Saturday, June 27, 2015

Five on Friday

If I get this post finished with photos and published and linked ... well I guess you could call that just short of a miracle ;) It's been a mixed up, busy week, what with the end of school here, and schedules seem to all be up in the air!

And of course, since it's beautiful weather, I've been spending more hours outdoors than in. Good thing my sister came for a visit this week, which forced me to give the house a thorough cleaning. I'm linking up with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday. I won't bother showing you my tidy house, but I will show you some things outside. I hope I'm not boring you all to tears with my gardening posts ... actually today I've tossed in a few non-flower items :)

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One
I've seen this fun project all over Pinterest (and after a bit of searching, I think this is the original link which has a full tutorial). It's a simple project of a Heart of Stone ... basically stones held in a heart-shaped wire frame. And since I have "a few" rocks lying around, I couldn't wait to put one together! I made this with an old clothes hanger and some chicken wire. The chicken wire was a bit more of a struggle to work with than I thought it would be, but I finally wrangled it into this ...


The weight of the rocks made the chicken wire sag down, so I'll have to fill up the top of the heart again. If you do this yourself, be sure to leave yourself lots of extra chicken wire around the edges.

Two  
Remember the fairy houses from little tree stumps I was hoping to make up? Didn't get to that yet, but fairy houses were on my mind, so I did pick up this little birdhouse at the thrift store. I probably paid too much for it when I laid down two toonies, and when I got it home I wasn't that thrilled with it. It's going to get a paint job, but for now I've just set it in among the plant pots.



Three  
I picked up this tin planter at the thrift store as well. I planted Red Creeping Thyme in it ... oh, and a rock! I've been thinking of planting some of this thyme on a small hill beside our driveway, but I'm a little concerned that it will creep right into my neighbour's perfect weed-free-mown-every-other-day-watered-daily lawn! We're not on the best of terms, so part of me wants to do this just to see if the thyme would actually creep into his lawn (heh heh). The nice part of me thinks that's a bit mean. Because I can't make a decision if my life depended on it, I popped it into this planter for now to see if it will spread quickly. It's not done much in the week that I've had it ... I'm a bit impatient ;)



Four
You may remember me picking up a "Welcome" sign at the thrift store recently as well. I wanted to spray paint it since the original grey colour was a bit worn off. I did paint it, and if you look at the bottom three images, I'm going to let you guess as to which colour I used! Which colour do you think gives this little sign the best welcome?


Five
And now for a couple of "before and after" shots of things doing well in the gardens. I wouldn't show you my failures ... but trust me, there are some heartaches out there! This is the window box we planted on the garden shed. I water it regularly, and we've had some torrential downpours in the past few weeks, so it gets lots of water. When I was at Stricklands Perennial Farm, the owner there told us that petunias welcome a bit of shade, rather than full sun all day long. This box is in shade until about 1:00 p.m., and then it's full sun till around 8:00 p.m. It seems to be working. There is also some lobelia and a sweet potato vine in there (practically hidden by petunias).

Left: freshly planted
Right: after three weeks
The next shots are of my transplanted hostas under our pine tree. I first placed a ring of rocks around the base of the pine tree so that I could rake up the brown needles and have them all looking pretty there with the rocks. Then I remembered seeing a nice shady garden years ago that had a tall pine tree and huge hostas underneath it. I admired that look a lot! I decided two years ago to finally go ahead with making a hosta bed underneath the pine. I split my favourite hosta enough to be able to ring the tree with small cuttings. The first year I did this, the hosta looked fairly dismal, and I wasn't sure if it was going to survive. This spot is shaded until about 1:00 p.m. as well, and then it's full sun. This year they finally have filled in very well, and I'm happy with the look. I really want to get some of those dusty blue coloured hosta, and I will do that very soon ... maybe there will be sales at the garden centre soon!

Left: Ring of rocks with pine needles
Middle: First year of planting
Right: This year ... 2 summers later and looking good!

And that's my five! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! Ours has turned overcast and cool ... giving me a chance to be on the computer without feeling too guilty! 
Thanks for stopping by and
Happy Gardening!

Wendy








13 comments:

  1. Hello, I have to start with the bottom two images of the clematis, just beautiful! I like how your heart turned, what a cute idea. Your window box looks lovely. Beautiful blooms. Lovely post, enjoy your weekend!

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  2. I love all the before and afters!!!! Everything is doing so well. I think that you might need to give the thyme a little bit longer to start creeping though!! Love Love Love Love Love the heart!!!! That is wonderful and keeps your precious and beloved rocks safe!!! Thank you so much for joining in. I hope that you are having a great weekend!! xx

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  3. That clematis is amazing what a beautiful colour!, your window box is doing so well it looks lovely and I love the heart. The birdhouse and planter are great too I hope your thyme starts creeping really soon in your neighbor's direction ha ha have a great weekend Wendy xx

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  4. Hi Wendy, I enjoyed your five on Friday today! I love your plants and flowers. Enjoy the weekend and next week!

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  5. Oh, I just loved seeing all the little areas of your garden! beautiful flowers! I love the planted you put the thyme in. Just love thyme! Wonderful post!

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  6. Your neighbor sounds very anal. I've never understood when people think everything in their yard and garden has to be absolutely perfectly manicured. What some people think of as weeds are prized in other parts of the world. That birdhouse you bought is nice and actually looks good right were you plopped it down. And the hostas underneath the pine tree do brighten up that area. Green just seems to do that. Have a great day. Tammy PS Love the wired heart rock piece, too. I collect hearts and rocks (usually for crochet). :)

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  7. I love your 'heart of stone" Wendy. I am such a big collector of rocks that it is pathetic. What a great project this would be for some of my rock collection. We are going to Hawaii in a couple of weeks and think I will collect some rocks from there to make my daughter one of these. Also your ?? Clematis is beautiful.

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  8. I love all five Wendy. The heart of stone is such a great idea. Yours looks fantastic. Your planter and flowers are gorgeous. You are one talented lady! X

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  9. Beautiful......beautiful...beautiful. My sister-in-law has a cottage on Lake Erie and she collects hearts that have been shaped into hearts by the waves of nature. They are all over her cottage. Your clamatis are stunning. Have a great weekend. Raining her in Bridgenorth....hope you are missing it over there. Cheers, Beckie

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  10. Five wonderful things! I love your gardening posts. Today I learned also a useful expression in English: "weed-free-mown-every-other-day-watered-daily". I have had neighbours with gardens like that. To be fair, I must admit however, that despite their attitude towards gardening they were nice people. :)
    Have a lovely new week!

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  11. Yes, a cool and rainy weekend for us although up north they've had good weather.
    I like the rock heart and I know what it's like to work with chicken wire - so a great job on it! As for the welcome stepping stone, I'd choose the green painted one - what colour did you end up with?
    The clematis is gorgeous, a deep red not often seen.
    I've taken advantage of the weather to get some computer work done and can say I'm finally on top of things!

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  12. The stone heart is just beautiful! I can imagine it with the rain on and the different greys coming through. A beautiful five to look at, especially on a very hot and humid evening here. Looking forward to Autumn!! xx

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  13. Definitely not bored with your gardening posts. Your Heart of Stone looks fab, glorious petunias and wonderful clematis. Thank you for sharing. x

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Thanks so much for leaving a comment, it's nice to know when you've stopped by! :)

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