Messy Messy Fail - Too much laundry. It's everywhere. Someone save me.
Tidy Victory - Just finished baking 4 pans of Hello Dolly Bars (recipe coming shortly) - easy and SO tasty! Our local Youth Symphony that I serve on the board of directors for had our Spring Gala Concert for which the board hosts a reception for the students and families afterwards. We each baked a sweet treat to share and this was my donation. I just love baking, even on beautiful warm spring days!
Summer will be here before we know it, and with summer comes one of my favorite types of outdoor decorations - hanging flower baskets!
I love how a beautiful basket can brighten up our outdoor living space - we typically hang a few on our deck and two on the front of the house.
A couple of years ago I started experimenting with making my own. We have plenty of greenhouses in our area with your standard baskets - geraniums, million bells, begonias, etc. They are quite beautiful and colorful, however, more recently I've become more interested in the mixed baskets, and not necessarily with just flowers but greens and other plants.
One thing that I had read and thought was crazy - using a diaper in the base of your planting container to help retain moisture. It's always gross dumping the baskets at the end of the season - a decomposing black saturated diaper comes rolling out - but it really does the trick from keeping the baskets from drying out. Sometimes it gets so dry and hot in the sun where my baskets are they have to be watered twice a day. But a diaper in the base certainly did the trick.
I am also a believer in plant food now - once a week the baskets get a dose of MiracleGro Bloom Booster. Keeps them blooming all summer long.
As I have been planning my baskets for this year - which my husband has finally agreed to letting me plant the baskets on the deck by myself - I've been searching the internet for some inspiration. I want to have baskets with trailing greens this year, I think it really lends to a more romantic/shabby chic look (if that makes sense!).
Check out these pictures I found online, I'm totally getting inspired:
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| Sweet Potato Vine with Million Bells |
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| Petunias, Double Geraniums and Lobelia |
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| Potato Vine, Caladium and Begonia |
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| Petunias, Million Bells and a possibly Potato Vine |
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| Creeping Jenny (love!), Petunia and some Lobelia |
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| Different colors of Potato Vines and Begonias |
I hope you are inspired to start your planting planning! What are your ideas for this summer?
Katie
