Why I Oughta...

Nat had our two front porch containers (the long, galvanized one and the round white pottery one) done by a professional.  And they look MUCH better than they do when we do them ourselves.    Yesterday, I shared a couple of photos of our large nursery pot of Mums , but on the other side of the front door, the containers - along with a BIG white pumpkin - look like this - photo below. There are a couple of LARGE cabbages/kales in the containers and one of the things I picked up (another pro-tip) is that the professional 'tipped' the cabbages/kales forward in the planter.  They're NOT planted straight up/down in the container.  Rather, they're planted on an angle - so the head of the cabbage or kale - faces up-and-out.  Very, very, very clever.   Here, below, is a 'profile view' of the galvanized container plantings.  Note how the cabbage is tilted forward or pitched forward.

I came across this TikTok where this professional gardener was talking about a shade container she was putting together and it caught my attention.  It features a long, rectangular container that is very similar to the one we have our on front porch .  I've tried that container a number of ways and have never been thrilled with it over the years.   Carmen Johnston Gardens shows a dead-simple approach: @carmenjohnstongardens Party ready for the SHADE ♬ original sound - Carmen Johnston Here's a screenshot from that very TikTok (in case it disappears and the embed stops working: Source Now...I won't do the blue hydrangeas.  But, the simplicity of a large fern in the middle, flanked by white begonias on either end and the white Caladiums in front seem like something we could do.  Add some sort of cascading item to replace the hydrangeas and we have a winner.    

Nothing like a deadline to get you to fill your containers, right?  We were hosting a little Easter party earlier this month and that meant that Nat wanted our front porch container full of something.  What's that something this time of year?  Normally...pansies.   Like these:  When I was at the orange big box store, I also saw something more interesting:  ranunculus.  In a spectrum of colors including orange, red, yellow and pink.   I was, naturally, drawn to the orange ones.  Here's how things ended up:  12 pansy plugs in purple (let's call it blue, ok??) and six five-dollar ranunculus interplanted.   Last Summer, I went with pink and green .  

 I haven't an update on our standing Mickey Mouse Creeping Fig Vine (stuffed) topiary in a while.  Last September, I showed the (then) current state with the vine doing well and overtaking even more of the frame .  Creeping Fig vine is a tropical, so I had a little trouble navigating Winter with it being inside where it is very dry here in Northern Illinois.   With Summer here, I wanted to show the new growth that has occurred since we moved it outside earlier this year.  This year, it is living (for now) on our front porch.  See below for the current state: There are a number of new shoots that need to be pinned down, but I think it is plain to see that - overall - this topiary is progressing in terms of coverage.   I mean...compare the photo above with the one in THIS POST from less than 13 months ago .  Big change.  My plan is to get out there soon and pin down the new shoots and try to cover even more of the frame before we have to bring it in at the end of the season.

That (above) is our front porch seasonal flower container for Summer 2022.   Earlier this Spring, we planted this long, rectangular container with pansies that were cold-hardy.  Last month, I finally got around to planting this with Summer annuals.    Last year, we went with a more bold and wild container , so this year, I went a little more subdued.   I don't love pink flowers in my garden, but when I was the Big Box nursery, I found a few pink things that I thought might work in our front porch box.  This is a pretty shady spot - it gets a tiny bit of morning sun, but is in the shade for 98% of the day.  What's in here?  First...there are a pair of Fiber Optic grasses.  I dug those out of the back patio container since they were being swallowed up by the Petunias .  They won't be missed.   Then there's a purple Sweet Potato vine, some simple shade Begonias and pink Polka Dot plants.   All the containers are below. The Polka Dot plants are something that I've wante

I moved our Staghorn Fern outside recently.  I came across it on a lower rack at Home Depot for $10 back in late Winter/early Spring and brought it home.   It was potted in a plastic nursery pot and packed in a mix of soil and what seemed like Sphagnum Moss.  I looked around the Web and most everybody talks about how you can *mount* these ferns to boards and treat them like air plants.  There are a few places that talk about keeping them in containers, but it seems like having them mounted is the pro-move here.   Our fern is happy.  Slow-growing, but happy.  If you look at the very top of this post, you'll see some of the fronds have grown much longer than they were this Spring AND (this is important), the one droop'ing frond on the left seems to be the first frond with the sort-of antler-looking edges.  That's exciting to see. But, back to mounting....I really don't want to mount it.  At least for now.  I worry about watering it. Do I take it off the wall every few w

 I don't think I've posted photos of our front porch container in the past here on the blog.  We've done a mix over the years of DIY and even one year Nat had a pro fill our container.  This year, I went to the big box nursery and picked out some shade-loving plants to use including a big, dramatic fern on the left.  Along with some coleus, a purple sweet potato vine and (although they're hard to see, they're there) a few peach-colored Rex Begonias.    The Coleus is putting on a nice show and the vine is beginning to spill out a bit as the container hits its stride in the end of July.   I don't seem to have taken a photo of the tag for the fern, but I think it is a Cinnamon Fern.    Here's a look at the flowers before we planted them below.  The watermelon-striped plant and the Rex Begonias - which were the stunners pre-planting that you see below have been somewhat swallowed-up by everything else. Our front porch gets some early morning sun, then is in deep