It's that time of year when Mother Nature has been kind enough to bless us once again with a fruit harvest. You might think there's nothing to picking fruit, picking fruit is the easy part''.
The blueberries are ripe for the picking!
I even get help from this guy, Dylan our Golden, at least he's getting mostly green berries....
....until he discovered the BOWL!
And than it's a race to beat these wall sitters to the berries....they can clear a shrub in a single day!
The blackberries are ripening, no help from Dylan dog with these since they have thorns!
Then it was off to see about gathering some peaches....think clobber!
Dylan dog likes picking peaches too....sorry the picture is a bit fuzzy but the boy was in motion!
....until he discovers the BUCKET!
Is there anything better than enjoying a fresh picked peach on a warm summer day? Mother Nature has been good to us! Dylan and I hope everyone is enjoying the fruits of summer too!
I wish I could tell you this post was about my gardens but to be honest I'm just not that industrious. Between family, home and job I don't have that kind of time let alone these gardens are much too formal for my humble dwelling. These are highlights from Stan and Cheri Frye's stunning Edwardian garden, a local garden that I was fortunate enough to visit last weekend.
One of the lower ponds at the bottom of the gardens facing up with the mainhouse barely visible on the right and the guesthouse in the center. The Frye's gardens occupy four properties, on 12 acres with 40 garden areas, all on a rocky hillside with an elevation change of 110'. The gardens are linked together by lawn, mulch, pebbles, and granite stone paths. New Hampshire is called the granite state so we have no shortage of this material, ask anyone who has tried to garden here. You'll see from the pictures that there's a repetitive use of boxwood, evergreen, yew, holly, hosta and hydrangea to add a sense of unity.
The garden rooms surrounding the main house are kept formal as seen in thisgarden with areflecting pool, statuary, urns and clipped boxwood. As you wandered down from the first terraced area you come upon a 300-foot allee, a French word meaning a walkway lined with trees or tall shrubs, of pollarded sycamore trees. Pollarding of trees means to cut the branches back to the trunk in the spring to promote dense heads of foliage and to control the trees height. New growth on these trees can be as much as six feet per year. The tree branches are trained to grow to the north and south leaving the pathway open.
The 300-foot Allee with sycamore trees surrounded bypachysandra, a shade loving ground cover growing to eight inches.
At one end of the Allee you come upon a large urn called 'Pope's Urn', named after Alexander Pope, who was considered one of the greatest English poets of the 1700's and is visible from the back deck of the main house. At the other far end is a cottage and Stan's office. Can you imagine the tough commute he has walking down that allee each morning to his office? Torture!
In the geometric garden, boxwood is clipped into spheres to mimic the round architectural balls. While a lead boy balancing on a sphere gets sprayed in a small pool. Just look at that fabulous collection of antique garden ornaments and use of granite stone.
Here's a great idea, an arbor made out of nothing more than rebar tied together. Planted on each corner are Japanese maples that have their branches tied to the rebar to create a canopy. A laid stone flooring and voile, you have a stunning area out of the sun for a picnic. I hope you've enjoyed a little of the garden tour and you go away with a few ideas of your own. Me, while the temperatures wavier in the three-digit area and dangerously close to my whining point, I think I'll go sit on the air conditioner and contemplate how the husband has over pollarded our tree and the deer have made a tasty snack out of my hosta!
Ok, so I've already admitted that I'm a landscaping idiot. I'm not ashamed. Part of growing as a person is admitting it, and then calling in someone who DOES know what they're doing. I'm all about DIYing when I can, but sometimes you just have to ask an expert. A while ago I asked on facebook if anyone knew a good landscape designer, and we got a note from Candice saying she has her own business doing that exact thing (appropriately named Candice Price Garden Designs)
She said that she would love to draw up a plan, just for fun, to show us her skills, if we were interested. Yes, of course! Since Monica's house is relatively new without much landscaping, she decided to draw up a design for her front yard.
This is pre-front porch makeover! Candice is an artist by nature, with a passion for gardening and her designs are absolutely beautiful! I seriously think you could frame her designs for some really cool art.: ) One of our favorite things about her was that she came to Monica's house, walked around outside and then asked if she could take a look around inside to gather some insight on Monica's design style so that she could incorporate that into her plans. Love that! Within a day or two, we received an email with her plan- we were so excited!Here's what she came up with:
Gorgeous, right? Even without knowing what the heck the plants are!: ) She even included a front elevation view so Monica could envision exactly what she meant.
Candice does a ton of work getting these plans ready: she measures and measures and measures some more, conceptualizes a design plan, creates it on paper, figures out which plants would work best in the given area. Her plans include a plant key, with descriptions of each plant so you know what the heck to look for. If you're not up for DIYing the entire thing yourself, Candice can do the install herself! Impressive.: )
Isn't that so fun? To see Candice's full description of her plan including all the juicy details, click here. Man, it's so nice to have someone do the design for you! Candice has done a ot of work in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas. Just take a look at some of these other beautiful designs of hers:
Lovely, right? Now I definitely know who to call to help me with my jungle! If you need some help with your landscape design, call Candice Price Garden Design! And make sure to follow her on facebook to see her current projects. Seriously- you'll be thrilled you did! How do YOU go about planning your landscaping? Have you ever considered incorporating your indoor style in your outside design?PS. We were not compensated for this post! We just like to share local talent with you when we get the chance.: )
So you already know we love pallets! You've seen our pallet wall, our other pallet wall pallet shelves, and actually right now we're using pallets in an episode of Knock It Off!
Funny story, after we first posted Callen's bedroom and the pallet wall, we got an email from someone asking for tips and directions on how they could build an entire home from pallets- haha! We have to draw the line somewhere people! Anyhow, this past spring I was wrapping up my projects for the Trend Trio from P&G and I decided I'd try my hand at a super simple Pallet Planter. I know this isn't super original nor complicated, but our P&G audience is way different than hard core DIY blog readers like you! (wink) So, if you want a quick and easy project for summer- this is just for you!
And since this was originally done for P&G, it's actually a video! You'll get to see how I made my pallet garden and you'll have to deal with hearing me talk about some P&G products that I actually love. Ha!
See, it was super easy and looks pretty cute too! Since the early spring, (you can tell it was like March beacuse I was white as a ghost in that video) I've moved the planter out back on the patio, swapped out the plants and now it's colorful and fun! Here's a peek at some of the other living stuff going on, on my patio!
Monday, I'm super excited to share one more gardening project with you- We're growing potatoes and it's so fun!! Make sure you check back because it's a project the kids will LOVE too!!
Have you ever noticed how incredibly expensive planters are? For about $40 I could get one itty bitty planter, that's not even cute. No thanks. I decided I would DIY planters that would work perfectly with my new painted door and rockin' house numbers. I didn't want anything to frilly, or girly. I wanted my style inside my house, reflected on the outside too! This project cost me $20 each, was incredibly simple, and totally fits my style.
Here's What you'll need to DIY your own color block, tiered planters: Plastic planters (mine were from Target) 2 colors of spray paint 1 color of latex paint Dirt, Mulch, Plants, Etc. I started with these plain Jane planters from Target (find them here). You can't really tell how big they are, but they're pretty big (I can't wrap my arms around the top of the large one- I tried, so that gives you an idea and a weird mental picture. Sorry about that!) They cost $7 for the medium and $13 for the extra large.
The first step was to spray paint the middle color. I used Valspar's grey primer because I love the color.
You don't need to worry about the top or bottom at all. Just get a nice, even coat on the middle. I did two light coats on mine.
I painted the top color block with the same color I recently used on my front door. I'm a bit obsessed with it. I didn't need to tape for a clean line, because the planter had a lip that I was able to use as a guide. Also, make sure you paint down pretty far on the inside. I'm assuming your house guests will be taller than the planters, so they'll get a peek down inside.
The next step, made this DIYer do the dance of joy (remember Perfect Strangers?) because it saved me so much time! I used a paint can opener to pop the bottom of the planters. I'll warn you, it will sound like you're breaking them, but you're not! They'll pop right back on when you're done painting them.
Taking the bottom off, meant no need for tape or cutting in. Just spray paint the bottom whatever color you'd like. This was my little work station (aka messy garage).
Put the pieces all together and you're left with cool, color block planters.
They're nice like that, but I wanted to take it up a notch! I wanted some height, so I stacked them up. I didn't do any permanent attaching or anything, just fill the bottom with dirt, plant your flowers, add the next planter, and repeat. Again, remember the angle people will see them from when they walk in… mulch is a must. No one wants to see this…
I used white wave petunias on the bottom and a boxwood on top.
Here was my porch a few weeks ago. It was a sad situation… trust me, I know!
Take a look now! I think it's just a tad more welcoming don't you?
For a grand total of $40 and less than an hour, I got two color block, tiered planters that perfectly match my style and house colors. (You can see the door and house numbers Here) Now… if only I can keep the plants alive… What do you think of my DIY Planter Upcycle?
**Since my mom loved my planters, she kind of hinted around to wanting one of her own. Here's what she got for Mother's Day! Black and Red to match her house!
