Blooms

Summer has SUDDENLY arrived in Texas so that means 100+ degree temps and lots of dying plants and grass. A lot of my annuals are starting to wither away, but other plants are fighting to stay alive. I went ahead and snapped some pics just in case they die off in the next few weeks... #blackthumb

We planted some Russian Sage flanking our garage doors last weekend and I cannot believe we waited so long to figure this out. I think they look great against our house colors and I can't wait for them to get big and bushy! They are supposed to be drought tolerant and perennials...we'll see. 

Our big pecan trees are full and green, too!

My hydrangea are turning colors...this one has been green for a while, but I'm thinking its going to turn pink eventually. See the pink on the edges? They change colors depending on the soil acidity and there is a house down the street that has a bunch of pink hydrangea, so I'm thinking that's what we are in for. Can't wait for them to make up their mind!

I relocated all of my petunias to the back where they get more sun. They should be annuals (right?) but as long as I give them plenty of water, they are happy! Also, #patternmixing. :)

I love green onions but we don't seem to use them fast enough and they go bad. Here's a tip - stick the roots in water and they will grow! I had them cut down all the way to the blue sticker, so everything else is growth. Love this tip!

..and this is my bloom failure. I picked this orchid up from TJ's for $5 a couple months back. It did fine and was independent for a good 45 days but suddenly it shriveled up and the flowers died. The bottom still looks alive so I just chopped off the flowers and moved it to the windowsill. Crossing my fingers it comes back! Any orchid experts out there want to chime in?

Fresh flowers, as usual. :) I picked these up for $1.49 at Kroger on Saturday. LOVE!

We have ivy surrounding our house, and it has decided to start taking over this flowerbed. I'm totally OK with it right here since it's bare anyway, but should I be concerned about it popping up all over our back lawn? 

Everywhere. 

I hope some of these blooms stay alive into next winter. I love lush, green plants!

Sucker for succulents

I hope everyone had a wonderful three-day weekend honoring and remembering those who have served our country! 

I had a well-balanced weekend and I feel refreshed to start this four-day week!

Today, since I've given you lots of updates on our outdoor plants, I thought I should share some updates on indoor plants. Spring and summer make me want to embrace living plants and the green and color that accompany the seasons, so I've gotten plant-happy both inside and outside my home. 

Mark's sister and her family gave us two little succulents planted in mason jars for housewarming gifts back in July. Unfortunately the smaller one succumbed to my black thumb but this one has been THRIVING! It has almost outgrown the jar but it's a constant reminder of my ability to keep it alive. I love the little "home sweet home" flag Andrea added and it's currently sitting on our coffee bar next to this cute Van Gogh quote print. 

Recently, I saw an image on Pinterest using more mason jars and teacups for succulents and I had a light bulb moment. I have a ton of mason jars (don't all bloggers?) and figured I could spare a few to feed my succulent habit.

I picked up these little guys at home depot for about $3 each and they live on my kitchen window sill. They make me happy every day!

Pink cacti are the best cacti.

They add even more happiness to my backyard view.

I chose to plant another little guy (my mom called it hen and chicks or something like that?) in this teacup that my aunt gave me when I was little. The china pattern is "Diana" and I've held onto it forever. It's super dainty and sweet but I felt so bad for not using it since I don't drink tea or coffee.

I found the perfect solution!

This little lady brings lots of life and joy to the shelf in our living room.

Do you have any living plants around your house? I'm convinced they have secret powers and just make the house feel better. 

Have a great week!

The one where we plant a tree

I got the sweetest gift from Mark - he promised to buy and plant a tree in our backyard! That was on our anniversary...6 months ago. SO the time finally came that I dragged him out of the house and down the street to Home Depot to "get me my tree, dangit!"

Yep, I forced him to pose at Home Depot. I then made him turn in his man card.

I'm not sure why he was so worried about how we would get it home...

I swear, I'm going to have like 2 total pictures of my kids...but I'll have a million of that time we planted a tree!

After a small amount of research, we decided to go with an "autumn blaze" maple tree. I crack up every time I say the name, but it's supposed to have 'exceptional' fall color which was basically my #1 requirement for my tree.

Breaking ground!

I touched the top of the tree and said "goodbye! grow tall and strong!" 

I'm so weird.

I was very helpful.

Motley LOVES her new tree! It's like a sister to her.

SO I REALLY wanted to get a picture in front of our tree and continue documenting it on our anniversary to see how it grows. Easier said than done, my friends. Check out our little photobomber...

She is insane. Anyway, here we are on day 1 of our tree journey! I'm so excited to watch it grow!

Phase 1 yard overhaul

Mark and I have been discussing our plans for our landscaping recently. It's definitely been at the front of our minds, because after I put in about 2 hours of yard work on Sunday after lunch (details later), Mark was ready at 5:30 to head to Home Depot and start what I'll call "phase 1" of the process. 

This is what we've been living with:

We have a LOT in store like ripping out concrete, changing the flower bed shapes, laying in a path, putting down a patio, and building a pergola. But for Sunday night, here's what we accomplished:

We started by clearing out the ground cover that was in the bed to the right of our back doors.

We picked up four common boxwoods at Home Depot as well as 8 bags of cypress mulch and 18 7x7" stone pavers.

This side of the yard is the bane of our existence. TOTAL overhaul coming soon!

First, I planted the boxwoods while Mark leveled the area under the kitchen window.

We want a dedicated place for the grill out of the way and off of the 1960's sidewalk, so we laid down pavers with about 1" of space in between.

I took a break for photos, clearly. ;)

...and Mark posed for a Home Depot plug. (not sponsored, but wish we were!)

After everything was planted and set, I filled in the pavers with as much fine dirt as I could. We were winging this, so we might come back with sand to really set the stones, but so far this has worked. Then, Mark laid down the mulch.

Details, people!

And there she is!

Y'all, this is SUCH an improvement to what we had. 

SIDE NOTE: Yes, the beds look really bare right now, but only because we went quickly to Home Depot to grab the boxwoods. They didn't have the rest of the planting I wanted, so we will go to a nursery soon to get the rest of the items. In the meantime, we have a dog that likes to get muddy and dig in mud, so we wanted to make sure we mulched the freshly dug up beds to deter that. Soon this will be lush with flowers and grasses. :)

I really can't believe we got all of this done AND went to the store in 2 hours. I can't wait to see what our yard looks like in a couple months! Get ready, it's landscaping season!

...I'm SO sore...