Landscape Inspiration

Love this landscape makeover!  You would not believe the transformation from the "before" photo.

The DIY Channel has posted a very impressive gallery of landscape makeovers that will inspire you to start on your landscape project.

Click here to go to the gallery.

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Benefits of Using Coffee Grounds in Compost

There is something about coffee that plants love.  One of the things I do is water my plants with left over diluted coffee.  It is like a drink of fertilizer for them.

There are many benefits to using coffee grounds in compost.  Read about those benefits here in an excellent article from Plant Care Today.

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Save Time and Money in the Garden

Everyone loves to save money and time is precious!  

Check out some tips and tricks used by another gardener . . . click here.

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How to Grow Flowering Mandevilla Vine

Love the showy flowering mandevilla vine grown on a trellis.  We had a beautiful mandevilla with pink flowers that died in one of our harsh winters.  It was one of my favorite plants!

If you would love to grow a mandevilla, click here for an excellent plant profile.

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How To Make Faux Rocks

Rocks and boulders make an awesome statement in the garden landscape, but real ones are really heavy and expensive.  So, why not make your own?

Click here to go to a tutorial from Instructables that takes you step by step with lots of photos.

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Container Plants for the Shade

Love a shady garden!

When I moved into my house, several decades ago, it was a shady yard with large oak trees and citrus trees. Before that time, I thought growing in full sun was the only way to go, but I was so wrong!

Coleus plants are one of my favorites to bring bold color to the garden without flowers . . . and they are grown in such a wide variety of leaf shapes and colors. There are many other plants that are shade loving.

If you grow in the shade or would like to, click here for an excellent article on plants to grow and how to care for them.

Happy gardening!

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Plants/Planting Tips For Zones 9-11

Love the color in that garden!

If you need a guide for what plants to buy and planting tips for gardening in zones 9-11, click here for an excellent article from Gardening Know How.

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Tea Cup Mosaic Stepping Stone

This stepping stone is beautiful.  While it is heartbreaking to break a treasured tea cup from your collection, all is not lost!

Click here to go to the tutorial.

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Awesome Succulent Ideas

Succulents are the perfect plants for those with a brown thumb!

They are beautiful and so versatile . . . perfect for container gardens.

Click here for an articles with all kinds of ideas and inspiration.

Hope you find something to inspire you!

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Inspiration from Brenda's Patio

It has been years and years since I've followed Brenda's life adventures through her blog, Cozy Little House. She and her precious dogs went from a large house in Texas with a gorgeous yard with babbling brooks and waterfalls, to a small house in Oklahoma and finally has settled in her tiny apartment in Oklahoma.

The photo is from her latest blog post about entertaining outdoors. Click here to go to the post and get a look at the rest of her impressive patio garden.

Her patio garden is a run of the mill apartment concrete patio.  She has used her imagination and turned it into a very impressive, peaceful place.  She takes container gardening to a new dimension.  I want that gazebo!

Hope you draw some inspiration from Brenda!  If she can create a paradise from a concrete floor, those of us with a real yard can create a beautiful and peaceful place too :)  Check out the rest of her blog for great home dec ideas for indoors too.

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The Summer Garden

Summer gardening can be totally overwhelming!

Experienced gardeners have come up with many tips and tricks to make it less overwhelming and more enjoyable.  One of those tips is setting aside 15 minutes a day . . . a concept I like to use for any task. I've found that once you get in the habit of doing something every day, it becomes routine and actually extends beyond the 15 minutes.

One gardening blog, Tenth Acre Farm, has laid out an excellent plan as a guide to June gardening which most tasks are also good for the whole summer. Check it out here.  Awesome blog!

Happy Gardening!

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Flowering Perennials

Bursts of color all over the garden can be a spectacular and soothing sight. One of my favorite things to do is color-coordinate sections.

Click here for an article on Flowering Perennials from Better Homes and Gardens.  Plan for continuous color by mixing perennials and annuals.  It is fun to experiment!

Happy Gardening!

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More Gardening Tips and Tricks

One of the things that I love about the internet is gardening benefits through other gardeners sharing their tips and tricks through their blogs.

Today I ran across an excellent article with some great photos for vegetable gardening inspiration, along with tips and tricks that you may find useful.

Click here for the article from Live, Laugh, Farm.

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Container Plant Inspiration

Some beautiful container plant gardening inspiration!

Source

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Sago Palm Outdoor Care

The photo is from my paradise before a few harsh winters wiped out the landscape.  My beloved sago palm is at the bottom left of the photo.  It was killed by an infestation that hit Florida hard.  Love sago palms!

Click here for a excellent article on the sago palm that grows in zones 8 through 10.

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Upcycled Container Gardens, Planters and Vases

Love these cute containers!  A trip to the thrift store, a yard sale or flea market searching for potential items for cute container gardening can be so much fun and add so much personality to your container garden.

Click here for a gallery of photos for inspiration.

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Quick Gardening Tips

Keep your garden looking good through the summer with awesome gardening tips from Old World Gardens.

Click here to go to the informative article.

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Tomato Plants: 10 Gardener Mistakes

Taking a line from an article in Plant Care Today, birds and insects find tomatoes as tasty as we do!

Love this informative article on growing tomatoes . . . click here.

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Natural Ways to Combat Aphids

Finding an infestation of aphids on one of your favorite plants is not something you want to see in the garden.

One of the tricks I learned to combat aphids is to keep the leaves clean, even if it is just a routine spray of water.  Once you experience aphids, you don't want to go there again.

Frugal Family Home has an excellent post on aphids that is very informative on all aspects of these pests. Click here to go to the article.

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Prune tomato plants for a healthy productive crop

Proper pruning can be an effective practice for producing strong and productive tomato plants.

Click here for an article from Old World Garden Farms on how they prune their tomato plants.

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DIY Concrete Countertop For Your Outdoor Kitchen

Concrete is a durable and inexpensive solution to your outdoor kitchen countertops.

I've worked with concrete on many outdoor projects for decades and many of them are still intact and functional.  In addition, concrete was fun to work with and once I started, it was so addicting that I kept thinking of new projects to work on.  Try it!

Click here for an excellent article on creating a concrete countertop for your outdoor kitchen.

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Beginners Guide to Succulents

Succulents seem to be all the rage . . . I'm seeing them everywhere!  I've always loved hens and chicks, but I have not had luck growing them.

They are perfect plants for container gardening and so cute.

Click here for a beginners guide to growing these little beauties.  I'll be updating this post as I find more links.

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Blue Plumbago: How to grow

Before an unusually brutal winter wiped out most of my paradise, my blue plumbago stood out like a shining gem.  It was started from a cutting from my mother-in-law's garden, like most of my other plants.  The cutting grew into a beautiful bush that always had butterflies hovering around it.  

When we get our paradise beautiful and thriving again, the blue plumbago for sure will be prominent in the garden again.

I highly recommend this beautiful bush for your landscape.

Click here for an excellent article from Plant Care Today on growing these beauties.

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