How to Create an Easy Spring Flower Planter

It's finally Spring in Michigan! Hopefully it is where you are too. I'm always so anxious to plant flowers after a long, cold Winter. I put together a simple planter on our front porch -- it's been so nice looking out and seeing pretty pinks and yellows!
I always get inspiration from the planters that are professionally done. I used to love taking pictures of them in Chicago. You can see the 2011 Spring Sidewalk Planters here if you're looking for good ideas or look here for 2010 inspiration!

To fill any kind of planter, whether for Spring, Summer or Fall, I loosely use a type of "formula".  (1) You'll want large, "showy" base flowers that are the main flowers in the planter and add height to the back (2) Fillers, usually less expensive than your large base flowers, these add nice color and are small enough to fill in the open areas (3) Trailer, this will spill over the sides and fronts of your planter and add a nice effect (4) Last, you might add some very tall branches or a spike plant for a nice visual effect

For this Spring planter, since I'm in Michigan I selected hardy plants that can handle a little chill. The larger plants are Ranunculus, I love these! And a pretty pink Primrose. When you are selecting a Ranunculus plant, be sure to get one with lots of fresh buds that haven't bloomed yet. What you see is what you get with these flowers, unlike a pansy, for instance, they will not grow any new blooms so you want a plant that has plenty of new flowers left.

I used a very typical Spring flower, Pansies for the fillers and a Vinca vine for the trailer. Ivy is a great hardy option as well. I usually set most of the flowers in the pot and space them out properly to see how the design will work first, then go back and fill in with the dirt and actually plant them.

Almost done!

Last, I added in a few branches just to add some height and visual interest. Mine look a little wild, but I kind of like it! I clipped these from our yard, but if you don't have branches in a yard, you could pick up some great looking fake branches at Michaels.

So happy flowers and warmer weather are finally here! Have you guys done any Spring planting?

Fall Decorating Ideas

With the weather shift in Chicago, I'm definitely thinking Fall now -- even though I am so sad to see my favorite season Summer go. I linked up the Fall planters in the city from the last few years to Southern Hospitality's, It's Fall Y'all Autumn Link Party. Head over there for lots of great Fall decorating ideas. I'm excited to do a new Fall arrangement in my front planters, I'll post pictures soon!

In the meantime, lots of great inspiration on what to plant here:

2011 Fall Planters

2010 Fall Planters

2009 Fall Planters

Blooms: Hydrangeas

Is there anything better than flowers straight from the garden to your table? For the 4 years that I've lived in my building we have been slowly but surely improving our landscaping. Right before I came there was a lot of work done to plant grass in the backyard (in the middle of the city I might add!), then we had trees planted and last fall my dear neighbor Ben went to town filling in with perennials. I've been lovingly fertilizing and taking care of the hydrangeas since -- and it paid off!

 Blue hued hydrangeas in a mason jar.

Happy Thursday! What a looong work week, counting down to Friday over here... Headed back to Michigan for my cousin's wedding tomorrow afternoon! Do you guys have any fun plans for the weekend?

Blooms: Tuberous Begonia

I was potting all my flowers a few weeks ago and was struck by how beautiful this begonia looked. These have always been a favorite of mine for my shady patio. They are just so darn pretty!

This is a variety of Tuberous Begonias, perfect for shade gardening. One thing to note, they need good drainage and like to dry out in between waterings. They are susceptible to rot, so you have to be careful not to over water or you will end up with limp, dead-ish plants (I learned the hard way a few years ago!)

In the garden and made in the USA

Happy Thursday! I'm so excited because it's my Friday today! We have the day off tomorrow at my office (bonus!), so I can't wait to start the long weekend. Heading back to Pure Michigan to spend the weekend with family and get in some nice beach time.

I finally got all my flowers planted this past weekend. Feels good to have that all done and I'm really happy with how everything turned out. One of the best parts of Spring/Summer is getting to pick out gorgeous flowers and plan out my patio! I'll be back with a full tour of the patio and front planters later, but here's a little sneak peek (because I know you guys are on the edge of your seats waiting, ha)

 

And for the Made in America bit, I had been wanting some garden clogs that I could leave on my deck and just slip on when I go out in the backyard. Look what I found at Target! I always love finding Made in America goods unexpectedly at regular stores, these were only $9.99 and so far I'm loving them. You can find them in the garden section at Target or by going to the Sloggers website. 

Hope everyone has a great Holiday weekend! Sounds like it's going to be a steamy one in Chicago and Michigan, bring it on!

Linking up to fellow Chicago Blogger, It All Started with Paint today! She has a great Outdoor party going on, lots of patio and gardening ideas and inspiration.

Blooms: White Hyacinth

Hope everyone's having a good weekend! My only complaint? They always go by way too fast. Trying to soak up as much of these two days as I can. I've been enjoying these flowers this weekend -- I cut some hyacinths from my yard and they were a perfect way to brighten up my living room. It doesn't happen very often, but I love being able to cut fresh flowers from my own yard, talk about cheap decorating! I put them in a bud vase on my coffee table and a little sprig for my bathroom. They smelled great and lasted pretty well inside.

Blooms: Forcing Paperwhites

It's the perfect time of year to plant your paperwhite bulbs! If you plant now you'll have some gorgeous, fragrant blooms in January. It's always so nice to have flowers blooming inside when it's the dead of Winter outside.

Via

If you've never done paperwhite bulbs before, it's really easy. Buy the bulbs at your local garden store, even Home Depot sells them. In Chicago you can also get good ones at Gethsemane Gardens. Find some waterproof containers with no drainage holes in them and add small pebbles (I like to use small, glass vases). Then stick the bulbs about halfway in and add water so that it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Now all you have to do is check the water level periodically and wait for the flowers. I love the way paperwhites smell. They make the whole room smell good!

Here's my bulbs in progress from last year

Chicago Sidewalk Planters: Fall 2011

Hard to believe we're well into Fall again, where did Summer go? Sometimes I don't exactly welcome Fall with open arms like everyone else -- it's too hard for me to let go of Summer! But I do love to check out the Fall colors and what people are putting in their Fall planters outside. I've gathered up a few of my favorites from around the city. There are lots of great ideas in the 2010 edition of Fall planters too!

This planter had eucalyptus in it and smelled so good!

The simple mums and cabbage were my favorite. Love that shade of mums and how it picks up the colors from the cabbage so perfectly.

Gorgeous colors!

So many mums along Michigan Ave --

 

I like the idea of tying corn stalks around the tree trunks from this planter downtown.

And if mums aren't your thing, a nice variety of plants in the pots outside the Omni Hotel. They've used a Jerusalem Cherry plant, which I've been seeing around a lot lately. It adds some great color!

Jerusalem Cherry Plant

Another favorite...

We may not have too many "yards" in Chicago, but we do put together some nice planters! Hope this inspires some Fall planting and decorating of your own!

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Chicago Sidewalk Planters

Fall Planters 2009, 2010

Holiday Planters 2009

Spring Planters 2010

What's Growing in the Front Planters

It's a little late to just be showcasing the summer planters at my place, but better late than never, right? Last year was the first year we had new pots out front of my condo building, you can take a look at what I did then. The planters are from Ballard Designs and I have been really pleased with their quality so far. The only thing messing them up is all the lovely dogs that live in the neighborhood who have found a favorite thing to go to the bathroom on. Not cool.

This year I decided to mix it up and opted for a lush, tropical feel. The big standouts this year are the giant elephant ears. I am in love with them! They add so much height to the pot and I can't get over their huge, gorgeous green leaves.

Do you see those holes in the leaves? I was so heart broken when I came outside after a freak hail-storm and saw they had ripped through the elephant ears, ugh. I've had a few challenges with the pots in July, that's for sure. We had record breaking rains all month, including a crazy 7 inches in one day. Needless to say the pots were flooded and the downpours knocked the elephant ears over. That's my only complaint about the EE's, it's been hard keeping them upright during the storms.

I'm really liking the tropical feel of the mix this year. The Kong Coleus are always beautiful and have grown really well. The pots are in a part shade/part sun area so it can be a challenge finding plants, although even the geraniums last year thrived with not that much sun. It's mostly lush greenery this year and then I added regular impatients and wave petunias.

Totally absent from the pictures are the New Guinea Impatients in each pot in a great coral color. They failed me. Big time. No blooms! What's up with that? I think I've discovered that they like more sun than your typical plant that's billed as a shade lover. Major bummer because I think the coral would have looked great.

Here's the breakdown of what I used in the planters:

I can't decide what I like better, I'm thinking this years...