"Sprucing " Up with New Pots, Patio and Cottage Garden Update, 2018

 Welcome!!!!

Today, I will be sharing an outdoor project that we had to put off until it got a bit cooler and the rain finally stopped along with an update on how my flowers in the Patio and Cottage Garden fared this Summer...............

But first, I want to Thank Richella, over at Imparting Grace, for featuring my post, The Story of Us, 40th Wedding Anniversary, from last week's Grace At Home Party!!

Thanks so much, Richella!!!

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Joe bought these great pots at Lowe's a few weeks ago with a project in mind........

They were $29.99, marked down to $14.95.........

We planned on doing the project we had in mind sooner but it was too hot and humid and rainy!!!

Finally, we had a cooler day, in the 70's, with low humidity........

The title of this post is a play on words........

"Sprucing" Up with New Pots..........

You see, several years ago we planted 2 Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees in pots and had them on each side of the Patio.......

The pots were bought at a church Flea Market but now they were looking a bit weathered and were too small for the trees......

You can see that they were looking quite awful actually.......

And the tree above was quite crooked in the pot.........

These new pots are taller and wider and a lot thicker, not to mention a whole lot prettier!!!!

Don't you think??????

I like the basket weave design......

Joe figured that the old pots were so thin that he could use snips and cut the pots apart so we could get the trees out of the pots........

You can see the look on his face when I was telling him not to cut his hand off!!!!

It was a bit daunting at first.........

Finally, the pots were broken apart so we could lift the root ball out of the pots.....

Joe loosened the root ball with a shovel........

We picked up each tree by the root ball and put them in the new pots and I filled them in with more soil.......

This is the Spruce tree that was so crooked in the old pot.......

Looks much better now...........

And here it is back where it belongs.........

The new pots are supposedly frost resistant..........

Over on the other side of the patio, the brick pavers that I laid had sank down a bit because there is a small retaining wall on the other side of our fence........

So since this is my area of expertise, I picked up the pavers, filled in with some rock and laid them back down.........

You can see that they look much better and are now level again with the concrete block of the patio.........

This is the tree over on the other side of the patio.........

Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees only grow to about 4 feet so we think these trees have reached their maximum height........

The finished corner.......

I really like how the new pots look.........

I thought I would also share how my potted flowers on the patio........

Because of the awning, they have not been exposed to the strong rays of the sun and I tried to keep up with watering the pots underneath the awning that were not being drowned with all the rain we have had........

The marigolds have done okay.......

The impatiens and begonia in the pots on this plant stand have survived.......

In the corner, by the window of the Den.........

The impatiens planted here are doing okay, even though a determined chipmunk keeps trying to bury some of his Winter rations in the pot!!!!

This single begonia is thriving here under the awning.......

The impatiens in this pot are probably the best looking that I have.......

The other impatiens out in the yard either rotted from too much rain and died off or barely survived the record breaking rain that we had over the Summer.......

So this side of the patio, doesn't look too bad......

Now let's take a look on the other side of the patio.....

Once again, the begonias did well........

My petunias might have bit the dust but I cut them back and will see if they improve......

I planted marigolds that I grew from seeds in this pot after the impatiens that were originally planted here, rotted away.......

The pots under the awning didn't do too badly........

Again, begonias seemed to fare out the best.......

On the vintage step stool.......

There are only 2 begonias planted in this container........

The marigolds look pretty good......

I planted seeds for shasta daisies in this pot on the bottom step .......

I may try planting them in the garden to see if they will come back next year......

Before I show you how my cottage garden survived the heat and all the rain, I wanted to show you this pot that I bought at Lowe's..........

It was originally $19.98 and was marked down to $4.98........

I bought 2 of them and will replace some of my pots that have seen better days........

Now let's take a look at some of the flowers in my little cottage garden.........

As far as the impatiens out in the yard goes, there is no rhyme or reason as to whether they barely survived or thrived!!!

You can see that I temporarily placed an old pot into one of the new ones that I bought at Lowe's...........

These impatiens are hanging on by a thread and I even had to replace the hens and chicks in these small pots because they turned to mush!!!

Now the New Guinea impatiens did okay.......

This one on this side didn't grow as well........

As this one did.......

These annuals, that I do not know the name of, seems to have thrived.......

Again, the New Guinea Impatiens did well........

I planted these Forget Me Nots from seeds and will plant them in the garden to see if they come back nest year........

I like the blue blooms........

Now this is definitely a Tale of Two Bags........

Most of the plants in this bag rotted away from the excessive rainfall........

But the bag hanging on the other side of the gate, did really well........

Now there are only 2 begonias planted in this pot!!!!

Look at these impatiens!!!

There are 2 plants planted in a sprinkling can........

But look at these potted impatiens only a short distance away from the sprinkling can........

They are starting to yellow like they do at the end of the season!!

Again, these are the annuals that I have no idea what they are called.......

They did well no mater where in the garden they were planted!!

My sedum are in bloom........

They usually bloom at the end of August.......

Hopefully, next Summer will not be as Hot and Humid and as Rainy as this one was.......

Soon, I will be sharing an Update on how my flowers on the front porch did this Summer.......


So I hope you will be back to visit again soon.......

And thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

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