Fall porch decor

Hey hey! It’s Thursday and I’m happy! I’ve always loved Thursdays. It’s the almost-weekend. LIKE.

Today we’re closing up our fall linky parties over at Rhoda’s outdoor fall decor shindig – whoot! It’s supposed to be warm again today and tomorrow but I’m sitting in my office with a blanket on so I don’t quite believe it. Or I just refuse to believe it. :) So bring on the fall outdoor ideas!

Last year I shared our patio dressed up for the season:

So this year I’m heading back out front. If you’ve been around a while you’ve seen my plan before – when I find something that works I do it again and and again and basically run it into the ground. :)

This year is no exception. I like sharing this though because I know I’m not the only one with a teeny tiny porch. And even a teeny tiny porch can look big and mighty this time of year.

I start with a couple corn stalks – and apparently we’ve grown them big in Indiana this year:

These were each over 12 feet tall so I cut them down with my saw. I secure them next to the door with some cup hooks and hidden twine:

I changed out my yellow mums for these orange ones – I think these look better with the pumpkin wreath and door. The yellow mums will go back to the patio.

I got that big wide sisal rug from Target this spring and LOVE it. It’s hard to find one that wide:

See? Itty bitty porch and still festive. Yes I dream about a big wide porch with a swing, but it ain’t happening. So I embrace mine and make it work. :)

We have a big rock in our landscaping out front and I like to decorate around it for the fall. I pile pumpkins, kale, mums, whatever I can find around it:

I just leave them in their containers and hide the plastic with the pumpkins. Love how it looks!

This year I also planted some sub-zero pansies – I don’t usually plant anything out front but these have a guarantee that they’ll make it through the winter and will then bloom again in the spring:

I think I’m going back to get more to go all the way around the landscaping out front. (I only got enough to go around the rock.) I LOVE the colors – lots of different purples, reds and yellows. So pretty. :) Anyone ever planted these?

This is not my thriftiest decorating – the kale and pumpkins aren’t cheap but I just love them. And they always last well past Thanksgiving. Last year my kale was absolutely beautiful in the snow. It wasn’t until about February that they finally dried up.

I took down our window boxes (they were falling apart) earlier this year and still hope to get some new ones up before the holidays:

Weird timing maybe but I do love filling them with greenery at Christmas.

Now that the fall decor is up we’ll be pulling out the big spider, orange lights and blow up pumpkin for out front this weekend. :) Can’t wait to see your door and outdoor decor over at Rhoda’s today. Have a great almost-weekend!

A touch of fall

Hello all! Well the no-spend month is coming to a close and I’m so thrilled with what I was able to get done -- but also a little ready to buy something…anything…fun. ;)

I’ve focused SO much on our backyard this year (you can see the spring tour here) that I’ve completely ignored the front. Completely. I plopped some ferns in the planters on the porch back in April and haven’t even watered them much since (they just get rain water).

Since I fall is coming, like it or not (LIKE!), it was time to do some clean up and add some fall touches to the front. We have a teeny tiny porch but I think even small ones can make a big impact, especially this time of year.

First thing I needed to do – get rid of the weeds that had grown three feet tall and the trees that were sprouting in the beds:

Told you I hadn’t touched it in months. :) Pretty. We get a lot of random trees growing in our beds and if I don’t stay on top of it they are a pain to get rid of. Annnd these are going to be a pain – I’ll need to watch them because some were so thick I just cut them down, I couldn’t get them out of the ground.

I cleaned up those, the weeds and the dead leaves and stalks on the lillies:

Yes that is a cherry icee. A girl needs sustenance.

Next up was a trip for new plants for the porch. Yes, I cheated a little bit, but do flowers count? Probably not. Probably. *hangs head in shame*

I checked out my local True Value – the one I visit (in Pendleton, IN) has a great floral selection. I always ogle all the planters too:

Seriously, they have a ton! (You can see their online options here.)

I fell in love with these:

But they were a little too wide for our porch. We don’t have a lot of room to work with here. I found the perfect set years ago, but they’ve not done well in the elements:

Yeeah. The ferns aren’t doing so hot lately either. Moving on.

So here’s the thing – I love the copper tone of these, but they are not holding up well. At all:

They are also leaving rust marks on the cement which is always super fun to clean up.

I love how tall and skinny they are and I only need them to work for a few more months. I’ll get/make something else next spring.

Soooo…spray paint to the rescue! I cleaned them off well:

This is important! No need to sand metal, but you do need to clean it well. I used a brush and started knocking some of the metal flakes off, but that got to be a can of worms. It was just going and going so I just decided to paint right over them. If you are going to try to keep something for an extended time you’ll want to get all that off. Again, I’m just trying to make these presentable for the next few months.

I usually skip the primer but since these are outside I figured I should use it. I had black primer so I used that:

Then I gave them a coat of my oil-rubbed bronze spray paint. I don’t use this stuff nearly as much as I used to, but it matches the kick plate (that I spray painted!), the hardware on the door and the coach lights I sprayed a few years ago: 

So I figured it would tie in well.

I picked out some bright yellow mums at True Value. They are just about to explode:

And then the joyous deadheading begins. ;)

See how it all ties together?

Much better than this:

Because it’s in the 90’s this week and 90 degree temps makes me want fall, I dug out my DIY pumpkin wreath from last year and hung it:

It’s almost September. It’s allowed. I love how it looks on the red door!

I painted those coach lights three years ago and they still look fantastic!:

I’m a little shocked at how well they’ve held up, honestly. I don’t even think I primed them? They’ve withstood the elements better than the original finish did.

A few weeks ago I read that the flag should hang to the left of the door – I had no idea. It was always getting caught on the gutter anyway so I moved it over:

Technically they’re supposed to be lit up at night too, so the coach light takes care of that. ;)

I’ll add some more fall touches out here as we get into the season, but I’m loving the warm welcome we have going right now:

     

This one likes it too:

:)

This just goes to show that even the outside items can be salvaged with a little cleaning and new paint. Those planters are completely washable and will hold up well even outside…at least till the end of the year. (If they weren’t rusting I have no doubt they’d last much longer.)

Have you started any fall decorating yet? Are you ready? Have you picked up any mums? Do YOU believe in the power of spray paint? 

 

 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

Square foot gardening

Hello all! Since school is back in I’ll be going back to my posting schedule of four posts a week – at least most of the time. :) Some weeks get crazy but for the most part you’ll see one more post a week again.

I know, calm down. Awesome.

I should have really talked about this earlier this summer but the months just got away from me. I did want to mention it so you can prepare for next year if you are interested in gardening.

Thing is, we used to have way more of a backyard, but even then it was kind of odd, with a big slope. So we didn’t have a great spot to put a large garden. When I blogged about my desire to grow a garden years ago, many of you were so helpful and I learned a ton.

So a few years ago I started a small garden – I used the square foot gardening technique – loosely. I say loosely because I didn’t segment the garden out like a true square foot garden. I just kind of planted stuff in there and hoped it would do well.

And it did. :) That’s when I learned that you don’t have to have a large, perfect spot to make food grow. It needs water and light and the space doesn’t matter as much, in my opinion.

Since then we had the patio put in so a couple years ago I moved the garden to the only good spot we had left – right next to our air conditioner:

It wasn’t ideal and I didn’t know how everything would do. Before this everything had been in full sun. This area gets morning and some afternoon sun, but not the super hot late afternoon sun and it’s actually done really well.

I could have DIY'd the garden set up, but it comes in a kit at most hardware stores and it was super easy to put together:

I have taken it apart and put it away for the winter and I’ve left it out – it’s cedar so it holds up fine to the elements – at least for the next few years.

We back up to land with woods and a creek so we get a lot of wildlife. TONS of bunnies. Because of that I knew I wanted something to deter them from eating everything and I use that lattice stuff. I found it in the dumpster at hubby’s high school years ago. (I didn’t DIVE in the dumpster – just picked it up off the top.) ;) And I’m kind of surprised but it works great. They don’t nibble on anything. I actually think having it by the air conditioner may help too – the noise maybe?

So there’s some things I’ve learned over the past years that I thought I would share. I’m not an expert by any stretch but I’m learning more every season.

I planted a strawberry plant and blueberry bushes years ago – blueberry bushes need to be planted in multiples because they cross-pollinate. But the bushes didn’t do well – we needed to move them and never replanted them. Each one only produced a few blueberries total. Now I know I should have been more patient -- I think they just needed a few years to get established. I mean, we have a farm nearby that we pick blueberries at that has hundreds of big blueberry bushes, so I know they can do well.

And the strawberries are one of those I think I’ll just keep going to pick somewhere else:

By this time of year the plant is big and kind of sprouting out – I didn’t realize strawberry plants did that. It shoots off and plants itself in another spot, so I think in a warmer climate it would kind of take over. But for years now it’s only produced maybe a handful of strawberries each year. I know that would increase over time too, but I’d rather use the space for something else.

I like my garden foods like I like my flowering plants – producing all season instead of once. Strawberries produce for one month and then they’re done. I’d rather have more room for my beloved cukes:

Isn’t that funky? I don’t know what kind I got this year but they are long and skinny. I prefer a chunkier cucumber but these still taste great. A few folks warned me years ago about the cucumbers – they said they would take over the garden and they are right. :) But I love my cukes so I insisted on having them. Thing is, they are vine plant, so yes, they do go everywhere, but they don’t hurt anything. At least in my experience – they mix in with the tomatoes and stuff but not too bad.

I lean some of the lattice up against the house so they can work into that, but they prefer to stay low. It’s kind of cool to see how they grab on to stuff:

They do pretty well in this spot but I think they prefer full sun. My first year growing them it was out. of. control. there were so many. It was awesome. :) Then the first year I planted them on this side of the house I didn’t get one cucumber – but it was a super hot summer and it turns out it had something to do with the bee population. Crazy, but they weren’t being pollinated by the bees so they never produced.

This year they are doing much better, just not producing a ton like that first year. I don’t know if it’s having less sun or just the version I got.

My other favorite garden plant is tomatoes. This year I did three versions – regular tomatoes, romas and cherry:

The cherries always do well for me and this year they are mad crazy good. Like, I can’t even keep up. But I use them all the time – salads, in my eggs, for caprese salad…I love them.

The romas are doing incredible too – they just started maturing a couple weeks ago and they are coming so fast I can’t keep up:

My only disappointment this year is my regular tomatoes – I got a container plant this year to try to fit more into the garden and I should have just done a regular plant. I got two little bitty tomatoes off of that all season. There aren’t even anymore coming – kind of a bust. Next year I’ll just go with a regular plant.

There are seasons to what you plant too – early summer crops and late summer. If you love lettuce you’ll want to grow that early. It does better in the less intense heat of the early summer months. I’ve done a few different lettuce varieties and they all do well – almost too well. When they start to mature they do so fast so it’s kind of hard to keep up.

I planted three arugula plants this year and with all of the rain we got in May and June they exploded – I didn’t even get that much off of them because they went to seed so fast. (That means they grew flowers, which often will change the taste and make them bitter. Same goes for many herbs like basil.)

Some of the late summer bloomers are melons – this year I couldn’t find any watermelon so I went with cantaloupe:

I looked for weeks to see something and finally a few weeks ago this showed up. Man, these are sloooooow. It hasn’t grown much in the past week or so. But I’ll keep an eye on it – I’m not sure it’s going to get much bigger really. :)

In my little garden (I think it’s about four by four feet?) I’ve had ten plants growing this summer. As I mentioned, the arugula is now gone but everything else is still there. This year I planted my herbs in a smaller container by the back door so I’d have more room here. I do have my rosemary planted in the bigger garden though, and even with the cucumber vines all around, it does great.

A few years ago I picked up this book after many readers recommended it to me:

If you are new to gardening it is a wealth of information! Before I heard of this method I thought I needed a huge spot to grow my own food, but it’s so not the case. Many plants you can grow in containers too and they will do really well (tomatoes, strawberries, herbs), so space shouldn’t hold you back! My garden isn’t pretty, but it produces. That’s what matters!

As far as keeping them alive – just water them when they look hot and wilted. Other than watering I don’t do any upkeep with my garden at all. I don’t even mulch which I probably should. Pretty low key, just how I like it!

Do you garden? Do you use the square foot technique? What’s your favorite thing to grow?

(No dig) water hose organization

Hello there! It’s back to school time around here…I can hardly believe it. The weird thing is, now hubby is home with me during the day while the Bub goes off to school. I LOVE it. So far. ;) Seriously, it is so amazing that he will be home most days to help get him off to school and off the bus…it is truly a blessing and I’m so looking forward to this fall.

Today I’m sharing a super easy project that I didn’t think was going to be quite so easy – don’t you love when it works out like that? It’s my first project on the True Value Blog Squad this year and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. This isn’t a pretty project necessarily, but it’s an organized one…and that makes my heart sing, truly.

We have two water spigots on our house – one on each side. We added one in the building process and I’m so glad we did. But one is in a weird spot near our air conditioner on the side of the house – actually right behind the air conditioner which is just seriously brilliant planning. (That’s sarcasm.)

It’s an odd little spot that also houses the gas meter and other ugly stuff and years ago I installed pavers back there to clean it up a little bit. I didn’t put any weed blocker down though, so we’ve got lots of weeds that come up through them and a lovely tree that started growing right by our foundation. It was impossible to kill but we finally did it…but little sprouts come up every year so we have to keep on top of those. Who knew how invisible trees are??

Anyway…that corner is always a hot mess. We have used a hose holder thingamajob that you roll up and it’s a total pain in the butt. And somewhere along the way another huge lawn hose got added in (ask hubby, no idea), so we had, like 150 feet of hose there:

I think the deal was that one wasn’t long enough, so we needed two, but two won’t fit on the hose reeler-inner-thing. And, can I just say, that black hose ALWAYS looked like a snake to me? Not cool.

Seriously, I can barely look at it in that picture. Ick.

So…I had an idea to tidy up that corner, and it first came in the form of a little spot at my True Value that I stop at every. time. I visit:

They have a huge selection of iron plant hooks and holders, and I always admire them but don’t really need another hanging plant, so I keep on walking. Well, this idea allowed me to pick one up on our trip there a few weeks ago – but more on that in a bit.

First of all, I needed a four by four post. I had one already, but ended up cutting it too short, so picked up one of those at TV too.

At first I was planning on digging a hole about a foot deep and using quick drying cement to secure it. Then I was told I really needed to go about THREE feet deep, and use one of those hole digger things. I was like, whoa. Not what I had in mind. And the more I started thinking of it, the more I realized I wasn’t sure I wanted to have this thing permanently in that spot.

So when I saw this option, I knew it was the solution:

So it’s a post holder and normally you’d use it on a deck or other wood surface because you can drill down into the holes to secure it. But it’s super heavy steel so I figured it would be heavy enough to hold it upright all by itself.

And I was right:

I cut the post at about 40 inches with the saw and then put it inside. Those bolts on the sides tighten up and make it super secure – it’s not going anywhere.

You can see that I just pulled out one of the pavers and it fit right in there…like it was meant to be!

Next up was the hose holder part. That’s where the iron plant hook comes in:

I just installed it upside down so there was plenty of room for the hose to lay in there. It’s perfect!

OK, let’s talk about that hose, shall we? You’ve seen these on TV right? Well, I’ve wanted one forEVER now, and last month while at the Mall of America, we came upon the As Seen on TV store…also known as the Greatest Store Ever.

We found one there and decided to try it out before we got another one, and I have to tell you, they ROCK. Because it rocked so much, I picked up one more at True Value:

 

I think each one grows to about 50 feet long, but they stay scrunched up when not in use. I’ve used it a ton and so far it’s held up great. I LOVE them. We now have two connected on that side of the house, so it reaches around all the way to the front or all the way to the back of the patio easily.

I highly recommend them! The bonus is that they are super light and don’t take up much space. And they don’t look like a snake. Triple bonus.

Because I can’t leave well enough alone, and because I love adding a little bit of pretty when I can, I also picked up one of these planters at True Value for the top of the post:

I can’t remember what that plant is, but I had it in two planters on the patio and one just completely died for no reason (well…it could be the whole I didn’t water it enough reason, whatever). So I transplanted the others into this planter -- they were needing some sun and water but they’ve already perked up since these pics. It’s a beautiful, full plant when it’s happy.

All in all it took me maybe 20 minutes from start to finish – the not digging and no cement certainly helped!:

I’m planning on doing this to the other side of our house too, since we have the same mess over there most of the time.

Now if you are using a regular hose (that’s a little heavier) you may need to secure the post into the ground better…but I’m actually thinking it would be OK as is. You could also put some stakes through the holes into the ground to help.

Like I said, it’s not a beautiful after…but it’s much cleaner and organized:

OK, that’s beautiful to me. ;)

We can now walk right over to the spigot to turn on the water for the first time in years. It’s the little things. I love it! Of course the little planter on top is optional, but I think it’s cute. I also found it’s useful for holding extra sprayers too, so that’s an option.

How to do you keep your water hoses under control? Does your husband collect them like mine? :) Next up I need to redo that whole paver area, but for now I’m just enjoying the clean space!

 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. For more DIY inspiration, take a look at True Value’s Pinterest boards!

Growing hydrangeas (not killing them)

Hey heyyyy! How was your weekend? Have I mentioned how wonderful our weather has been? One or 50 times? Yeah. It’s been awesome. 51.

I’ve been spending SO much more time outside this summer, I’ve truly enjoyed this season. I’ve been planting a bunch of new things, transplanting some, just enjoying our outdoor space and the flowers.

I wrote last summer about my pathetic hydrangeas and how I was the pretty much the worst hydrangea parent EVER. They hated me. I’ve learned a ton about them since and figured I’d share my new knowledge. (So many great tips in the comments of that post!)

Mine still have a long way to go, but I as long as we don’t have a scorching summer next year, I think they’ll do even better. It’s SO exciting to see them actually grow and bloom this summer! Seriously a thrill after I’ve worked so hard to help them along.

They were sad and pathetic last year, really. The biggest surprise I got a few weeks ago were the start of blooms on my limelight hydrangea. I’ve had it three years people – not one bloom till now. Here is was last summer and now:

It’s now FILLED with beautiful white blooms! They’re all only about half way done too, so in a week or two it will be full of puffy white flowers:

So here’s the first piece of advice – the sleep, creep, leap saying is true. Most plants I have planted follow this – the first year they don’t do much, the second the come along a little bit and the third they leap! I got this guy on clearance at the end of the season two summers ago and last year you can see that it grew, but didn’t do much else.

The third year (this year), it has doubled in size and is full of blooms. I think with hydrangeas you just need to have patience. Which is hard when you buy one full of blooms and then it poops out on you.

Here’s another biggie – you will see hydrangeas everywhere in full sun all the time – I see them at restaurants, stores, churches, drive throughs – everywhere. But mine did horribly in full sun: 

 

I showed you these last summer – I’d had them for two or three years at that point? Not one had ever bloomed, they all barely grew, it was just sad. Sad sad SAD.

Now those three look like this:

The one on the left has grown a TON from where it was (it was the smallest one) but it’s still not blooming. The other two have done great! They just don’t have a ton of blooms right now because I cut so many of them a few weeks ago. ;)

These are the mophead variety, and they have really strong, beautiful leaves too:

The leaves on that pink plant are especially hardy, dark and pretty.

Tip two – they do best in morning sun and afternoon shade (or dappled shade). Mine in afternoon shade (these above) do even better than those in the back that get the dappled shade. If you are having problems getting yours to grow – try moving them to a spot where they’ll get some rest from the heat in the afternoon.

I found some PeeGee trees on clearance a couple years ago and was so excited – they are basically a hydrangea tree. The year I planted them they did great for the rest of that season, but last year they looked like butt, like the rest of mine:

Now, they are amazing!!:

They are both blooming and full and doing great.

Here’s the thing (tip three) – hydrangeas need MEGA water. I mean, it’s in their name. :) Last summer was the complete and total opposite of this one here in Indiana – super hot, drought conditions – it sucked. This year we had a really wet early summer and it’s helped tremendously.

I just watch my plants – if they start to wilt at all I know they need water. They need a lot of it, but watch how you water them too. I’ve got one mophead that has a fungus on the leaves (it hit one of my peonies too) because we’ve gotten so much rain. If you can, water them at the base of the plant (not with a sprinkler) so the water goes right to the roots and doesn’t sit on the leaves. (The fungus will not really hurt the plant so I’m cutting off those leaves and letting it be. If it had happened earlier in the season I would have used something on it.)

The Pee Gee tree is a paniculata hydrangea, like the limelight I first showed you. These two have the more cone shaped flowers:

I much prefer the big round blooms, but these are beautiful too. They turn the most beautiful pink/green in the early fall – they are just gorgeous! I used them in this post a couple years ago:

Aren’t they pretty?

I have about ten hydrangea plants out back now, and this one was my most recent addition:

I shared it on Instagram – it was in full bloom when I got it and looked amazing! This plant was HUGE (I got it at a local nursery) and was $30 something dollars – you can find them half that size for the same price, so make sure to go big!

Those flowers are now done and are turning brown but the plant is doing great:

You can see my two PeeGee trees better here – they start to droop a bit as the blooms get bigger. (The one on the left is ahead of the other one by about a week.)

That brings me to another tip (number four?) – plant them in early summer or late fall if at all possible. It’s a lot of upkeep to keep them healthy and hydrated if you plant in the heat of mid-summer. I think the best time would be early summer so you can enjoy the blooms all season, but you can get some killer deals on them later in the fall, so it’s a hard call. I also think if you plant in the early summer you’ll have a better chance at a healthy, blooming plant the next year, since it has more time to get settled.

That huge mophead above was blooming pink when I bought it and the guy at the nursery said they will turn blue in our soil unless I changed the acidity. I have others that are blooming pink so I don’t know if it’s just this type? I was happy with that though because I have white, purple and pink and wanted blue:

He was right! ;) The new blooms are blue.

Behind that one is a climbing hydrangea I planted last year:

Again, the plant is doing great, but not a bloom in sight. It’s not going to bloom this year at all, I can tell. I’m moving that one to a different spot soon so we’ll see how it does there.

Around the corner from those are a few more – mostly mopheads and one surprise lacecap:

 

This is why you want them to be blooming when you buy. The lacecaps are more delicate – they have little bitty flowers that grow in the middle of the more traditional looking blooms. They are beautiful, but I just prefer the bigger fluffy ones. I am excited to see how these look when they are all blooming though!

Here’s my final big tip – I don’t prune my hydrangeas and they have done great this year. I mentioned earlier this year that I had pruned them and I misspoke a bit – I just (mostly) took all the dead wood off.

This can be tricky because sometimes it’s hard to tell between the normal and dead wood. Most hydrangeas bloom on dead wood – so you want to keep those ugly sticks like mine had last summer:

But I think it helped mine a ton to pull the dead wood out – they just shot up when I did that. I don’t know if it was just coincidence with the timing, but it seemed to help. I just pulled the dead stalks out of the plant – it will give easily if it’s dead. If it doesn’t, leave it.

I did trim down the Pee Gees just a bit though – just some of the tips that were total toast. And it seemed to work! I did this in May of this year – I’ve heard that’s a good time to do it if you’re going to. So I won’t cut them down this winter, and at best I’ll do a tiny bit of pruning next May, but that’s it. Otherwise I’ll leave them alone.

So that’s about it – I’ve learned a lot over the past year! I was determined because hydrangea are one of my all time favorites and I LOVE having them to cut and bring inside:

 

Mine still have a long way to go – most are still tiny compared to a mature plant. But they are doing SO much better than the past. I think I’ve finally figured out how not kill them! Bonus!

Here’s a few other tips:

- If your climate is too warm for hydrangeas, consider the Pee Gee tree. It loves full sun so it should do better for you.

- You can change the color of your blooms with some stuff from the nursery or hardware store, or there are DIY methods too. (I’ve heard nails, pennies, etc.) The color of your blooms depends on the acidity of your soil. (Other than the white ones – those can’t be changed.)

- It seems like they are high maintenance, but once established hydrangeas are easy to take care of – they just need WATER.

- You know those planted hydrangeas you find in the spring/early summer at grocery stores? Yeah, they aren’t really meant to be planted. I had no idea! Go here to read more about that. I still think my one plant that isn’t blooming may be one I got from the grocery that I planted years ago. If it doesn’t bloom next year I’ll replace it.

I hope that helps any of you who have struggled with growing this beautiful plant! Again, I’m no expert but I’m getting there. ;) I think the change I made that made the biggest difference was where I planted them – the afternoon shade is key, at least at our house.

Are you a hydrangea lover? Any great tips I’ve missed? Have you tried and failed at these?

 

**For more on that DIY wood trough with the flowers in our family room go here!