SEEKING FLOWER BED ADVICE

I need a little help today with my front flower beds. 

Our front beds had been neglected for a loooong time, like I'm embarrassed to say how long, so I won't, but when we suddenly had the never-ending Spring Break, we got after it! We pulled out a gazillion weeds, cut back bushes, washed the front windows, even trenched part of the bed. When it was finally cleaned out and spruced up, we spread 25 bags of mulch. (I can still smell it.) :)

What we didn't do, was plant anything. It was such a task to clean it up, we decided not to plant anything until the fall. And as you know, fall is fast approaching. So I'm hoping those of you who are gardeners can help me figure out what to plant in one part of the bed.

This is the front right corner of our house, in front of our garage. In this shot, the brick isn't washed yet and all the new mulch isn't in. But it's cleaned up, and waiting for something pretty to be planted, preferably something that blooms that I could cut from each year. 

Because of the path of the sun, this area gets no morning sun. It stays shaded, depending on the time of the year, until lunch time or after. Then it gets full sun for a few hours. Our trees are really tall, so most of this spot and our drive is in full shade by late afternoon, say around 4 or 5 o'clock, give or take an hour or so, again depending on the time of year. The sun moves from the back left corner to the front right corner, diagonally over the house. Years ago there were azalea bushes here, and they did really well. I'm open to any suggestions, but I would love it to be low maintenance. The depth is around 3 - 4 feet from the house to the monkey grass. 

Okay, it's your turn! 

I'm hoping those of you with more expertise than me can help a girl out. 

You could email your suggestions to woodbanklane@gmail.com, or you can leave a comment below. If you've never commented before, here's a quick explanation.

Look for this at the bottom of the post:

 

Click on "No comments" or there may be a number if someone has already commented. It would look like this, "4 comments."

Then you can choose how you want to leave your comment. You can use a Google account or you can comment anonymously, which is the easiest, and sign your name or not! That's it. 

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Kathryn

A PRETTY MAT FOR GREETING GUESTS

Hello, Friends!

I hope this post finds you all well and safe and at home. I know for most of us, this new normal has taken some time to get used to, but I've decided the slower pace is not all bad. 

One of the areas in my home I've worked on during the stay-at-home order is our front porch. Like I try to do most springs, I scrubbed down the door and trim with soapy water to get rid of the pollen and bug debris, and I probably used a half a bottle of Windex to clean the windows. I'm always blown away by how nasty it gets out there during the year-yuck.

For the summer look on the porch, I try to buy ferns from the baseball players at my high school, and I get the flowers for my front porch from our special needs students. They are AMAZING! and their teachers are, too. The students have their own green house and grow the prettiest geraniums. The only thing I didn't have was the welcome mat. Of course I had to rely on Amazon to help me finish up, because: stay home. 

This inexpensive little beauty was the ideal choice. The size is perfect, and the vibrant color really shows up well. I loved it even more than I expected to when it slid out of the box. Not only is it inexpensive and great quality, but it comes in so many good colors. 

Aqua // Black // Red // Navy // Yellow // Blue // Gray

Aqua

Black

Red

Navy

Yellow

Blue

Gray

For some reason the price varies by color, but they are all around 20$. I hope you see one you like!!

And finally, a few more shots of our finished porch. The photos are tricky because the lighting is so strange thanks to the track of the sun. Lots of crazy shadows, but you'll get the idea. :-)

Thanks for stopping by WBL. As always, I hope you find a little inspiration and smile a time or two while you're here.

Kathryn

Woodbank Lane receives a small commission on purchases made from links in this post. 

IT SNOWED! COME TAKE A LOOK

I had not planned on posting until next week, but we had a snow day--I mean a real snow day! The sky opened up and let fall enough snow to cover us up.

INSPIRING OUTDOOR SPACES

I didn't spend much time on my outdoor spaces this summer. But I've seen some really pretty inspiring photos here and there from others who did. Sharing a few of my favorites today. You may see something you like, too...