Some More Curb Appeal

According to HGTV, it's all about the curb appeal. It's been a little over two months since we have lived in our wonderful home and we want it to look like people actually live here, you know?
Our first step was buying these adorable green Adirondack chairs from Lowe's. They're plastic and not wood because people ask like $100+ for wood ones! Crazy! Anyway, that wasn't going to fly and the chairs at Lowe's were not only very comfy but they are recyclable and cheap. If I remember correctly they are $17. After enjoying a couple lazy afternoons soaking up the sun in them we (well I) decided that there needed to be a cute little table in between them. You know, for setting drinks on and having potted plants on!
On one of our three trips to IKEA for our pantry we picked up a cute metal and wood table that fits perfectly in between them. I think that is also when I picked up all the pink pots that sit on top of it. It looked like we were pretty set.

Obviously we still have a long way to go because the entire other side of our deck/patio/porch/whatever you want to call it is barren. However I have really enjoyed container gardening lately and have had pretty decent success since moving in. The plant that I have faithfully carried with me that I received as a gift from the Sunnyslope Parent Club is absolutely flourishing in the house. It sits in the kitchen and doesn't really seem to get a lot of light, but I am pretty sure it has grown at least a few inches and sprouted a ton of new leaves. I get really excited when a new leaf pops out. Anyway, I wanted some more greenery out front, as if everything outside isn't green already.
When we went to the Olympia Farmer's Market a couple weekends ago I picked up a lovely hanging basket packed full of fuschia. I think there are like 3 or 4 different kinds of it on there. It really is a pretty little thing. We're still getting used to each other and I am still learning its wants and needs but it seems to be doing well in its happy little spot on the porch. Now I want more!

Love to all!

My Thumb Is Getting Greener

After my successes with the plant I received as a gift while working at Sunnyslope (1 being keeping it alive for 2 years and 2 being that I transplanted it successfully) I decided that I would try my hand at some other plants. On our most recent trip to IKEA Glenn found these really cute pink buckets/pots and they looked perfect to plant something in. We bought 5 since they were only $1 apiece. Then they sat at home for a while.
Every time we went to Lowe's for some thing or another I would browse through all the pretty plants and wish that I could bring them home with me. I never did though, citing the fact that I didn't know what to plant or that I didn't have potting soil. Strangely enough, I was at a store where I could solve both problems. Go figure. The last time we went to Lowe's there were some really pretty Calla Lilies. I kept eyeballing them and as we were about to leave Glenn just told me to buy them, so I did! I brought the pink beauties home and admired them. Now I had a plant but no potting soil.

We didn't want to buy any potting soil at Lowe's because the city of Tacoma has an awesome program where they compost stuff from the city and mix it in with sawdust and other good for your garden stuff. They call it TAGRO, short for Tacoma Grow. It's really rich and nutrients and it doesn't stink either. Yay!

There is this really cool local garden/nursery in the nearby Proctor district called Garden Sphere that carries Tagro along with plenty of beautiful plants that are ideal for Tacoma. We also took a class about how to keep chickens there - very informative. Anyway, I couldn't resist picking up a couple more plants. After all, I did have 5 pots to fill.
My first choice was a tall salvia plant. They really are beautiful plants with plenty of green leaves and interesting stalks with white and purple flowers on them. They have lots of different varieties, but they do look very similar to lavender. Thankfully they don't have the same negative effects on Glenn as lavender does.
The other plant that I picked up was a vivid pink geranium. I have NEVER seen flowers so bright!!! They're practically neon pink with a lovely dark pink center. I just love their giant dark green leaves that have a tiny bit of fuzz on them. They really look fantastic in the pink pots.

Now all three pots live together outside on the deck. I've been keeping them on the little table in between our green chairs out front. Slowly but surely we are making our house look more like a home.