Customer service & planting

Alright, let me give you the background on this story, bear with me. Last year, after looking through their catalogs for quite some time I finally placed my first order with Ballard Designs.

I was pleased with everything I got, including this cute boot tray, which is quite functional during the Chicago Winters and frankly Fall and Spring too! It's a perfect place for my worn-almost-daily Hunter wellies to reside as well as snowy Uggs.

Anyway, by the end of the season last year, my "rust resistant" tray was in fact, quite rusty. So much so that I didn't even want to set it out again this year, it looked awful. I finally took the time to call Ballard about it. They took my information down and said a product specialist would call me back. I just got the call from a specialist this morning and with hardly any questions asked she said they would be shipping me a new one!  Now, that's customer service. I am so happy and I have a newfound love for Ballard Designs!

One of the many things I have my eye on in the catalog are these outdoor planters. I have done comparison shopping and these seem to be priced very reasonably. I think they work well with the look of our building too, very classic.

These would be a replacement for the two identical planters we used to have in front of my greystone building. One cracked and all last season we were a little off symmetry. I don't think they had been planted in for quite some time either (no green thumbs in the building I guess) so last year I planted in our one pot and it looked great, but to have two matching ones again would be awesome! OK, now that I look at this picture I am kind of embarrassed by how dinky the flowers look! This was in June, but you should have seen that pot by August, it was flourishing! Honestly, the geraniums were huge and that sweet potato vine was trailing the ground.

                                                                Little bro and me, June 2009

I'll have to take some pictures again this summer when we once again have two and they are in full bloom. Sigh, summer. Let's take a moment and reflect on how awesome it will be when it's that time of year again. :) All this talk of planting is getting me so pumped up to map out what I can do this year on my back deck and out front, the backyard, everywhere!