Hey all! How was your weekend? We took a last minute trip to IKEA (probably what will be our last trip out to that one -- our local store will be done this fall!), had some fun with friends and our son had a basketball game (with a win!). I really wanted to get the tile started in the bathroom but it was just so beautiful yesterday so we ended up working outside all afternoon and evening.
This is by far my least thrifty time of the year. The temps go up and I can't wait to get started adding flowers to the flower beds and pots. I still haven't found a way to save on buying annuals. I do have a few tricks I use that I'll go over here but overall adding flowers every spring is always an investment!
Thankfully they stay through October so I get my money out of them! :) I don't add a TON of annual flowers -- I try to plant flowering perennials like hydrangeas and roses to add color to our landscaping. That way you're spending the money once and the color comes back year after year.
But I'm a total sucker for the petunia. I add them all over the place in the spring:
I added up that I planted about 85 petunias yesterday! Wow. You do save if you buy them in bulk, so the flats of any plant will save you some money.
As you can see I planted the hanging baskets around our pergola. Baskets with flowers flowing out of them were my dream when we had this space in mind years ago. :) I love petunias -- they fill in so beautifully and end up spilling out of them. There are "wave" petunias that do this even more than the regular versions. But both fill in a pot or the flower beds nicely.
I've used red and purple four our flowers for years now. I always go back to this combo, with some white thrown in at times. It is so bright and looks great with our house and deck:
We have a tiny little porch out front but I always try to make the best of it each season! We had our front steps extended years ago and having the wider steps is the BEST! Now I can put my plants on there and not worry about them getting in the way:
I picked a new welcome mat a few weeks ago to replace our worn out one and it's one of those little things that makes the entry so welcoming. :)
I splurged on the planters here -- although I think to get them this full I actually would have spent more on numerous smaller plants. I like these to be big and full so I just used a hanging basket and plopped them inside the basket. I didn't even replant them...easy peasy. :) If you don't want a lot of color, ferns are a great option that really fill in the pots nicely and they aren't that expensive.
On our other baskets around the pergola I didn't need them to be quite as full (because it will fill in later) so I find it cheaper to plant them myself instead of using hanging displays that are already planted.
We had the beds mulched last week (not a job we do because we just need SO much of it) and it makes everything look and feel (but not smell 😆) so fresh! I added some color to the front beds with some more of the purple and red petunias:
I added groups of them in a few spots along the front and they will fill in over the next couple of weeks nicely. I love the green, red and purple against the dark mulch. Yesterday I planted nearly 100 petunias, five hanging planters and six pots! The nice thing is I'm pretty much done for the next five months or so.
You can see how I added that little detail on the garage a few years ago here. I still love it!!:
My husband mowed, edged and got to the weeds while I planted. My finishing touch was to put the flag back up. Want to instantly make your home exterior feel more homey?
Add a flag!:
Now I want to change out the DIY spring wreath with some red and purple flowers instead of the white and yellow. Thankfully it's super easy to change them out -- be sure to check out that post to see how to do it!
I love this time of year! Fall is my absolute favorite season but spring is catching up! The weather has been so wonderful and everything feels so fresh and new. :)
Do you plant a lot of annuals every year? What are your favorites? I love petunias because I feel like you get more bang for your buck. They grow and fill in so well and end up much bigger than when you planted them.
from
http://www.thriftydecorchick.com/2017/04/adding-some-color-outside-when-im-not.html
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