I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot
George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Monday, July 3, 2023

July 4th Front Porch with a Flower & Garden Update, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

 
I am so happy you decided to stop by!!
 
 
ANNOUNCEMENT!!
 
It seems like I have quite a bit that I want to share so for the next few weeks, I will be now posting
 3 TIMES A WEEK !!!
 
 I will be posting on MONDAY, WEDNESDAY and FRIDAYS
starting this week!!
 
 
 
As always, click on each picture if you would like to enlarge it....
 
 
Happy July!!
 
Can you believe that this year is half over already????? 


 Today, I will be sharing my July 4th Front Porch along with a flower and garden update....
 

In my last post, I shared  the rest of the Americana Decor in the Den including this Tree........



 
Along with a bit more of Patriotic crafting......
 
 



Click HERE if you missed that post!!

 
 Tomorrow is the 4th of July, when we celebrate our Country's Independence!!!
 

I hope you will be doing so with those that you love...

I will be hosting our traditional Family "Cook In"....


A few days ago, I decorated the Front Porch and Yard for the Holiday, adding flags to the Patriotic decor that has graced it since Memorial Day...

The difference in how it looks between Memorial Day and July 4th is that my flowers have started to fill in nicely and, with this recent heat and humidity and almost 2 inches of rain over the last few days, are really starting to grow...

 

So I will be focusing more on the flowers in this post than the decorations....

I will be doing some Before and Now pictures.....

2 marigolds planted in this pot right before Memorial Day....

Starting to fill in nicely.......

The same decorations on the wall of the house as for Memorial Day....



Some flower pots on the porch....




One impatien and one marigold on each of these pots....


And now....



I always hang my "America the Beautiful" flag out to celebrate the 4th....



These are how these flower boxes from Dollar Tree looked when first planted....


And now.....




I am really happy with how this area is looking....


The coleus have finally started to grow!!

 
For awhile, they really were looking the same but with the hot weather and a bit of rain , they seem to be taking off....


You can see the difference now...


I did plant more sedum in this bed.....



And this was a little project I did last week....


I put in this area of marble chips to prevent the mulch from getting washed away from the gutter spout when we do get some heavy downpours....




3 impatiens were planted in each of these pots on the side of the angel....


They are doing great!!




My little experiment over on the retaining wall between my townhouse and the one next to me, has worked out beautifully, I think!!



This is what it looked like when I first decided to create a "pot tower" so to speak by placing a small square pot on top of the dirt in a larger one, holding it in place with a pot holder stake placed through the smaller pot's drainage hole to anchor it inside the larger one.....
 
 
 
 I planted 4 impatiens in the corners of the larger pot and one marigold in the smaller one.....


The impatiens have now grown and filled in around the smaller pots.....

 
 
 
 

 I used the base from a bird bath and placed a round pot, after spray painting it black, that originally was a hanging pot, on top of the base....
 
 
 
I planted 3 marigolds in it along with a vinca vine....
 


Also doing well!

A view from my neighbor's yard....


I am trying to have some of the vinca vines grow down over the retaining wall....





Looking down the sidewalk....


The flower bed on top of the slope in front of our townhouse.....


3 yellow marigolds were planted in these pots on each edge of our yard.....


They are finally starting to fill in the pot....


I may add one of the marigolds that I grew from seed to these pots if they do not get any fuller....


3 impatiens and one marigold planted in the urn and small pot....
 
 

And now....



The park bench.....


2 marigolds and a red grenaium in each of the larger pots and 3 marigolds in the small pot...


Looking pretty good now....





2 marigolds in this vintage watering can....


Doing well....


And the other pot at the edge of our yard...






Last year, I planted a few perennials in the flower bed of the townhouse next to us with the owner's permission.....


It is looking pretty good!!


Here is a look from down in our parking lot at the slope in front of our house.....
 
The hostas in the yard next to me that we landscaped 2 years ago are enormous....


 
 This is why I always say that I wish the Phlox bloomed for more than 2 weeks in the Spring.....
 
 
 
 
 There is also 2 different types of sedum planted on the slope as a ground cover so we do not have to keep climbing this slope to weed....


 You can see my Patriotic decorations from our parking lot....
 
 



 
And one more flower bed I want to give an update on.....

The one I created by our mailboxes at the entrance to our Court.....


You may remember that this is how it looked in the Spring when I first mulched it and cleaned it up....


Then we had a few days of 90 degree temps with a prolonged rain free period.....

It looked like the asters had been burned out.....


I am happy to say that with 2 inches of rain in the past few days, they are making a come back!!!!


When they were paving our road for the first time in 20+ years, the workers needed to move around my rock border and disturbed some of the mulch which was understandable.....

Last week, I straightened out the rock border and added another bag of mulch.....



I am really pleased how everything is growing now....

Asters, Missouri Primrose, Hostas.....

The Lamb's Ear is looking fantastic!!

I also transplanted a columbine that I took out of the front yard and had growing in a pot in the back yard....

Here in this flower bed.....

I also transplanted a loosestrife that I also was growing in a container.....

Here in front of the drain pipe in the retaining wall....


It would be a surprise if it blooms this year with it's deep purple flowers...

I added a few more rocks to the bed....

You can see the fresh mulch....

And I bought a set of 6 solar lights in Dollar General for $6 to also put into the bed....
 
 
 
 

I will have to get pictures in the evening....

And this is what it looks like from our Court when you are walking down to the mailbox to get your mail.....
 



You can see that next Spring, I am going to have to thin that Hosta out a bit more!!



I thought you would enjoy seeing how I kept enlarging this over the years.....


In 2021, this is what it looked like when I enlarged the flower bed to include the large Arborvitae.....

Then in the Fall of that year, they removed the Arborvitae as it obstructed the view of cars coming down the road from the court behind us....

So in 2022, I once again enlarged the flower bed and transplanted perennials that had sprouted up in my yard and in other neighbor's yards....

And now, this is how it looks today!!!!

I am pretty happy with how it looks.....

I will continue to do an update and what is blooming and how things are growing....

And I will leave you today with a look at the lilies growing in my neighbor's yard.....



I may have to ask if I can dig a few out!!!


On WEDNESDAY ,in my next post, I will be sharing Gifts that I received from my friend Anne Marie when sh e recently visited......


And a Patriotic Tablescape or two.....


So I hope you will stop by to visit again on WEDNESDAY!!!   
 

Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July!!!!




I am linking up to these parties:
 
 
  THURSDAY
 
 
 
 Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!
 


Posted by at 17 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...