Dress Up Your Doorstep

It’s mid-summer and if you like to do a little yard work as relaxing destressing do-it-yourself therapy like I do, you might be at a loss right now.

I spent a lot of time in the yard earlier in the summer. I had to re-plant some patchy grass and refresh the piles and piles of red cedar mulch that was looking faded and compressed. Hint- don’t use the red mulch! It fades to a pinkish orange by spring, and has to be replaced. I added some hostas in bare areas and planted a few pansies. I re-filled the big urns at the end of the sidewalk with marigolds and ivy that now overflows the edges quite nicely.

Now my lawn looks good, the grass has taken hold and matured, the weeds are at bay and the hostas that the previous owner planted have grown to full size and blossomed. Everything is in a nice full growth holding pattern and we have had enough rain so I have not even had to go out and water. So what the heck am I going to do for fun puttering in the yard? I rode my bike around town a few weeks ago and got some great ideas for dressing up the doorstep. Then I took myself right down to the local thrift store to look for containers for plants. Yes, I could have gone to the local garden store, but why pay full price for average looking pots?

Honestly, I must have 30 pots in the basement that I can pull out if I’m looking for plain pots. No, I went off in search of the unusual containers to fill with flowers. I found a variety of baskets at the thrift store, each large enough to hold a pot of flowers. I also purchased a medium sized framed mirror, a big ceramic statue of a dolphin, and a adorable little wicker dresser.

Next I went to the garden store and bought bedding plants, in colors to correspond with and contrast the trim on the house, and potting soil. I took my car full of fun stuff home and got to it. I pulled the dresser drawers partway out and filled them with potting soil and added plants, the tallest ones in the bottom most drawer, the ivy in the top so it can cascade down the front of the tiny dresser.

I took the rest of the bedding plants, put them in pots and plopped them into baskets. I arranged them on the door step, small baskets on the steps leading up to the porch, then off to the side on the porch the dresser with mirror above it on the wall and dolphin sitting on it with a small potted plant beside. This project took a weekend and came out looking fantastic!

Grace Ryan - musingsofmymeanderingmind.blogspot.com - is a contributing author of Jetfly Blog

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