moved in…

To this finished last year…

If you missed it, I did a whole post about our patio remodel HERE.

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Friday Favorites {06.19.20}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

My sister in law and I have spent all week working on Harrison’s new big boy room! Prepping and painting it. I haven’t painted in yeeeaaars. Years. It is not my gift, but when our painter wasn’t going to be able to do it thanks to COVID before new baby arrived, we decided to give it another go. I’ve got big plans of getting Harrison moved into his big boy bed and settled before this new little one arrives! Nesting has kicked into high gear to get everything ready. 🙂

This week, I have a whole bunch of random favorites for you!

I was casually browsing the frozen treat aisle at the grocery store, as any very pregnant lady does, and happened upon this little delightful discovery. Ben and Jerry’s makes their cookie dough bites and brownie bites available in packages……whaaaaat? Ben & Jerry’s making pregnant lady’s dreams come true.

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Designing a Flower Pot Basics

Posted on by Lauren Lane

It’s that time of year when I know I have so many friends who are itching to plant something pretty that they can enjoy all summer! Just going to the garden center and trying to pick something out can be overwhelming, and I’ve had so many friends lately ask for suggestions of different plants and wanting thoughts on where to start. So, here’s my suggestion if you’re TOTALLY overwhelmed. Start with a few pots.

You can buy pretty inexpensive pots at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Costco, even Target. If you want a nice pot, garden centers have LOADS of them. Many of them will have sales from time to time that you can even get a deal on a nice flower pot. But if you’re not really wanting to fully commit to anything yet, get a big inexpensive pot, and give it a shot for a season. You might surprise yourself!

First off, a few fundamentals:

-1- Pick your pot, and make sure it has drainage in the bottom. That is, I’m assuming you’re putting this pot outside, so make sure there’s a drainage hole in the bottom of your pot. You want excess water to be able to run off. When water just sits in the pot, it’s really common that it can cause root rot and kill your plants.

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Prepping Your Gardens for Fall

Posted on by Lauren Lane

In the gardening world, getting ready for fall and winter is my least favorite time of year. Thankfully, the beautiful leaves make up for some of the sadness that comes for me when another summer season is over, and I have to clean up my flower beds.

I’m sharing today a list that I use to get my gardens and shrubs ready for the fall and winter months:

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Friday Favorites: Stunning Garden Performers and Duds {09.06.19}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

One of the hardest parts about the beginning of fall for me is taking out the annual plants in my garden. I always have the best of intentions of taking pictures of everything so that I can keep track of what really took to its growing spot and exploded, versus performed average to sad, sad underperformers so I never buy them again.

Sadly, I so rarely remember to take pictures, and then I end up repeating some of the same mistakes as the last year….BUT, not this year. I put this topic on my blogging calendar, which means I’m actually going to stick to it. So here it is – my favorite garden performers this year:

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THE Patio Tour

THE Patio Tour

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Three years in the making. That’s how long Nathan has been working on the patio. Our backyard started with a screened in porch and a tiny semi-circle patio right off the porch. And now, we have an entire additional outdoor ROOM to enjoy.

I just want to take a minute to brag on my guy. Ya’ll. He designed this patio expansion – the whole thing, which is impressive as is. And THEN, he (with the help of his dad) BUILT 85% of it. What happened with the last 15%, you ask? Harrison Thomas Lane entered our life, and somehow, there was no such thing as free time anymore. Free time. What’s that again?

But first, the before pictures:

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Friday Favorites – In Bloom

Posted on by Lauren Lane

I’m linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea and sharing my Friday Favorites of flowers in bloom around my gardens.

In the Midwest, this is the time of year when some of my spectacular spring plants are really starting to wear away in the real heat and humidity of a Kansas City summer. What’s interesting, though, is that there are plants that kind of hang out all spring, and then REALLY gear up in this deathly heat. Here are some favorites around the garden right now:

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Our New Garden Path

Our New Garden Path

Posted on by Lauren Lane

One of my favorite, and stressful, things is to build a new garden. I get so excited about all of the possibilities of plants, how things will grow together, the colors, and imagining just how it will look years from now once the perennials grow up completely!

Our backyard patio has been a very long labor of love (and maybe the occasional hate) for Nathan. He designed and built 90% of the patio wall himself over three years – and it’s finally done, which meant the fun part was turned over to me to decide on plants/fixtures! I’m so excited to show you what it looks like – and to look back at pictures at the end of the season once the annuals have really come in.

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