And Now, To Work...

Spring break is usually my signal to get to work in my garden.

There was no food in the house this morning since we came home from skiing a day early.

Steve surprised me with lox and bagels from Noah's Bakery.

We took a leisurely walk on the beach.

We played tennis.

And now, it is time to work.

After tennis I headed to the nursery to buy flowers and went a little crazy filling my cart.

Some of the flowers are for the front yard, but most are for the back.

I planted everything in the front first.

One day I will do a post to explain why the back of our house is now the front and why the front is now the back - city ordinances!

The wall around the front had a trellis covered with ivy when we purchased the house.

It made the kitchen and the entryway very dark.

After we removed the trellis and painted the wall, I put an old wagon in front and filled it with flowers.

The wagon in full bloom posing in the back yard for a painting

 One day I was putting in some new flowers and my trowel went right through the bottom of the wagon.

We have tons (literally tons) of rocks in the back so I created a stone planter around the wall to plant flowers.  

I used our big fish ( bought it in Mexico years ago) as part of the planter.

The otter on a stick is a gift from a friend who was moving from the beach to the mountains.

My next post will be about my back garden and you will see the great chairs she gave me.

Right now the only flowers blooming are the nasturtiums, but the lavender is beginning to flower.

I have no idea what is planted there - I just buy what I like and don't always know the names.

Last summer we had the house painted and our porch looked horrible compared to the crisp white and blue of the house.

At one time it had been painted a rusty red, but it was chipped and looked disgusting.

A new house was being built on our street and they had the most incredible stonework being done.

We talked to the stone contractor about doing our little porch.

He asked if we could pay cash - yes!

He asked if we could do it the next week - yes!

He gave us an amazing quote and we said - yes!

We absolutely love the porch now.

I painted the bench yellow and added a wooden box (TJ Maxx) for flowers.

I replace the flowers every few weeks.

I plant the old flowers and buy new flowers for the box.

The flowers are ALWAYS red and yellow.

You might notice the buoy hanging on the wall.

Buoys are a favorite of ours.

You can read about our buoy love here.

I always read posts where bloggers talk about their great freebie or cheap finds.

I always envy them their good fortune.

While working in my yard today I looked at my bench and realized that I am one of those lucky people too.

Steve bought the bench for $1 from neighbors.

It is not safe for sitting and some of the slats are loose, but it functions fine as a bench for flowers in the front.

Our red adirondack was purchased by a friend to replace one she broke.

I assured her that she did not need to replace it, but one day I came home and found a box on my porch.

She had ordered a chair and arranged for delivery.

It doesn't match the chairs in the back so it gets a special place in the front.

The front yard is ready for spring.

I should start on the back yard now, but I am still on vacation.

I am going to sit in the yard with my book and an iced tea and relax.

Enough work for one day!