COLORFUL CHRISTMAS CONTAINER GARDENING

Greetings TLB friends!

***** PLEASE EXCUSE THE FORMATTING ISSUE THERE APPEARS TO BE SOMETHING WRONG WITH BLOGGER TODAY!!

I know I may seem a little presumptuous thinking ahead to Christmas but........since we're in such a warm climate I thought I should get a bit of a head start so that the plants will be in full bloom for Christmas.

Ron and I took a trip to Lowe's and when I saw these beautiful Cranberry Pentas they became my tall focal point in the pot. These plants are loved by butterflies and their blooms are from 2-3 inches in width. I thought this would be a perfect explosion of holiday color. Isn't it funny how a color scheme starts with one plant?

Vining petunias grow well here with just a little pruning so I added white for a nice contrast with the Cranberry. Since Dusty Miller is one of my absolute favorites for a zip of contrast, and they finally arrived here in Florida, I added those for that silvery/white contrast. It reminds me of when we were children and we added those silver tinsel that glistened on the Christmas tree. My mother LOVED these, so we always had a ton of them covering our live Christmas trees! Did you have tinsel on your Christmas trees? Link to tinsel: https://www.walmart.com/ip/500ct-Silver-Tinsel-Icicle-Christmas-Garland-Strands-18/118257419

Of course this photo reflects just the beginning of my vision, but in a few weeks the color will all come alive and with some good pruning and a little "magic Miracle Grow." along the way, maybe, just maybe by Christmas----my planter will be overflowing with Christmas color!!

Whether you live in the North or the South, in my world, it's NEVER too early to start thinking of Christmas or the holidays in general!!

Happy Planting!

Kathleen

UNIQUE DIY PUMPKIN DESIGN

Happy Fall TLB friends!

Once I flip the calendar to October I dream of comfy sweaters, warm cider, fresh apples and my WNY childhood! Fast forward to today.....hubby and I live in FLORIDA! Hmmmm....with temps in the 90's this northern girl needed some inspiration to jump on the Fall bandwagon.

Fast forward....when the mail arrives is a catalog I love called Ballard Design. I've ordered from Ballard in the past so I leafed quickly through the pages. I stumbled upon the cutest pumpkin ever. It was a plaid pattern in black and white. Of course, it reminded me of the MacKenzie Childs patterns in black and white also. 

I grabbed a white pumpkin from Big Lots, opened my box of stencil paints, found the perfect black, and got busy. Half way into the project as I worked with my hand, that's not as steady as it used to be, I decided to make stripes instead of a plaid look.

Below you'll see my final results...........I even added some of hubby's pheasant feathers from one of his hunts.

I do "LOVE" the way colors have evolved for our seasons. Decorating with black and white pumpkins was unheard of back in the day---unless you were MacKenzie and Childs.

What colors have worked themselves into your Fall color palette? Feel free to share with us, it's always fun to discover new ways to decorate!

In closing I am including a beautiful Fall photo from our NJ home. Our yard was full of color every Fall. 

   Hope you enjoyed today's post!

                                                          Kathleen