Sunday, October 16, 2011

in clover: time for a change

My summer plantings are growing a bit tired.  Glorious fall will come and go far too quickly for my taste but I can't resist a bit of a makeover by the back door, even if it's shortlived.

A few of the summer annuals and herbs are still thriving in the windowboxes by my back door but as the temperature grows brisk outside, I find the pinks and purples I favor in summer no longer please me. 

After removing dead or near dead annuals, I am left with this....



I have a hard time disposing of any living plant so I relocated the geraniums from the windowboxes to other pots and moved the green planters and ferns to the hen garden. 

I find it both exciting and intimidating...the initial confrontation with a (nearly) clean slate.

I don't like to spend a lot of money on a short term seasonal planting so I do my best to use what I already have and simply fill in the blank spots. I was very pleased to find these pots of cheerful violas at a local gardening center. They were quite reasonably priced to begin with...and they were marked down to half off! 




There was parsley and basil elsewhere in the garden still doing fairly well so I distributed them evenly in the boxes.  They give a nice, green backdrop.  Then I spent some time experimenting, using things I already had. 

It's fun to take a fresh look at things in use elsewhere in my house or garden and things stored.  Sometimes I even find an old favorite I have completely forgotten about! Sometimes things find their way to me....




This rusty planter is actually a vintage cheese mold.  I bought it in England from a moving sale at Cotswold museum.  When that container arrived in Ky, a friend purchased the cheese mold and it lived with her for several years.  This summer, when she decided to make room for some new things, she offered it back to me.  (Thank you, friend!) 

I plopped it under the dogwood tree out back but have been longing to try it as a planter.  The pansies and violas that I chose will soon plump up and fill out and I think it will look really cute.  That's the thing about growing things....you have to give them a little time to grow!  In the meantime, I find the planter itself very interesting and pleasing and the rustiness of it is a nice contrast to the bright orange and yellows of the flowers.

With the cheesemold serving as my inspiration, I set off in search of more rusty loveliness. 


I "stole" this pot from the outdoor dining table. I added the handle-less rusty garden tools to the pot earlier in the summer so it was ready to go.   



The rusty clock face and garden hose nozzles were already sitting by the back door.  I found the rusty rake head on my potting bench. 



Basil grew happily in this wire market basket all summer (just line with moss to plant a basket).  I moved it from the hen garden and filled the bare spaces with violas.  The blue French enamel body pitcher went from the steps to the tabletop.   19 (a french enamel house number) lived in the hen garden this summer but now adds a pop of cobalt blue to my fall vignette. 

I put the rest of the violas in the window boxes and other pots and after an hour or so of playing with my toys, I had this....


It is entirely possible that tomorrow I will re-rearrange but for now, I am happy with this. 


The back door no longer feels tired.  I can see little pops of orange just over the top of the monitor while I work and we also enjoy the windowboxes from our dining room. 




Happy Fall, ya'll.

Lisa

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