Outdoor Furniture, Patio Furniture and more!

Today’s guest post comes from Mary Morris from Front Porch Ideas and More.

Front Porch Ideas and More is rich in pictures, porch decorating tips and ideas for wonderful front porch designs.  Mary and her husband Dave love sharing their passion with you.  Enjoy the porch ideas and front porch pictures they have taken during their frequent travels.

Three words describe Southern porches: gracious, sprawling and comfortable. We had the recent pleasure of visiting several charming Southern towns: Charleston, Beaufort and Savannah. My, oh my, the porches. Those delicious Southern porches.

When you see a true Southern porch, you can just picture a charming painted tray with sweet tea, lemon wedges and ginger cookies atop a welcoming table, folks relaxing in rocking chairs and the scent of magnolias in the air.  Southern porches are designed for socializing and relaxing outdoors.  Remember the times when neighbors and families gathered on porches to relax and converse? Southern porches are meant just for that. Even if you don’t live in the South, you can replicate that wonderful appeal on your own front porch.

The side porches you often see on a Southern home are designed to take advantage of cross breezes to cool the home. In fact, side porches often have “front doors” leading to them. When the door is ajar, it is a sign that friends and neighbors are welcome to stop by.

The design of Southern porches is influenced by the distinctive warm-weather climate, so their décor is often open, light and airy – like sheer or silky porch curtains and soft cotton linens. Think of whites and pastel colors punctuated with vibrant accents. A white or buttery yellow porch swing with colorful throw pillows and vases of fresh flowers look right at home on a southern porch.

Ceiling fans are also right at home on Southern porches. Because of the size of the porch, you might see several fans – especially if the porch wraps around the home. And what is a Southern porch without several baskets of lush hanging ferns and planter boxes overflowing with geraniums and petunias. Down home gracious.

Southern porches are hospitable and welcoming: plenty of comfortable chairs, dining tables, and outdoor lamps. Add warmth and personal touches with personal treasures like family photos, vases of fresh flowers, a colorful outdoor rug and baskets of magazines.  In the evening, light candles and turn on lamps for ambiance and into-the-night enjoyment. We liked that even the steps leading to the porches, even porticos, were lined with potted plants or sprawling ivy.

Last but not least, you will see that many of the ceilings on Southern porches are painted a sky blue. Sometimes you will hear the color referred to as “haint blue”. The story goes that a soft blue ceiling reflects the sky and wards off evil spirits. No matter the reason, we found sky blue ceilings to be charming and indicative of being in the friendly South.

What we most love about Southern porches is the pride and love that you can see in them. Decorated for the season, you just know that neighbors gather and families make memories on those glorious spacious porches.

Tags: front porch ideas, Guest Posts, outdoor ceiling fans, southern porches

We have another Mouse and Trowel Award winning blogger today for our guest post! Kylee Baumle gardens in zone 5b in Northwest Ohio and online at Our Little Acre, her award-winning blog. She also does gardening book reviews at Gardening by the Book and is one of The Soil Sisters. When she isn’t gardening or writing about gardening, she works as a dental hygienist in dental research.  She and her husband of 35 years also care for eight cats, seven of which were rescues.

Has gardening become the “thing to do” or is it just me?  No doubt because I’m totally immersed in the world of gardening, both here at Our Little Acre and online, my radar is set to all things that grow, but it seems to me that there are more people out there than ever, taking up gardening as a hobby.

Many have done it as a way to save food money, by growing their own vegetables. Long before I became a serious gardener, we grew sweet corn, green beans, and carrots.  Now that I’m trying to grow 75% of what’s available – just kidding, sort of – my focus has changed a bit, but I still get great satisfaction out of being able to go to my garden and gather food for the table.

But what makes me really happy is to see all the lovely and varied flowers blooming.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Earth laughs in flowers,” and as I walk through my gardens this time of year, the laughter is contagious.

Often I’m asked for advice about what to grow where and while design is not my forte, I have some favorite flowers that are sure things in the garden.  If you’re a beginner, let me share a few of those plants that I consider to be no fuss, no muss growers.

• Gaillardia – You may know it as Blanket Flower.  It’s a daisy-looking native that doesn’t need much to thrive.  Some of the hybrids are quite lovely (‘Oranges and Lemons’, ‘Tokajer’, ‘Golden Goblin’, to name a few), but the basic original is beautiful enough on its own, with its yellow and red petals.  It’s easily grown from seed, but you can find it in your garden center in plant form as well.  It likes full sun and won’t wilt during the hottest part of summer. It’s not picky about soil either. It’s hardy in zones 3-10.

• Daylily (Hemerocallis) – First, let me say that daylilies aren’t true lilies.  They have roots, while lilies come from bulbs. That being said, I don’t know if there can be a flower easier to grow.  As a daylily breeder once told me, “Just dig a hole, throw it in, and cover it with dirt.” It’s just about that simple!  Even though each flower only blooms for a day, the plant has many flowers, so it will be in bloom for quite awhile and some of them rebloom. The variety of daylilies numbers in the thousands, so you’re sure to find one that you like. They’re hardy in zones 3-8.

• Hosta – Need a plant for a shady area? You can’t beat hostas.  They provide color by way of their variegated leaves. Oh, they bloom, too, but the lavender spikes aren’t usually that exciting and once they’ve bloomed, they won’t bloom again until next year.  But that foliage! There are hundreds and hundreds of hostas in all kinds of variations of variegation and sizes ranging for very large to very tiny. Most are suitable for zones 3-9.
• Coneflower (Echinacea) – This is another native for which there is a large assortment of hybrids.  Growing well in a variety of soils and conditions, coneflowers like full sun, and butterflies like coneflowers! They have a daisy look to them and their short-spiked centers feel like plastic!  They grow well in zones 2-10, with some hybrids less cold-hardy.  Check their tags.

• Coreopsis – Also known as tickseed, this perennial has varied foliage forms, from threadlike (‘Moonbeam’) to the more traditional, narrow leaves.  There are some interesting petal forms on coreopsis, too. ‘Jethro Tull’ has tubular gold petals, as does ‘Zamphir.’  Coreopsis can be grown in zones 4-9.

While these are some of the easiest perennials to grow, don’t be afraid to try others, even if you feel like it takes a bit more gardening experience to grow them.  I’ve learned far more from my failures than my successes.  I learn what doesn’t work and many times I also learn why, which helps me in my future plant choices.

Happy gardening!

Can’t get enough?  Check out our post on Kylee’s Our Little Acre Blog!

Tags: gardening, Guest Posts, Perennials

This week’s guest post comes from Lisa Gustavson.  Lisa, head of the Get In The Garden blog, is an avid gardener that loves the joy of watching seeds sprout, the challenge of nurturing seedlings into mature plants, and the blessing of every harvest.  GetInTheGarden.com is a dynamic and holistic blog that delivers everything from updates and articles as well as favorite books, recipes, and projects for your garden and home.  Plus, the always relatable day-to-day adventures of  being a wife, mom to four kids and zookeeper to three pets!  Nominated for the prestigious Mouse and Trowel Awards, Lisa’s GetInTheGarden.com is certainly worth a good, long read…and daily visits back!

The moment has arrived in spring when I step back and observe the new season’s gardens. The spring chores of trimming, weeding, planting and mulching are all but completed and the luxury of enjoying the results of my labor is at hand. While I’m relaxing on the patio, walking the grassy paths and gazing out the windows from inside I picture the inevitable perfect “garden moments” that will come alive through the season. What makes them “perfect?” The answer differs for everyone, but for me there are five “must-haves” for our gardens:

Wildlife. Pastoral sheep and exotic peacocks aside, the high jinks of squirrels and chipmunks romping through beds and leaping across tree tops add a spark of life and fun to our gardens. Robins splashing in the birdbath, finches pecking at seedheads and butterflies and bees flitting and sunning themselves bring life to the garden that plants alone can’t. Providing host plants for butterflies and food sources for birds is one way we attract them. Houses for birds, butterflies and bats is another. Even the smallest garden can have a toad house or roosting pocket for a wildlife friend to find. A garden alive with flora needs fauna to feel complete!

Children. You haven’t truly seen a garden until you’ve experienced it through the eyes of a child. Their fascination in even the smallest scarlet ladybug reveals the hidden, simple wonders we sometimes miss or take for granted as we toil away pruning, watering and tending the beds. Children’s laughter drifting across the garden as they chase  butterflies or their screams at discovering a buzzing bee in a bloom aren’t to be missed! Kids of all ages bring an infectious curiosity and unique energy to our garden that is inspiring! Welcome a few children to your garden for a “tour” or a “taste” of what’s growing. They may just convince their parents to plant a small garden, too.

Ornaments. Every garden needs something that says “I garden here.” It doesn’t have to be rare statuary or expensive urns (unless you prefer those) but something that echoes your personality. Build a trellis from twigs, re-purpose a found item, hand paint a sign or create custom plant labels… something, somewhere in the garden, should reflect you. A garden is an extension of the gardener. Friends, neighbors and visitors often express delight in seeing my personality revealed in our gardens. Whether it be whimsical or refined, silly or sublime…your personal touch is what makes your garden unique from all others. That’s a good thing!

Edibles. Walking into a garden and plucking something fresh to eat is a pleasure everyone should experience! Tuck a few edible flowers, herbs and vegetables into your garden…it isn’t only beautiful it’s also sensible and easy! A wide variety of mini and dwarf-sized vegetables, flowers and herbs are happy growing in pots so not even the smallest garden has to go without fresh vegetables, herbs, berries or even fruit trees!  I use vegetables and herbs as I would other plants in the garden. Shapes, colors, size and fragrance add interest as well as healthy, edible delights to enjoy throughout the season. You’ve made your garden beautiful, why not make it edible as well?

Water. Almost as if on schedule the robins arrive each day at the same time to bathe until all but the last drops of water have been splashed out of the birdbath. Their duties fulfilled, they’ll hop out to fluff and preen in the warm sun until dry while nearby a butterfly alights on puddling dish set in the garden. Warm spring evenings bring the loud trilling of toads from our small pond as they glide across the surface snatching insects from the surface. Water is life for every living thing and providing a source in your garden will reward you with endless opportunities for entertainment and incredible photos!

As spring wears on and summer approaches I’m looking forward to wandering through the garden picking peas or watching our son hunt for toads while we sit and chat with neighbors and friends. The sounds of squirrels scampering up trees, birds chattering, bees humming and wind chimes clinking provide the musical backdrop for sweet garden memories alive with friends, fun and garden magic. Happy gardening!

Read more from Lisa by following her on twitter and reading her blog!

Tags: children, edible gardening, gardening, Guest Posts, outdoor decor, water features, wildlife

This week’s guest post comes from Marcia Blake who is President / Creative Director of Outdoor Interiors, Inc., a design firm specializing in creating outdoor living spaces. Marcia is the Outdoor Couture® Designer, “I Love to Extend the Indoor Ambience – Al Fresco by Adding Uniquely Styled Finishing Touches to an Outdoor Living Space to create your very own Outdoor Paradise.” Outdoor Couture® is a collection of soft goods, outdoor throw blankets, throw pillows, table runners and drapes.

The weather is warming up and it’s time to spend more hours outside. The line between the indoors and outdoors is blurring as you and your guests spill outside from your interior great room. When designing an outdoor living space it is always fun to utilize a touch of indoor style and unify the space by adding outdoor drapes, pillows and rugs to complete the look. You can mix and match chandeliers and old antiques outdoors especially in the outdoor dining areas. Don’t be afraid to select fabric for patio cushions and accessories that reflect the indoor appearance, the use of color, pattern, and texture in fabrics is an excellent way to reflect the indoor space.

Using the interior color as a guide will help you decide whether you want to create an outdoor living space in harmony with the indoors or in contrast to the interior. Whichever way you choose, you will begin with the colors that are currently present in and around your home.

Creating a focal point such as a fountain, fireplace, fire pit, gazebo or pavilion will encourage your friends and family to spend quality time together. Or choose an existing focal point to strategically place some very comfortable deep seating arrangements or a spectacular dining area. Sometimes colorful outdoor art or an outdoor rug is your focal point. If this is the case, utilize the colors found in the artwork or rug to embellish your outdoor room. Select multiple coordinating fabrics and trims for use on the outdoor drapes, pillows and cushions in colors and textures, line the drapes with outdoor sheer fabric so that they look good from both views.

Outdoor Interiors

Outdoor furniture and accessories get their design and color signals from the traditional and fashionable interior décor. This season shades of red are being tossed into the outdoor room. Different hues of orange are spicing up the outdoor spaces while brightening up our mood. Nature inspires the addition of colors in the outdoor room such as tranquil blue, herbal green and cheerful yellow. Look for the hints of turquoise, the 2010 Pantone color of the year.

HomeCrest Divano Collection

If you live near the water, blue will make you feel good, add a bit of chocolate brown, some beige and you will create a tranquil space. In urban areas, yellow and grays are cheering up the outdoors.

Patio Renaissance Odessa Collection

In addition to adding color in the outdoor furnishings and accessories, choose colorful flowering plants to accent containers scattered throughout the outdoor living space. Place these on the dining table, coffee table, next to a club or lounge chair. Accent the outdoors with all different shapes and sizes of colorful outdoor throw pillows and a plush outdoor rug that will finish off the outdoor setting. Umbrellas also come in many sizes, shapes and colors that can coordinate or contrast the outdoor living space.

NorthDape International Tybee Collection

Mix and match materials in these outdoor settings, juxtapose wrought iron with glass, steel with terra cotta, wood against woven components, soft chenille textures and linear lines to get a new twist on an old world style.

Outdoor living is at its best when nature dazzles the eye and nurtures the soul. Create your perfect casual environment outside and enjoy.

Tags: Guest Posts, Marcia Blake, Outdoor Interiors

This week’s guest post comes from famed Billy Goodnick.  Billy Goodnick is a landscape architect, educator, garden writer, TV personality and rock and roll drummer living in the enviable Left Coast paradise of Santa Barbara. His philosophy embraces the idea the every garden should be beautiful, functional and sustainable.

My very first container garden was a water-filled Hellman’s mayonaisse jar topped with a yam impaled on toothpicks. Within a few weeks, a veritable jungle was seeking the sun and enveloping on the kitchen curtains. Nothing succeeds like success.

For some, a container garden might be no more than an out-of-control spud, or a dwarf peach tree and a cloud of sweet alyssum spilling from a half-barrel. For those with more ambition, a container garden starts with a bold burst of exotic plants in flambouyantly glazed pots. Regardless of where you are on the container garden continuum, there are a few concepts and techniques that apply across the board.

Why Containers?

You don’t have to be an apartment dweller with a postage-stamp balcony to appreciate the value of container gardening.

• Flexibility: Container gardens allow you to provide exactly the right kind of soil in each pot, letting you to mix and match plants that you’d never consider putting together in the ground.
• Practicality: Growing plants in pots can satisfy functional as well as aesthetic needs. Use potted plants as a privacy hedge, raise orchids to animate your favorite vase, or start an uban farm with fruit trees, vegetables and herbs. (With any luck, your eggplant will lay a few eggs.)
• Portability: Pots can be moved around for optimal sunlight, or to protect sensitive plants  from the elements. If you live in a harsh winter climate, you can easily move tender plants to a warmer location, then let them out to play in the spring sunshine.
• Splashy: Container gardens make eye-catching focal points, especially when there’s a well-conceived interplay between the features of the plant and the color, texture and form of the vessel. Debra Lee Baldwin’s book, Succulent Container Gardens (Timber Press), serves up dazzling images and a host of design ideas, as well as a clear explanation of design principles that apply to every type of plant and pot combination.

Container Basics

Here are a few basic considerations for container plants:

• With the exception of water-loving bog gardens, a drainage hole at the bottom of the pot is a must. Plants need air in the soil and without a drain hole the planting medium will turn anaerobic, eventually killing the plant. Loosely cover the hole with a rock, broken piece of pottery or wire mesh to keep soil from washing out.
• Right plant / right soil is the rule. Ask a trained professional about the best soil mix for the plants you’ve chosen. You’ll want to know whether the plants prefer a rich, moisture-holding root medium high in leaf mold and sphagnum moss, or in the case of succulents and many Mediterranean varieties, a well-aerated potting mix with lots of sand, pumice or perlite. Do not use soil from your garden, which tends to be too heavy and becomes compacted over time.
• Size matters. Research the mature size of each plant to estimate how big your container should be—plants with lots of biomass above ground produce hefty root systems for water and nutrient uptake.

Simple Math

Thriller + Filler + Spiller = Killer Container Combo. A thriller is an animated, spiky plant that excites the eye with strong vertical lines – think grasses like Miscanthus, heavenly bamboo (Nandina species) or tropically luscious Canna lily. The filler is a mounding plant with interesting foliage or flowers that softens the effect of the thriller, like lavender, felicia daisy or chartreuse-colored Euphorbia characias. You’ve probably figured out spiller, but just in case, these are plants that pour over the rim of the pot, and include ground covers like  succulent-leafed stonecrop, silver dichondra and periwinkle.

Container gardens are usually short-lived. Roots will eventually congest the pot and deplete the nutrients in the soil. Though many plants can be root-pruned and put back in the same container with fresh soil, some gardeners see the inevitable waning of each container garden as an opportunity to dream up new ideas, visit their local nursery and start afresh.

I can just hear you: “Darn, another Saturday morning strolling through my favorite garden center.”

How ever will you cope?

See Billy Goodnick’s design gallery at his website and visit his Cool Green Gardens blog at Fine Gardening.com. His Taking Out the Grass rock ‘n roll music video is at YouTube.com and Garden Wise Guys TV show at SBWater.org.

Tags: container gardening, Guest Posts, Planters

Today we’re featuring Landscape Designer Jenny Peterson for a post featuring her wide expertise on client-directed landscape design.

One of Jenny Peterson's landscape designs featuring a garden bridge

Jenny Peterson and her team have been creating cool gardens in the Austin area since 2001. From elegant courtyards to funky meditation spaces, Jenny’s gardens span the spectrum.   Jenny listens to her clients and brings out their style and taste so their landscape always reflects the personality of the owner.

Trained as a Master Gardener, Jenny brings a deep understanding of the ecosystems that promote a vibrant garden: healthy soil, integrated pest management, appropriate plant choices and organic methods. She is committed to using primarily native and adapted plants to conserve water and reflect the beautiful Texas landscape.
You can contact her by phone at 512.922.3359, email her at j_peterson63@yahoo.com, or follow her tweets with @Mulch Maven. Be sure to check her out at http://www.JPetersonGardenDesign.com/

As a landscape designer, it’s my job to help my clients create the best landscape they can have, but before I can put any plants in, I have to pay careful attention to the structure in and of the garden itself. Structural elements in the garden are significant because they create a sense of importance, permanence and visual interest, but also because they dictate the flow of the landscape and the way the garden is used.

Which brings me to the very first question I ask my clients: How do you want to use your garden? Their answers tell me which direction I should go: what plants to use, whether to have a lawn or not, if we need more deck space, and how I should lay out the entire space. So here’s a rundown on the most popular uses of gardens, with suggestions of how you can achieve it with careful choice of structures, plants and accessories:

• Relaxation: If you want to primarily relax in your yard, you’re looking for low-maintenance plants with lots of evergreen foliage so you’re not spending your time pruning and fertilizing. Plan for enough deck or patio space to comfortably accommodate chairs, lounges, swings or picnic tables. Remember to plan an area under shade trees for a hammock, or even a cabana for the ultimate sense of vacation!
• Play: You probably have children and possibly pets if you want to use your yard primarily for play! Make sure you have enough lawn space to run around on or set up a croquet course or playscape, remembering to look into water-wise lawn options like Buffalo grass. Try to incorporate features like pathways and bridges for kids to explore and be a part of the landscape rather than trying to avoid it. Pay attention to plant use as well—softer, non-toxic plants that can take a lot of foot traffic is a must!
• Entertainment: Most of my clients want to be able to entertain in their landscapes, so we plan to have additional patio or deck space to accommodate larger crowds. We also remember to add features like firepits that draw people together. Plan for a variety of seating areas, possibly adding a second feature like a gazebo away from the house where you and your friends can gather. Carefully plan a pathway to that structure, meandering through the garden and paying attention to landscape lighting so guests feel safe walking around. You might want to be a bit more dramatic with your plant selection as well—large leafed tropicals, brightly flowering cannas or heavily-scented roses.

There is a lot you can do yourself, but don’t be afraid to enlist the expertise of an experienced landscape designer to help you plan your space out. If you commit to a bit of thinking and planning ahead, you can create a landscape that is beautiful, functional and fits your lifestyle perfectly!

Tags: cabana, chairs, croquet set, Gazebos, Guest Posts, hammock, Jenny Peterson, landscape design, lounges, outdoor decor, patio groups, picnic tables, structures, Swings