I’m sick and tired of these outdoor posts too…let’s grumble about it together. there are a lot more coming too. dang that katie bower.
But first, let me tell you about the recent updates we did as we get ready for my sister’s outdoor wedding. Cue the doves! (nice segway huh!?)
Six months ago the back of our house looked like this:
And then in April, we looked like this (after I dug up some plants in the woods and transplanted them to be around the deck steps):
Kinda like the Invisible Man – it’s not much to look at, eh?
On the far left hand side of the patio, I put in some gardenias. I got them for $2.50 a piece at Walmart. They were clearanced out because they looked like death was knocking on their front door. But being the Risky McRiskerson that I am, I shelled out the $7.50 and brought them home. Jer looked at me like I was plumb crazy when I asked him to put them in the ground. He said (and I quote) “Why are we planting dead things?” To which Risky McRiskerson answered “They are our Love Gardenias”. Name that movie. I am pretty sure my darling boyfriend then mumbled something about our love being dead. and then planted them anyway 🙂
I actually used those wire thingies you see over on the ground next to the shovel to ‘prop’ them up. And after several months of nursing, they finally were greened up and were strong enough to remove the support system and let them join the rest of the backyard plant community. I am sure that I yelled RUN FORREST RUN! when I took them out.
And as you can see, we had to weedwack in between all the bushes because there was no way that the mower would fit. We also had a bit of an issue with weeds popping up through our pinestraw that was laid out underneath the steps. Can you see them popping up under there?
Enter OPERATION WEED FREEDOM.
It took Boots and Jeremy a few hours to rake back all the pine straw and lay down some fabric weed barrier. Which yes, costs a pretty penny, but it would save me HOURS every week from pulling weeds…so in my mind, that could be woven from solid gold thread and I would still purchase it.
While we were at it (yup I use the phrase ‘we’ loosely – although I was definitely hard at work taking photos of their progress!), I also batted my eyelashes at the boys to do something about this area:
While we had already laid the pine straw, it didn’t prevent anything from growing…including poison ivy and small trees and a weed of every variety.
So the boys went at it again, raking and tacking down more landscape fabric.
After we raked everything back in place, it looked just like it did before under the roses….but I knew that it was gonna be lifechanging. literally. I was squeezing the life out of those dag-gum weeds.
And I don’t know how but I managed to convince them to also dig a trench and put in a brick border. I must be some kind of mind-control genius and not even know it.
We found a bunch of bricks creating a border to the woods (aka FREE BRICKS)…and personally I don’t need a border to the woods…some people might…like if they were trying to keep out very, very small animals that don’t jump, burrow or crawl…but not me. So I carried a pile up and I think it helped encourage the boys to put them in place. A little pine straw spreading later – it looked like this:
And yes, I did spread the pine straw….three cheers for getting off my hiney and doing some work! That probably burned off like that entire 5 lb bag of M&M’s, right!?
Before & Afters:
In other outdoor news, we also upgraded the ferns. A few months ago I scored these $3 ferns and $5 hooks.
Well, being a cheapskate worked in my favor again. I held out buying these hanging baskets because they were sooo expensive during the summer (I mean they are baskets and they don’t come with bacon people!)….and then during a recent Walmart run, I saw some peeking out of the clearance rack near the garden center (I like to check out in the garden center because I’m a weirdo. Even when it’s on the other side of the universe and I have melting ice cream in my buggy.) Anyhoo – these puppies were only $2.50 a piece (75% off)…
I loved them so much I also bought the matching deck baskets. Eight of them (they were $5 each)
We are planning on using them for the wedding, so that will be nice. The only thing is – do you guys know of a white flowering plant that is good for full sun that will bloom constantly if I buy them now? Petunias? Mums? We want them to be nice for the big day…annuals or perennials…we aren’t picky…
Oh and look what I found hanging out in the fern:
I looked up what Praying Mantis represents – because I do believe that God puts certain animals in our lives at different times…and color me surprised when I saw that a lot of people say that the Mantis is a good symbol of inner stillness, balance, tranquility…and I found it very encouraging that they represent the fact that we need to block out distractions to listen to that small voice inside (I call this voice the Holy Spirit)…
Isn’t that ironic? That at such a hectic time (16 days and counting till we hear wedding bells) that I find just the little creature to say slow down and breath?! What a blessing…almost like when you realize that you have 2 lbs of bacon left vs. only 1.
So there you have it folks – some of our outdoor updates. Stay tuned – there are tons more to come. I might have to blog three times a day to squeeze it all in. And there goes the inner peace right out the window…
Your improvements may seem small now, but they will come in handy later! Keep the updates coming! I love to hear about home improvements, particularly landscaping.
I agree with your view that God puts things in our path! Love this post. The updates look great!
Things are looking really good. If you can find them, the white wave petunias might treat you right in that time frame with a little Miracle Grow and constant watering. We have also been planting Barcopa around the base of tall plants in our big pots. They have a smaller leaf and flowers, but they are really pretty when they get going. Good luck on those deck baskets!
I agree about God putting things in our path.
BTW-The females eat the males after mating. So, this might be why you are getting your way so much around that place with your laborers. Can you smell the fear? hee hee…
Our love fern, Benny Boo Boo Boo Boo Boo!
Well I for one am loving the outdoor posts! Great job! And I like the addition of the bricks along the outside of the beds, too!
Haha that’s what I was thinking, too!
how to lose a guy in 10 days. adorable. Kate being Kate. But am I alone in thinking her hair looked terribly dry in that movie?
You’re so funny Katie…the yard looks great!
You should plant vincas. They do really well in dry soil, and full-to-partial sun. We’ve had them in our window boxes, and they’ve bloomed all summer.
Looks gorgeous. Small steps, but you can really see the impact in those side-by-side pictures! Petunias or impatients might be the way to go. Not sure what your weather is like out there, but here in SoCal I’d definitely go with the Impatients.
Katie: I’ve been in your shoes on the whole white flowers for a wedding. I would recommend, white vinca flower http://www.flowers.vg/flowers/vinca-maroon-white.htm(don't confuse with vinca vine),
white petunia’s http://www.naturehills.com/product/easy_wave_white_petunia.aspx. If you can find the ‘wave’ variety they produce the most blooms.
I would add in some greenery, variated liropehttp://www.mrjacksfarm.com/dnn/Perennials/Liriopes/Variegated/tabid/210/Default.aspx would look nice.
The problem you are going to run into is that the garden centers are about out of summer flowers!
However in the fall snapdragons are good (and they come in white). http://www.weststarfarm.com/snapdragons%20(rocket)%20white.htm
Also love white pansies http://www.flickr.com/photos/bslavin/2514099439/
For fun…some of the fall lettuces, would look great mixed in your containers. Good luck…use lots of fertilizer for maximum blooms!
Love the “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” reference- classic!
Great updates! I love that you rounded out the corners on the brick edging…so simple, but what a nice looks vs. squared off. Maybe “fake” flowers for the deck…? I hate to put that out there, but the artificial ones have come a long way and could look really nice, and as a plus be “stress” free! : ) Good Luck with everything!!
Hmm… I would go with either white impatiens or mums. The impatiens wouldn’t have enough time to fill out, so you could go with smaller mums and space them out (if your sisters wedding is fall-y especially). Alyssum would also be very pretty for a wedding (it’s lacy and delicate).
Take some time for Katie! Put Will down for a nap, make some hot tea, and take a deep breath. Your inner peace will come. Remember Psalm 46:10 “He says, Be still, and know that I am God.”
Casa Bower is looking good! Love the love fern reference : )
I’m not sure if you’re into geraniums, but they are usually pretty cheap and bloom all the time (come in white). They are also pretty hardy and can with-stand a lot of crazy weather changes/patterns. I’m sure whatever you choose will look great; your style is flawless.
The movie… How to Loose a Guy in Ten Days… I love telling my husband (who I to tell to run since his name is legit Forrest!) how I love him… but I don’t have to like him at the moment…great movie lol. Your backyard is looking great! Good luck with the wedding!
I second the vote for vincas- they’re surprisingly hardy and grow quickly!
Be careful with the landscaping fabric! We bought our house last year and the previous homeowner told us all about the weed preventer she’d had her son in law put in the year before. Turns out that the weeds still grow UNDER the fabric and they grow strong and healthy. Like the poison ivy that has been the bane of my existence. I hope it works out better for you than it did for us!
Huge improvement…and I love the outdoor posts…keep ’em coming!
I’m loving all the outdoor posts too Katie. The little garden bed you’ve created out there is looking fab (and no more worries with the weed whacker or mower between those gardenias!) Keep those outdoor posts coming 🙂
Keep up the good work Katie! It will all be worth it in the end. We held our wedding reception on my Mum & Dad’s farm only 12 months after they moved in and people are still talking about what a magical day it was 2 years later 🙂
I would try impatients. I love these posts! 😉
The movie is How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days! I’m so proud of you guys nursing your own “love ferns!”
Love how the outside is coming together. Can’t wait to see pics from the wedding.
The movie is How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days! I’m so proud of you guys nursing your own “love ferns!”
Love how the outside is coming together. Can’t wait to see pics from the wedding.
This is sort of random, but I saw you have the same baby swing hanging on your back porch that we just bought. Could you explain how you hung it? Thanks so much!
You could do some kind of green plants and stick in some fresh white flowers the day of the wedding.
I too was going to say Vincas ~ I LOVE them and they love the heat and the sun. Just make sure you water them daily. Wave Petunias are good also.
You did a great job ~ it’s amazing what just a lil bit of sprucing up will make. I just got done with a lil pathway….and I’m proud to say I did it all by myself. And….. I drive a VW Bug…..ha! I made lots of trips to Home Depot for mulch, bags of calico rock and liriope (sp). I got the bricks free from my neighbor behind me….but I had to haul them over in my wheelbarrow. Landscaping is hard work ~ but VERY rewarding.
I love your outside work/posts too!! xo
Impatients need shade.
Petunias should be good in the baskets if you can still find them down there. I love the look of the pine straw — I was it was sold up here in MN (well, it might be at the fancy-shmancy garden centers but since i’m on a home depot budget….).
I would try impatiens or pansies. Yes, impatiens do better in partial shade, but they can also do well in full sun – you just have to be very diligent about watering them, and fertilize them once a week. Your yard is looking so good!
We bought a length of chain and a large lag eye screw…just predrilled the hole in the support beam of our deck and then screwed in the screw…the rest was history 🙂
xo – kb
Haha! I’m like that biology teacher in that episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer 🙂 Oh was I the only one that watched every episode of that movie? awkward.
xo – kb
Actually I’m wondering what you actually do. Other than hang pictures. My DH does A LOT, but if I bought small flowers or plants and asked him to plant them, he’d look at me like I was crazy. If I bought something large, he’d take care of it. These posts seem lazy to me. And no, taking pics is not a job….you probably should’ve been helping him plant!
My mom has a big 5 ft round pot in her front yard where they get sun all day. Keep them well watered and they do great!
Watching an active one year old is a job in itself! I love that you give Will so much of your attention….and besides you did pitch in and help spreading the mulch and carrying the bricks for the border! You’re lucky to have a husband who enjoys home improvement and making your house a home…keep up the good work Katie and Jeremy.
If you can’t find any white flowers to plant maybe you could make some sort of vase out of aluminum foil and fill it with cut flowers like baby’s breath, daisies, roses from the floral departments of a local grocery store. I don’t know what the climate is by you but around here the only thing in bloom will be mums.
oh sarah…oh sarah sarah sarah. You are right. I do nothing except hang pictures…and even then, there’s only a couple actually up. I’m off to eat bon bons and have my toddler son serve me a margarita….while I take a picture 🙂
xo – kb
Love the improvements, and love the outdoor posts! 🙂
We have vincas in our beds – love them! You might be able to find some (or something else in white) at a local nursery that will work that are of a good size already. Or, drive around your neighborhood and plan who you can “borrow” some from for a few days. They’ll never notice, right? 😉
Pull a Stifler and make it happen! 🙂
That was a pretty snarky comment Sarah! Katie does plenty of home improvement projects! It seems to me she does a lot for the inside of their home and her husband does a lot for the outside. Sounds like a nice balance to me!
Petunias or impatients are good if they are still available but impatients hate sun. Mine literally screamed and got all splotchy when I put them in the front yard for a day. Mums would probably be the way to go now so they can transition for fall. We’re already getting cold weather (ugh!) in the Northeast so our garden centers are all mums. Mums usually come in big containers rather than 6 packs like annuals so they might be difficult to put in the deck baskets. You could separate a large container but taking care not to kill the plant too much!
I’m not tired of the outdoor posts (but that’s probably because I’m dreaming of when we one day have a backyard/land of our own). The backyard is looking great!
PS – when I was younger, my mom told me that seeing a Praying Mantis was good luck. Not sure if that’s actually true but I like to think it is. 🙂
Second that on the vincas–you can get them at home depot or lowes and they’ve done really well in our yard and our planters here in Chattanooga. (And we were not the most vigilant waterers in this dry summer)
Is that straw stuff like mulch? Is there benefits over mulch? Never have seen that used before. Oh, and we love us some good weed block =) Makes life much much easier.
Ouch Sarah! Did you miss the post a few weeks back about how she was having a difficult time adjusting to the new house because it didn’t feel like it was her “home”??? It’s a huge adjustment to go from a house that is completley yours, to a huge shell that you have to start all over on. Katie will do just fine!
And at our house, the hubby mainly takes care of the landscaping stuff while I’m tending to the kiddos, cooking dinner, running erands and what not.
The night before my wedding I was going back to my hotel room after the rehearsal dinner was over and their was a praying mantis on my door.I never knew what it meant or represented but knew it meant something special.
Brilliant..it’s the little things done that make it a home!!!! Keep it up Katie. I so enjoy your posts as they are hilarious!! Your boy is adorable too. I must say…I look forward daily to your posts!
B.
Hi Katie:
Just wanted to say that the outside is looking brilliant. Love the improvements. Keep up the good work.
Look forward to your posts daily and they are always so hilarious/ You have quite the sense of humor.
And…I am sure that no one has told you this…..that little boy is so handsome (I want to say cute but need to be politically correct.) A real keeper.
As for a post on this blog….you should have used stronger words to SARAH….who does she think she is?
A HUGE FAN.
B.
I always thought that too!! I thought I was the only one!
I’m LOVING these outdoor posts! You are giving me so many ideas for our super-ugly front yard. Ideas that we can actually afford! Can’t do a huge overhaul, but trimming out some areas in brick that I found in our shed and adding some new plants is totally doable!
It’s looking good back there! I love the outdoor posts. I have wonderful ideas for decorating my house, but I’m lost when it comes to outside. I like the ideas.
I just wanted to mention the problem I had with baskets like that (with the straw like bottom). Mine were horrible about holding water for the plant. So I had to water super often or in my case forget and the plant would die. My grandmother suggested buying the plastic plates that are supposed to go under planters, but putting it in the bottom before planting something else. I know you’ve already planted, but I would really make sure to water them a lot. Just my experience.
Oh and don’t let Sarah’s comment bother you. Has she read any of your posts? My husband handles most of our outside projects as well.
Loving how the Bower outdoor updates are looking! I am so pumped to see the wedding posts! Your sis is blessed to have such a welcoming, comfortable, and personal wedding venue! Also, thank you for loving Jesus and “saying so” — Psalm 107:2 “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whiom he has redeemed from trouble…”
My husband and I bought a love fern when we were dating and our cat ate it. Not sure what that symbolism was supposed to mean… 😉 We even played that song “Feels Like Home” from How to Lose a Guy in 10 days at our wedding. LOVE that movie!
Thank you for being willing to share about your faith in your posts. I love how God uses little teachable moments in our lives like a preying mantis to remind us about Himself.
I also vote for Vincas, they like hot weather in addition to everything else Lauren said above. They spread a bit, have a shallow root system and are great for containers.
I remember what it was like to be home with a 1 year old, running constantly and caring for my child with no breaks. Katie never mentions the mountains of laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, dishes and everything else that comes with running a household – those things that make ME exhausted. And I wasn’t running a photography business, a successful blog, doing house projects, throwing bridal showers or hosting an important wedding. I think she has plenty to do all day and I admire her for everything she does. Hey Katie! I’ve got margaritas mixed up and just made a fresh batch of Bon bons…come on over! 🙂
good response here and good job little momma. you’re doing just fine.
It’s pine needles from pine trees 🙂 It falls in autumn and we get TONS of it. The straw doesn’t look as good as mulch (in my opinion) not that it looks bad – just different. And it can be more acidic than mulch when it breaks down – so you have to be careful using it around certain sensitive plants but in general the cost is the main benefit – you can get a bale for $3 here which covers about $10 worth of mulched area…so you can save a bundle 🙂
xo – kb
I agree about the landscaping fabric. It isn’t as great as you think it will be. The weeds also grow on top of it!
Oh heavens – I hate to hear that…but already I have noticed a marked difference. Did you have soil on top of yours? We only staked ours and then threw down the straw so maybe that helps…who knows?!
xo – kb
We learned the hard way to that weeds grow on top of the fabric too. Someone told me there are different grades of the fabric so maybe that was our problem, (we bought some cheapy stuff). But we covered our with cedar mulch so it could be that too. You may hve good luck with the pine needles. In my old house I had one garden under a pine tree and the pine needles created a beautiful ‘carpet of mulch’ that kept the weeds at bay and I didn’t even have fabric down.
Same here Katie, I used the fabric with just pine straw on top an the little weed monsters will crawl up the puncture holes beside the stakes & around the cut outs for your bushes and plants. My problem has been from crabgrass and other strange southern weeds that invades “down here”! I also have weeds growing on top of the fabric. Hopefully you’ll have better luck, there a whole lot of area to weed around your house!