The Alley's Alley Garden

So, apparently I'm back into gardening. I've created another new bed at the back of our house, where there is a sidewalk leading to our english ampitheatre patio. My neighbor artfully coined my new bed - The Alley's Alley. (I guess it is an alley of sorts.)

We started with foundation plantings of Kleim's Hardy Gardenia's - I wanted something evergreen, but also I wanted some flowers to see, smell and pick. (Klein's Hardy has a rounded form, growing to 4 feet. The flowers are single, ivory and very fragrant. The foliage is lustrous green. It also has good cold hardiness.)

Then I came back with some purple coneflower and russian sage And I found this great zinc piece in my shed during a spring cleaning exercise. And found those beautiful sunflowers to fill it! Happy Summer!

Fabulous Finds Fridays...Rustic Teak Containers!

I LOVE these teak containers that I saw at the Arbor in Southside this week. And they were an amazing price - $130! I loved the steel banding and the delicate bands of teak.

 Just makes me want to start a new container garden!

Also on their website, I found a few other finds....could just see myself sipping a glass of wine and visiting with a neighbor at this table.

And you see see their selection of fine stone urs and pedestals.

Happy Gardening!

No Man's Land

Have you ever wondered what to do with the property between your house and your neighbor's house? 

What's mine and what's yours? 

Right about now, I was wishing that I had a better picture of the 'before'. Basically our "in between area" was filled with leggy, shrubby, ugly plants - lots of it being Rose of Sharon. It may sound pretty and look pretty when its in a pot at Home Depot, but it is an entirely different beast. (No I wasn't the one that planted it.) It self-seeds - meaning...they are coming up everywhere. I can't tell you how many plants I pulled up the day I cleared the area.

 

Some time ago, my neighbor and I had talked about making a path between our houses (we are dog sitting buds and often go back and forth between each others houses). And all of a sudden, one Sunday afternoon I found my self clearing out and making room. After the initial demo, in which I unearthed some rocks - I created a border along my driveway and the bed. Next I added the oak leaf hydrangeas and then the hostas and impatiens. I also hand some left-over slate to create a make-shift pathway until we decided on a material.

Once I got the ball rolling, the neighbor decided to add some more to the bed and remove some more shrubs. (and in all honesty she was probably waiting on me to do something, since my side probably looked worse beforehand.) She marked them and I approved and now we have a flowering peach tree in the back corner and some limelight hydrangeas. In her planting...she uncovered more stone...so we've decided to use those for the path.Now, just to find time to level the ground underneath.

I've added more to my side too...so stay tuned for more pictures and the growth of our new proud shared space! Happy Planting!

Shoe Flower Arrangement

I was asked to do an arrangement for the grand opening of Gus Mayer's shoe department at the Summit. Our inspiration was a wire high heel...see how I combined these three containers to make a beautiful spring arrangement.

Step One: Double line the moss container with a garbage bag and fill with a few packing peanuts (for drainage) and fill wih potting soil.

 

Step Two: Cut oasis block to the size of the shoe. Any sort of knife will just cut right through it. And secure the shoe to the oasis with u-shaped wire pins.

Step Three: Place the shoe in the middle of the moss planter. Line the shoe with sheet moss to fill the wire form.

Step Four: Begin adding live plants. I selected ferns, tulips and hyacinths. I selected certain areas of the container to plant - so the shoe would still be seen from certain points of view.

Step Five: I then begin adding some cut plants/flowers that I placed in floral water tubes. I kept the stems cut low, so they would just be a ground cover around the remainder of the base planter.

Step Six: Begin adding flowers in floral water tubes to the high heel as well. And then secure and cover with  sheet moss.

Step Seven: Cut the extra liner back and tuck into the planter. Then begin adding mood moss to finish off around the flowers and cover any oasis that is showing. {Note: Its best to wet the mood moss first and then squeeze it like a sponge. It cleans it and makes it more pliable to work with and mold around plantings.}

Step Eight: I then finished of the moss planter or shoe box with a pretty blue ribbon and attached with pearl tipped pins. The shoe department has sky blue accents, so I wanted to pull that into the compostion.

Step Nine: I then used the same method of planting the wire handbag. I lined it with moss and filled with potting soil and peanuts. Wrapped the handle in the blue ribbon and placed some of the pink spray roses in the floral water tubes.

Step Ten: I've added a white primrose the the handbag and also lined the outer edge of the high heel with satin white ribbon to highlight the lines of the shoe. As well as a sassy bow to the heel in the sky blue

ribbon. 

And Voila!!!

A wire shoe rising from a beautifully flowered shoe box with a coordinating handbag!

 Hope you'll go by and see the new Gus Mayer, as well as my arrangement!