At Home: Garden Sanctuary

The joys of summer...I have been busy making numerous updates to our home.  A little paint and rearranging does a world of good.  I am so inspired by color, particularly all those vibrant pops I am seeing on all the design blogs and in magazines.  I will have updates to share soon, but for today, I am focusing on the outside.

We spend a great deal of time outdoors in the summer.  I love to entertain and have cookouts.  Our yard is pretty well established, but I made some changes and additions this year.

First, the view you see when you walk into our gate.

This part of the garden is full of hostas and lily of the valley plants.  I had a big whole right in the center where my dog trampled so I filled it with astilbe and zebra grass.  I added that white flowering plant to the left side this  year to give the beds some movement.

Our shed, which is one of my favorite features about the yard.  Lots of daylilies and hostas.  I have a ton of hostas that grow along the side of my house, on the other side of that fence.  I split them each year and transplant to other areas in my yard.  Don't be afraid to split your plants and use them in other places.

This is a new bed.  We had four large Burning Bushes here that went out of control.  They were too overgrown so last year, we chopped them down to nothing.  The plan was to pull the stumps out.  Lo and behold, they started to grow back this year.  I am going to try to keep them in this bed, but prune them regularly.   I really want a cottage garden feel so I planted a variety of plants close together.  It is mostly a shade garden so it limits my creativity.  I went with liriope, ferns, astilbe, coral bells and more grasses.  I can't wait to see how this grows in a year.  I will then figure out what color to add or maybe put some height in near the wrought iron stand.  If you have any suggestions for good shade plants, let me know!

I planted my flower boxes on my shed.  I like to mix in geraniums and some kind of hanging plant like ivy or licorice plant.

My brother in law had some extra shutters from their house and was planning to throw them out.  I asked for  two of them and also asked him to make me a potting table using a third.  For now, I have the shutters leaned up in a corner with a little vignette of garden things in front of them.  I will share the table soon...it is a stunner.

This is the view from my front door.  I added in some color this year with purples and pinks...although they are not lost by my blooming daylilies and black eyed susans.  Ribbon grass grows all along the side of the driveway.

This WAS my front porch decor.  Very classy and pretty.  Remember that obsession I am having with color?  I decided to punch it up a bit.  The little table was rusting a bit so I decided to spray paint it.  Here is what it looks like now.

I went with a Valspar spray paint called Exotic Seas.  I bought it at Lowes.  I am so in love that I am now bringing the color to some furniture in the back of the house.  To tie the bright table and the chair in together, I found this bright seat cushion at Walmart....for $5.00.  In all, this upgrade cost me only $9.00.

Upgrades using inexpensive plants, replants from your own yard, a little paint and some bargain shopping make your house a sanctuary.