Archives For -Containers & Window Boxes

terrain-xmas3

I know I am a little late  in the season but I thought everyone could use a little eye candy, in between the last minute hustle and bustle!  I stopped by Terrain last week to take a quick look after a meeting. The weather was absolutely terrible but it was still beautiful. My favorite thing had to be these succulent topiary trees. I’m not sure exactly how they are constructed (may be with florist foam?) but they are certainly beautiful and I love the muted color range.

terrain-xmas1Their terrariums are always great. I liked that they had added bits of holiday decorations to them including pine cones, holly sprigs and in this case a small faux bird.

terrain-xmas5

The outside was full of Christmas trees and amazing winter containers. When I see these containers I always think that I need to plant some holly. Of course by spring I always forget. Maybe this is the year I will remember.

terrain-xmas6I love the texture of this planter. The birch branches paired with eucalyptus, red twig dogwood, and some evergreens.

In case you would like to see the previous years at Terrain, here is 2012 and 2011.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! I will be back Monday with this year’s holiday card.

Garden Inspiration

September 9, 2013

garden-september01
Did I mention that we live in the jungle? It didn’t start out that way but thanks to the SUPER wet summer and my lack of weeding and trimming, it is really feeling like we live in our own little jungle. Last Monday alone with got over 6″ of rain in less than 2 hours. It was pretty crazy! A store less than a mile from here had 5′ of water in their parking lot! Apparently it made the national news.

garden-september02

I have been remiss in actually taking very many photos of the garden, largely to avoid the ravenous mosquito population. Although with the slightly cooler weather I am starting to get the gardening itch again. While I don’t have a lot to show from here, I thought I would show you a few beautiful containers from Terrain for inspiration.

SK-Hibiscus-DiscoBall

Hard Hibiscus, var. Disco Ball

While taking a peak at the garden in the last week I realize that I have lost quite a few perennials to mold and rot. You would have thought this would have been a good year for new perennials to take with consistently moist ground, but the water was too much for some of them! Our neighbors actually lost several street trees to disease related to the water.

Native Honeysuckle

Native Honeysuckle

Our Native Honeysuckle has over taken the back deck. We have been reluctant to cut it back because the hummingbirds LOVE IT. In fact we had a whole family spend their summer here, including a pair of babies. We never did manage to get a good photo, but it was so amazing to see them. It is about time for them to migrate, so we should be able to clear a better path to the backyard soon.

Joe Pye Weed and Coneflowers

Our Joe Pye Weed is just finishing blooming. It is such a pretty flower and the butterflies LOVE IT. I highly recommend Little Joe if you have a smaller garden.

terrain-summer2

Terrain always has amazing planters. They do such a nice job of mixing perennials, annuals and tender perennials (i.e. ones you can bring inside in the winter). I love this aqua planter.

terrain-summer3

This planter makes good use of several grasses (I really love the Japanese Blood Grass). Eventually these would outgrow their pots, but you could plant them like this for a summer and then move them to the ground in the fall. The succulents/sedums used here could be left in the pot over winter. I have started doing this in several of my planters with pretty good success.

terrain-summer4

Several varieties of saliva looks stunning in this urn. Of course saliva only blooms for about 3 weeks, so you would probably have to change it out, although it is another perennial, so you could just stick it in the ground after the pretty purple flowers have faded.

terrain-summer5

Finally this stunning mix with the planter surrounded by grasses and annuals is right up my alley. The tall Hardy Hibiscus look great in the background (although in reality they enjoy a wet, almost boggy soil and wouldn’t do well in a pot if left to dry out).

We also made a trip out to Yellow Springs Plant Nursery and Goat Farm on Sunday. I will show you what I picked out soon.

What is still doing well in your garden?

containergarden1-scottarboretum

Things are  a little crazy around here. The air conditioning ducts are being installed around the house and we are frantically trying to keep going on the Master Bedroom closets. I am trying to decide if I can squeeze an Ikea trip in this week. Meanwhile  I am still working on planting some of my finds from this year’s Scott Arboretum Plant Exchange. So while the chaos continues I thought I would show you some of the beautiful container plantings that I have been admiring. Because who can’t use a little gardening eye candy!

springplanter-terrain1

On Mother’s Day we managed to make a quick trip over to Terrain (which was filled with well dressed mothers who were busy dining and shopping inside). Of course I was outside, checking out the plants. I did pick up a couple of interesting perennials but my favorite thing about visiting Terrain are their interesting plant combinations. I like the mix of perennials, annuals and even small shrubs and vegetables. This mix helps to keep the cost down and actually extends the season. In this amazing undulating planter above they have mixed a small grass with succulents, ground cover and a few annuals. I also like the addition of the small pebbles.

springlogplanter-terrain2

The show stopper were a pair of GIANT logs. This picture really isn’t doing it justice, but the carved out logs were stunning (and about 6′ long). I would imagine you would need a backhoe to get it into place, but it was really unexpected. Here they have actually planted some colorful lettuce w/ moss, ground cover and a few flowers. I’m not sure over the long term whether all of these plants would do well in the same amount of sunlight, but it was pretty cool.

scottarboretum-kids

After our little excursion we stopped over at Scott Arboretum to say ‘hi’ to the fish and so I could admire some of their amazing grounds.

containergarden4-scottarboretum

In the front of their building they have quite a few containers in part shade. They have used a lot of perennials and they have done a beautiful job of picking ones with amazing texture and color. Above this coral bell (heuchera) had a silvery purple leaf. It was paired with a succulent and a small pine.

containergarden3-scottarboretum

Another similar planter with more heuchera and a couple of blue pansy thrown in for added color.

containergarden2-scottarboretum

This really makes me want to rethink some of my containers. Granted, both of these places have the advantage of greenhouses and staff to replace plants on a whim, but I will keep plugging away here. I like the idea of using small shrubs for a season and then putting them in the ground in the fall.