A LOVELY SPRING REMINDER

 Blossom by Blossom Spring Begins....

AMAZING FALL...DALLAS ARBORETUM & BOTANICAL GARDEN

Welcome to TLB's first Tuesday blog!

The new schedule may take a bit of getting used to, but I believe it will work out quite nicely. The next 8-10 months are going to be quite busy in many ways for me.

Hubby and I did a little more acclimating over the weekend. We ventured to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. What a pleasant surprise it was for us! 

The day was simply lovely......the temperature was perfect and our tour was breathtaking! The colors and creations were outstanding! The talented artisans are to be commended on the painstakingly executed buildings and grounds that simply take your breath away.

Here is one example.......and yes, these horses are made from corn stalks!

COME VISIT---TLB's SPRING PINTEREST BOARD

Happy Wednesday friends!

Are you getting in the Spring mood yet? Maybe your weather isn't quite ready for outdoor

gardening, maybe it is....whatever your situation may be it's never to late or to early to plan what you will plant this year.....or how you will decorate your porch.

I'm sharing my SPRING PINTEREST board with all of you. Hopefully some of the ideas I've posted will inspire your own inner gardener!

Grab that coffee, tea, latte, smoothie or whatever makes you happy.......and browse the possibilities.........

https://www.pinterest.com/mayber0708/spring/

ENJOY!

Kathleen

TLB'S COLORFUL BLOOMS--GRECIAN URNS & MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! 

BEAUTIFUL MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY

The girls all came home and we spent some great family time together. The temps were in the 90's and one of our air conditioners decided to quit, but never fear, the girls had a plan.

They hopped in the car and made a 911 trip to Wal-Mart, grabbed a pool and all of the makings for a great Strawberry Daiquiris and what a wonderful BIRTHDAY it turned out to be! I love our creative daughters!!

The celebration continued inside when my hubby and daughters continued to amaze me. The girls decorated the house and made my favorite cupcakes! The recipe is something my Mom has used for years and can be found on the Hershey's cocoa can. Our family is obsessed with them. YUMMY!

If you didn't already know I am a big Coco Chanel fan and have been for years. Take a look at how my youngest decorated the cupcakes and the adorable picks that she found to decorate them with on Etsy!

The girls all found poems and phrases that were either my favorites or something they felt was appropriate for me on Etsy, and then framed them. They made them for my TLB office. I just love them!!! 

  COLORFUL BLOOMS & GRECIAN URNS

Today's blog is all about everything that I planted 6 weeks ago. Marigolds are now a sea of yellow as you walk up the sidewalk to the front door. I chose Marigolds for a couple of reasons. #1 Deer don't like them and #2 they are so easy to care for. Food, water and dead heading and they will produce blooms into the Fall.

The urns on the porch each contain a burgundy spike, several Marigolds, two Petunia vines, and two Licorice plants. 

We have used the same urns for the past 4 homes on our porches. I just LOVE them! They are quite heavy and are made of a molded composite material. They originally were the color of "old"  concrete Grecian urns. My husband spray painted them last year for me because black looked much more appealing with this house. I love the details in the urn.

Last year we had Boxwoods planted around the perimeter and one side of the house. Our thoughts are to grow them to windowsill height and let them grow together into a nice tailored hedge.I love a beautiful brick home with a nicely manicured hedge! Boxwood is something deer won't eat...so one day, God willing, there will be a hedge. Until then it's fun to watch them flourish.

Well, that about wraps up the color in the front yard. I am waiting for the second crop of Midnight Salvia (in the forefront of the photo) to bloom once again. And in front of them is a row of the yellow Marigolds. Keeping it simple is what I'm all about!

Wishing you a colorful day!

Kathleen

****Thanks so much for stopping by. See you on Wednesday for a great DIY pantry project!

WELCOME TO OUR HOME--THE LAVENDER BOUQUET SPRING 2014 OUTDOOR TOUR

Good Morning Wednesday my friends!

I am so pleased and humbled that The Lavender Bouquet is being shared and viewed by so many new friends!! WELCOME TO ALL OF YOU, and THANK YOU to the many friends that have been with me since The Lavender Bouquet became more than a dream in June 2013!

Don't forget to sign up to have the blog delivered directly to your inbox. Just add your email address in the box on the right hand side of this page. Many of you have already found "The Lavender Bouquet Facebook" page also. I typically add other articles and share things there that may not appear on my  tri-weekly blog. This is a public page so if you aren't a Facebooker, no problem, just Google The Lavender Bouquet Facebook!

I am feeling pretty accomplished this morning. Over the weekend the hubby and I worked outside getting things in shape for Spring. Then on Monday, I finished up all of the loose ends, getting the pots planted and plants in the ground. I even had enough energy to clean my house from top to bottom yesterday. Looking back, I have no idea where that energy came from. I fell into bed last night and didn't remember anything until I woke up at 6:00 a.m. this morning! 

Sharing the fruits of our labor with you........

I love our yard in the Spring. It has taken nearly 3 years to get it to this point. The neighbors told us it used to be quite a sea of dandelions and now it's lush and beautiful. Thank you Tru-Green!

When we bought the house there were no landscaping beds in the backyard at all. Hubby, poor guy, carved three new beds for me so that we could add a bit of color to the otherwise green scape. In all fairness to the previous owners, our deer problem makes it quite difficult to plant anything and have it last! Everyone in our area, uses the RUTGERS Landscape guide as their bible......hence why I made the choices that I did for plants. Time will tell if they are correct!

In the first bed I planted Janie Deep Orange Marigolds, Black Knight and Royal Red Butterfly bushes, and a plume grass, Miscanthus sinesis Silberfeder. It will have these striking flower plumes of copper and then turns a beautiful silver color. It grows 6-8 feet so it, along with the butterfly bushes will fill the bed in nicely.

The center photo is the Boston ferns that just thrive on our patio. They will at least triple in size by the end of summer.

In the third photo is the other new garden that hubby made for me. We have two HUGE beautiful evergreens that provide us afternoon shade and privacy. By adding the garden in the forefront we will now have a bit of purple from the Midnight Salvia (perennial) and yellow from the Janie Primrose Marigolds. I tried these plants last year in the front of the house and the bunnies and deer left them alone.

I was trying to explain to my mother what color flowers I was using on the patio this year. The first thing that came to mind was, Mexican Fiesta! Because I have black and white stripe patio throw pillows for my chairs, I wanted to open up the colors to a more vibrant palette. Last year I had the deep purples, pinks and yellows. I wanted to try something new and I really wanted a certain color red to be the primary.

I headed to my favorite neighborhood landscape store, Kales, and sure enough RED MADNESS Petunias jumped out at me. They are very large blooms and grow a bit taller than

I have had before, so it should get a nice pop of red.  Continuing on with my bright new palette, I added Blue Superbells (which are really deep purple), Coconut (white) Sunsatia, and Janie Deep Orange Marigolds. In some pots I changed up the lime color this year by adding Creeping Jenny instead of my tried and true Sweet Potato vine that I had used for years. In the planter near the new garden I used Coleus and more Red Madness.

                   MY MEXICAN FIESTA COLLECTION

Last, but not least..........the BLUE bench vignette.  Last year hubby installed this beautiful arbor for me and this year it just got better. He added hooks for me to hang my Boston ferns on each side. I added colorful pansies to the Boxwood planters. Of course the addition of the transformed blue bench cannot be complete without a cute little Pink Boot Planter. 

A little history on the planter........hubby and I were at Cracker Barrel having breakfast and of course I had to peruse the gift shop. I found these plastic formed  planter boots.  I had to have them, AND I had  to buy my MOM some too! I wasn't keen on the Army green that they were painted, no offense to our soldiers in the Army, so keeping my blue bench in mind, PINK came to mind. I know you are surprised! 

I spray painted them in a Valspar Bubble Gum Gloss.  I love them!! I am a sucker for whimsy things like this. Just a touch goes a long way in my book. In the meantime, my Mom got her Mother's Day package, loved it and called me to tell me she was painting hers pink!!! Genetics! 

Well, that about wraps up what's been going on at my house. Whew, a lot of work but so satisfying. As every year passes, I feel our house is transforming to be what I envisioned when we bought it. 

I hope that I have inspired your creative side, and would love to hear about some of your Spring ideas that bring your home to life!

Don't forget to stop back on Foodie Friday for another delish dish....another easy dish that would be great for a picnic OR a nice addition to your dinner menu!

                                                                Kathleen