Garage Sale Bargains In My Garden

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ore garage sale finds in my garden this year. I found this lovely pot for $5 at a garage sale, it holds about 3 gallons worth of plants. Isn't it beautiful? I still can't believe I found it for such a price, I didn't even try to "bargain" them down which is a rare event for me. The pic doesn't really do justice to the wonderful colors in the geranium or the pot.

My next item is the chair this pot sits on. I got this a few years back and placed it last year in the front of my house under the big oak tree that covers our bedroom areas in our house to keep it cool in the summer. I moved it to the back patio area and it really shines here now. 

I got this in my neighbors garage sale down the road one year. I was even lucky enough to fit it into my little corolla too! I couldn't wait to paint it to match my trim and display it proudly. My back yard is a better fit. This year I am painting an old wicker rocker to go in its place in the front yard. I paid $15 for this gem.

This is my friend Pat's laundry tub. Isn't it cute in MY back yard? I would hate to give it up, she's hinted she might take it back next year, please don't Pat its found a good home here!

Lastly I will show you my porch swing with its new clothing, not exactly a garage sale find but, already had the fabric. I recovered my pillow from last year. Some animal got a hold of my old covers and so I made new ones--still making the second one up. I thought this fabric felt more casual and playful, plus I already had it! Can't go wrong with free stuff. My new porch rug (which is out of sight and had to be replaced since it faded so much after I washed it) was also a garage sale find for $10. It is not outdoor carpet but when you pay so little it doesn't matter much if it lasts more than a few years!

Later...

Rain Boots In the Garden

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am a collector of rain boots. Call me strange or ego-centric and I will not argue the point. I have fallen in love with the new rain boot patterns and the old yellow children's boots. I have put them on a higher plane than to just be stepped on and plundered (so to speak). They are my new garden ornaments! Yes decoration for my lowly cottage garden. 

This is my first pair that I got a few years ago, though this is the first year for them in my garden. They are actually a planter made of resin to resemble the old yellow children's boots. They are from years gone by, when they had the awful rubber smelling yellow slickers to go with them, remember how they stunk in the rain?! They smelled so rotten.

Don't tell my son, but I secretly wish I had a little girl so I could dress her up all in pink and lace. This is a set of boots I would have gotten for her to stomp around in the mud. I remember when I was young my parents had a stone driveway that would gather big puddles after a rain storm. My sister and I loved to stomp around in the puddles with our little yellow boots on. Memories...

This is the third pair, actually the second one I bought at goodwill. I am trying to keep them in the shade so the sun doesn't wear the protective surface off them (I learned this from my own experience a few years ago!)  These are so obviously pink, they are obnoxious, but cute in my garden!

I have just gotten a new pair, care to guess where they will go?

Making Old Things New Again

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his was my son's old dresser. We inherited it from my cousin, Sharon. It belonged to her mother-in-law and was very old and very black. We painted it red for his dalmatian themed room, then I repainted it another shade of red for his nautical bedroom. Sharon thought it was time to move it to my master suite for another session of use.

So off I went to the local paint store. I found a lovely shade of green to match my decor which was $32/gallon--decorator shades can only be made with decorator paints. Lesson learned, take the designer paint chips to Walmart for paint mixing.

Here it is after I primed it. It already looks pretty different.

I forgot to mention that while visinew hardware for my "new" dresser. Since I just closed up my latest garage sale, I decided to splurge on some really awesome drawer pulls. Can't wait to show you.

Well since I can't wait here it is in all its glory! The paint color shows up white but it really is an artichoke color of green. I like the art deco look of these knobs, they are polished bronze colored.

The mirror on top was something I picked up a few months ago for another project. I put it on top and decided it was a match, so there it is.

The pièces de résistance was my wicker chair which used to be black. I painted it a hammered brown color and it looks magnificent with my "new dresser". 

So what's the verdict? I really like it, it actually matches the new hardware on the chest, I love my new look. I was getting a bit tired of my wall paper but now it feels revived too. It's amazing how a few dollars can make such a big difference in how a room feels and looks.

Next my back entryway--two years in the making!

Halloween Spirit

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ts that time of the year again, time for the Halloween dances. Yes this is my beautiful son at his first dance--ever! He had a slow time getting started but soon joined in the fun.

They had pizza and candy and lots of fun. Here he is with a friend from our church, she was so excited to see him!

She was a bumble bee, isn't she cute? I believe she won a prize for one of the best costumes. Brody won't wear costumes so he went "straight". He enjoyed seeing all the costumes at the party though and talked about it all night.

He spoke about the dance all night and even wanted to visit friends after the dance to tell them all about the fun he'd had.

Brody was so excited all week about this dance, it's all he could talk about and for good reason I see.

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Welcome Autumn Party

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e got some a small group together for our "farewell to summer and hello autumn party". My cousin Sharon with my son Brody who seems to enjoy supervising. But alas, supervisors need to be trained in the tasks also, he didn't seem to mind although the hotdogs were a bit over done!

My cousins Vicki and Butch contemplating the possible risks of roasting hotdogs! Butch accused Vicki of wearing his warm jacket--WIMP!

It was a bit chilly (62-65F) but boy did we have fun! Hotdogs, the works potato salad, baked beans, jalapeno chips, cauliflower and bacon salad and the list goes on...

Here is George with his grandson Blake. Blake was a joy to have, he roasted our marshmallows to suit for our s'mores. Yum! We offered a variety of treats from plain , roasted coconut, and strawberry marshmallows and chocolate bars or peanut butter cups for any combination of s'mores. I guess everyone was just too full to taste the caramel apples!

Some people come to parties hoping to bypass the cameras...she didn't hide fast enough!! By that smile I'd say she was having fun even if she was shivering a bit:-)

  All in all I'd say it was a success! Even though the weather and the hot cider were both cold, the company was warm and refreshing. Blake (Sharon and George's grandson) was a push-over for roasting our marshmallows for the s'mores. I think this just might be an annual thing for our family.

A Great Porch Swing

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ant to know how to build a great porch swing? I have the secret to this pondering: find a great bench. I found this wonderfully large bench at a garage sale, I bought it for a different reason, when that didn't work out I ask myself "why couldn't this be made into a nice, large swing?" So I asked my "handyman" Chris, whom you see with my son here on our new porch swing.

Chris took the legs off, reinforced it a bit and added the hardware and chains. This photo shows it just after he set it up, you can see the extra chain still dangling on the sides.

 Brody loves to sit here and watch the garden, he can sit here for hours. Five dollar Pottery Barn pillow covers really seems to set this off. We love our new swing, thank you Chris!

Our Shaded Paradise

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ow do you make a sunny porch a haven? Put up some trellises and vining plants is one way. When I first moved in to my house, the neighbors had two pine trees that added shade to my home, one in the corner near my living room and another in the back corner near my porch. This all changed when they suddenly without warning, had them taken down. I was saddened. But I eventually found a solution for my porch area.

I found these trellises at a garage sale, they were originally a craft bazaar display. I took off the shelf and asked a friend, Pat's husband Dave (photo on the left), hang them for me; he added some feet to stabilize the lower part. Don't they look great?!! He did a  wonderful job (excuse the mess, I was just potting up some things here). I have another one hung on the adjoining space to this one. My morning glories vine up during the summer months and shade my porch in the mornings. I will try to post a photo when the morning glories are blooming, they are beautiful:)

Totem, Love'm

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saw this idea a few years ago about garden totems (this post is for you Kathy--she wanted to show some people my totem and I hadn't posted it yet). Most of them were clear or colored glass pieces, but I wanted something with more colors so I did my own. Let me know what you think. I had so much fun trying to find all the various items to use, some of them I had from Goodwill and thrift stores; some I got at garage sales and others I all ready had. I used epoxy glue and caulked the holes so the rain won't collect inside them. I really like her she adds personality to my garden totem. Most of my flowers are reds, pinks and yellows so the blue really jazzes it up.

If you use clear or colored glass the effect is totally different. The light will shine through similar to a prism, but I wanted the solid look. I was delighted to find I could use my lola planter in my totem, isn't she cute? I wanted to use teapots in the design since she sits in my tea garden. She's my tea goddess. Have a good one:)

A Back Porch Lifestyle

My girlfriend Kathy lives about two blocks away and frequents our gardens, here she is sitting on our new porch swing with my son Brody. They are quite the pals.

Our swing probably looks large to you the reason being--it is. It was made by another friend who also does odd jobs along with my annual mulching each spring. I will show you his photo later.

We love sitting on our porch, watching the butterflies go from this flower to that one. We watch the rains and the cool breezes blowing over our gardens. We watch the birds flying around our back yard and it's really quite a nice life.

Kathy was the recipient of my foot board she is also a closet serial flower killer. You can give her almost any plant and she will torture it and starve it and when the time is right, kill it! I think she secretly delights in this. Why else would she keep asking for more starts from my garden?

This summer I will be painting the interior of my garden shed, no not for Kathy's new home, for a potting area and a play area for my son. Most of the furnishings are ready to go in but I need to paint the walls and the floor. Get ready for an open house this summer!

Rain, Rain Go Away...

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t is raining today. We need it desperately, I just wish it would do it while I am sleeping. I worked out in the gardens all day yesterday, tidying up and planting and pulling weeds. We waited all day for the trash pickup but alas, it would happen today, so my son and I placed all our weeds and wild violets into our garden cart for now. The cart was overflowing so I took it up front myself and it is sitting out front of our garage awaiting our garbage can's arrival. Here are some more photos of my back gardens...

This is a photo of my back garden with its little angel, I wish you could see her expression it is precious. I have just planted some more dogwood bushes here to hide my neighbors junk. I have also added a few blue Everlasting hydrangeas for color. I am transplanting my day lilies to other parts of my gardens.

The tall plant in the foreground of my column is an unknown. I purchased it a few years ago and it grows really tall with beautiful white flowers that appear about July.

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his is my bed in my garden, I found it on one of Pat's and my "famous garage sale" sprees. She bought an arbor--yes you got that right, an arbor. We could squeeze my bed into her van but the arbor had to be delivered, compliments of the garage sale host.

I painted both the head and foot verdigris and presented the foot to another of my gardening friends, Kathy. To hold the headboard I hammered some pvc pipes into the ground they are just a bit smaller than the diameter of the bed posts. I left them about 12" above the ground and then placed the bed posts over them. They seem to stabilize the headboard well, it's been here for three years now.

I am trying to grow sweet peas to vine up my bed-trellis, but they aren't looking too good. Here you can see one of my pink geraniums in the foreground, the camera doesn't do it justice, it is much more colorful. I planted this one here last year, moved it from my shade garden where it refused to bloom. It has gone wild and grown three or four times its size. Well got to go now and watch the rain.

Summer Delights

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have been working hard this spring to get my gardens in shape. Here are a few photos to show you how hard I've been working. I got these cute lanterns from my friend Pat and never got them out to use them until this year.

There were black and not too attractive--sorry Pat, but being my friend she knew I would not just leave them that way. They look white, but they are actually a very light green. I got the light duty shepherd's hooks at Dollar Tree. They do add a bit a character to my garden and bring out the best in my shed.

Behind the lanterns you can see the holly hock Pat gave to me a few years ago, I'm hoping it grows quite tall this year. I also planted a few new ones I found at a plant sale this spring, I don't know what color these are until they bloom.

Below here is my son's monkey statue, he loves monkeys so I bought this one for his birthday one year.


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he monkey keeps moving as the years go by, I wanted him to be seen from my garden shed which I am fixing up now to be a potting shed and my son's special hangout--photos will come later.

Next to Monkey you can see one of my Johnson's geraniums, it looks pretty good here, but after a rain it gets pretty leggy and not so nice.  You can also see some of my day lily re-plants above the studious monkey and my red twigged dogwood bush with it's variegated leaves is peaking around the corner. 

I have also been to Shipshewana flea market with another friend, Carla. There I picked up some red bee balm and a few purple butterfly bushes for the mix. I have planted the bee balm in my front garden and my butterfly bushes I am hoping to plant in my very back garden to hide the neighbors junk at the property line.

It rained quite a lot yesterday but in between rains I dropped by Pat's garden and picked up some cone flowers that was given to us last year by a fellow gardener and garage saler. Also got some more of her black-eyed susans to plant in my front garden. Got to go now, need to plant and water some more. Have a great gardening day!

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his weekend we've lost all our old snow and tonight we are getting a new layer of white fluffy snowflakes, Yeah! Meanwhile I have busied myself with all my new garden catalogs, what else would a gardener do in the dead of winter. It takes months to adequately plan for the new garden, this is why God gave us winter--in case any of you was wondering:)

This is the garden pillar that I have in various places in my gardens, I move them as I see fit. One of these is sitting in the middle of my large front garden. I love the simple design and the mobility of the design, it allows for a lot of creativity on my part. This year I plan on putting a lot of color around the said pillar. I'd like reds and blues with some pinks maybe, the back should be high and the front lower.

I am thinking of putting one of these or both in the front, BERGENIA cordifolia WINTERGLOW and BRUNNERA macrophylla JACK FROST ;  they are spring bloomers.

I am thinking of putting these CARYOPTERIS Petit Bleu - Bluebeard and PERSICARIA FIRETAIL - Fleeceflower ;  in the side and back since they are taller and summer to fall bloomers.

Another possibility would be this rozanne geranium for the front and sides instead of the petit-blue shrub.

This year I might have some help dividing and re-planting my divisions. My brother-in-law is marrying a fellow gardener and creative diva, I may have a kindred soul to share my deepest yearnings with! She also likes junking  and uses some of her own designs in her gardens too. There's always room for another gardening friend. From my gardening followers: any suggestions for my front garden would be welcomed, more pics later, after the snow is melted for good:)

Porch Living

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 found this adorable shelf at my local garden shop. It looks simple enough to make and would be ideal inside or outside for a variety of uses. It looks pretty dirty since it sits on my covered porch all year, but I love this little shelf. I think I paid $40 for it back about four years ago. I think the finish is a washed finish so it likely won't peel from the elements.

I have not found a real use for this other than something cute to sit on top of my old bench. I am into bird house style decorations so when I saw this I had to have it.

Summer Evenings and Secrets

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y neighbor Mrs. Flauding would sit on her front porch every evening to water her lawn and watch the neighbors as they passed her house on their evening walks or as they worked in their yards. She had two wicker chairs and often invited my sister and I to drink iced tea, and while we did so we also told her our secrets.

Because of those memories I wanted a comfortable chair to sip iced tea and talk with my son on my own porch. Since Brody likes to swing, I decided we would find a comfortable swing on which to enjoy our summer evenings. The first one was not very big and in hot summer evenings it was uncomfortable.

One day my neighbors had a garage sale and I spied a large bench in their yard. After unsuccessfully haggling over the asking price, I snatched it up at the full price (because I would never forgive myself if I lost it). It took me a few years, but I finally found someone who could turn it into my dream porch swing. Isn't it great looking? He did a fabulous job too and we love sitting on it. For those do-it-yourselfers, to make a swing out of a bench you will first cut off the legs, reinforce the seating area for stability and place your eye screws or holes for chain or rope placement. Paint it and hang it. Next spring I will make a cushion for the seat to make it really comfortable for us, I also bought two Pottery Barn pillow shams on clearance to  add. I can't wait till next year:) 

Dream Time Trellis

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love to go to garage sales and sometimes when my friend Pat's husband opts out of doing it with her, she will ask me to tag along. While this is not always a great idea since our tastes run alike and we seem to run toward the same items for our collections, it is good sometimes.

This is a trellis I found at a garage sale and lugged home on one such occasion. We had both fallen in love with the same arbor, but she was faster than me. So Pat found a place for her new arbor and I talked her into pulling this old metal bed into her van to drop off at my house. She told me I would need the rails and I said I would not, her puzzled look turned to curiosity as she asked me just what was going to do with it.

Well it took me another year before I found just the right place in my garden for my new ornament but it was the finishing touch for my patio garden and I love it here.

What did you do with the other end?" you ask! Well I have enough garden loving friends that I just painted both and gave the other away for another fantastic garden ornament. I tease my neighbors sometimes by saying I'm going to camp out on their patio to enjoy their view of my gardens--it just looks so much more perfect over there, no wonder they tell me I have a wonderful garden (the weeds aren't as noticeable over there, that's why it looks so great)!

Behind the trellis you can spy my pouting angel on her mount. Also note the "Red Twig Dogwood" bush, don't the red twigs look wonderful in the fall? I recommend this little bush to anyone it grows about 6' tall and about that in width, I trim mine a bit each season to keep it small.

In the lower right corner you can see my perennial geranium--one of many different types. This one turns burgundy in the fall. Wait until next spring when this garden is alive once again, this trellis will have some kind of wonderful plant climbing up the iron work:)

My "Pouting" Angel

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his is my guardian angel, watching over my patio garden. I found her half price one summer, still an extravagant price to pay, the first time I saw her I knew I had to take her home with me; so I did. She was placed in my back garden but this year I had her moved up to my patio garden where I can keep watch over her. She reminds me of my son when he was younger, he used to sit with his hands between his knees, contemplating the days events.

She's a bit dirty from the rains and winds we've had this year, but doesn't she look sweet sitting in my wonderful garden? She'll look even sweeter in the spring when all the bushes are filled out and flowers are blooming.

She is sitting on my homemade pillars, I just stacked extra bricks that were used for another project in a and stacked "log cabin" fashion, then placed a large patio block on top to finish it off. I saw this years ago, somewhere on line and decided to try it myself.

She's been moved from my back garden to my patio garden where I can look out my patio door to see my sweet angel--worth every penny I paid for her. Here you can see my Red Twig Dogwood bushes to either side, they are so pretty even now without their leaves but even more so when they are filled out in the spring and summer.