Container garden inspiration

The pop of color from the red and white chairs, paired with the white flowers and columns caught my eye.  Gorgeous patio!

There are simple things you can do to spruce up your deck or patio.

Click here for lots of inspiration from Home and Garden Television.

Leaf Stepping Stones

One of my favorite garden projects is creating with concrete!

I've been seeing these leaf creations lately and would 

love to make some  for my garden.

Here is my favorite . . . the leaf creations used in a water feature!

Click here for a tutorial on how to make them!

Margaret's Container Gardening Tips

Planting in containers is my preferred method of gardening.  Containers can add a new dimension of color and texture to your garden.


One of my newest discoveries on the internet is "A Way To Garden" by Margaret Roach.  


Click here for an awesome article and podcast with Margaret's Container Gardening Tips.  The awesome photo comes from that article!

Beautiful Flowering Variegated Gingers

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year in subtropical Florida.  The Captain and I visited Busch Gardens this month and will be featuring plants and landscaping from the beautiful gardens.

The first in the series is 

Variegated Gingers

Flowering variegated gingers were featured in this raised bed at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida.

A close up shows the beautiful flowers that remind me of clusters of pearls.

The variegated ginger is a green tropical perennial which grows up to ten feet tall outdoors and 3–4 feet tall indoors. 

They do very well in the shade as well as the morning sun, however, they don't do well in the hot afternoon sun.  They are reasonably drought tolerant with little insect or disease problems. 

For more information on these showy, easy to grow plant, visit my webpage dedicated to growing gingers.

Yard Art ~ Spoon Plant Markers

Yard art is like jewelry for the garden!

What a fun idea for those yard sale, thrift store and flea market finds that you can pick up for almost nothing, but can make such an awesome impact in your garden.  I've seen some really cute yard art projects using old spoons . . . guess I won't be passing these up at future thrift sales anymore!

Want to make these for your garden?

Click here for the tutorial!

Growing tomatoes in winter

Although we experienced our first night of freezing temps last night, my thoughts are on starting tomato and pepper seeds early this winter.  It has been a mild winter for us in Zone 9 Florida and I've done it before, but it has been a long time since I experimented with this theory.  

Once the seedlings are big enough to transplant, they need to be grown in containers so they can be moved inside in case of a prolonged freeze.  We may just leave the containers in our carport area where they are protected.  It is worth a try to get a jump start on the growing season.  The containers are currently sitting out there empty . . . and seeds are relatively inexpensive.  

Time to order seeds!

Check out the Customer Favorites Tomatoes, now available at Burpee.com!