An old bench turned into a really great planter.

I had been eyeballing this bench all summer. My brother made it years ago. It has been outside. The squirrels like to chew on the edges.  It was starting to fall apart, the leg on the left side was getting ready to crash, a roof piece (far right) was cracked. It was headed for the garbage at the rate it was decaying.

On Sunday night at 7pm, I visualized a planter. Clear as a bell.

I realized the three boards that made the seat, and had the same patina as the rest of the bench, could be added to help form the box to hold pots. (I do not put dirt directly in wooden planters and window boxes).



My husband finished his part Tuesday night. It took three evenings for him to deconstruct, cut, repair, and reassemble. And I made at least three trips to Lowe’s for supplies.

Even though the pots were empty, Middle had to help my husband carry the finished bench out to the driveway Tuesday night. I had helped him carry it in the garage to work on it. But with  2” x 4” 's added, underneath to hold the pots, it was too heavy for me to carry very far when it was done.



Wednesday morning, I had to move, paver stones and a bin, early so my husband could help me put the bench in place before he left for work. I could not carry it from little bay of garage to driveway, but I could help move it 4 feet.

Then I filled the pots. Mums are planted now for fall. I will put Zinnias in this planter in the summer. I am buying a second set of pots so I can (hopefully) winter the mums in the garage (in 1st set of pots). And start zinnias (2nd set of pots) from seed, in the garage, in the spring.

And I was super super happy. Not only is the planter great, we saved something my brother made years ago. I wish I had thought of it sooner. Because I am very excited to have a place sunny enough for mums and zinnias.

It is in a sunny spot which is rare in our yard.

And it helps hide the air conditioner.

And it was a forced clean out of a spot which tends to gather clutter and could  be seen from the street.

The blue in the background is two kiddie pools. The bottom one is full of sod/dirt which is drying so it can be reused. The top pool keeps out the rain and dew. After it is all dry, the grass roots are easy to remove and the clean dirt will go around that Red Twigged Dogwood on the corner. 

It was a miracle I found (square!) pots which fit perfectly (in black!).

If we had been making this planter from scratch, I would have bought the pots first and built around their size. Second set of pots also serves as back up when one eventually cracks.

My husband drilled holes in bottom of pots. The holes line up with the space between the support boards underneath. There were very short little legs on the pots, they sit directly on the support boards.

I did not add a layer of stones to bottom (because of weight). Instead I put in a layer of weed tarp to keep the hole open for drainage. First time I have ever done that.

So water does not drain directly on the wood, and air can circulate.  We will see how that works.

Chipmunk traps back in operation

After major damage to a car last year, we started (kill) trapping chipmunks. My husband caught a couple dozen last October. And then average about one a day spring and early summer. So we are talking between 75-100 chipmunks. We have dogs in our yard every day. Neighbors have cats. So my husband puts the traps in houses to protect the other animals. The original houses were made of stone. The stone is now in walls all over the yard. We switched to treated wood houses with paver roofs. 

My husband finished building all the wooden chipmunk trap houses last week. 

Four are now set against the house, various places in yard. He has caught one chipmunk and 2 mice in the last few days. 

But ants are eating peanut butter bait. 

So I mixed up Borax Ant Poison. 

I put make-up remover cotton pads in peanut-butter jar lids. Poured poison on top. Husband put one in each trap house. 

Why, yes, thanks

Walking on one of the connecting sidewalks between the golf course, the pup found a golf ball offering, she was very excited.

Added a path on Saturday

I dug a shallow bed, my husband fitted the stones like casual puzzle pieces, we leveled by eye and feel, we replaced dirt between them.

Path from opposite side -

The pool is full of dirt, covered with rain forecast. When it is dry, we will be able to separate grass roots from dirt.

Digging grass roots, sometimes it is the only solution

Grass invaded this little triangle bed several years so.

It was most annoying. I tried pulling and weed killer, but could not get rid of it.

And it really bothered me.

Last spring, I realized the only solution was to dig thoroughly enough to get all the roots.

And I did. I had to take the creeping sedum down to the bare roots. And I had to pitch the dirt and replace it with fresh.

Then I replanted carefully.

It was an couple hours effort that was well worth it.

The clematis was a self starter. And it is very happy with the creeping sedum shading its roots.

Young House Love has a podcast

A friend kindly mentioned this podcast.

Very enjoyable.

Started with episode 1, working my way forward.

Their blog, I started with current day, but then I go back and read the ones featured at the bottom of that day’s post. So I am reading archives, of similar topics, in small increments, which is easy on my brain.

Silent Witness

I spotted a young Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch yesterday, so they are old, but well written.

BBC’s Silent Witness, on Amazon Prime, 22 seasons.

I am on season 7. My mother is in the teens. We are both enjoying it.

We did a house and garden tour earlier this month

It is an old area of town that has mostly been maintained. Many many houses have been totally restored.

The oldest house in that neighborhood was built in 1840’s, is brick, has one room downstairs and a loft upstairs and a fireplace. That is it.

The houses on the tour this year were built in 1887, 1875, 1869, 1894, 1910, 1867, 1895, 1872, 1914,  1867.

Many houses have old stables that were converted to garages or guest houses.

Most of the houses are inhabited and wonderfully done.

A couple houses (on the tour every year) are in the process of reconstruction. Two this year did not even have inside walls. Those are our favorites, because next year they are likely to be on the tour, complete.

As much as we love the houses, the gardens are really fun, because this is an old section of town with small lots, or narrow/deep lots.

The houses are very close together.

And people have been very creative in very little space.

They have figured out how to have a lot of privacy while close to lots of neighbors.

One year we walked into a backyard that had an in ground pool (and we could not believe it).

The plants are great, but mostly it is the design we notice: paths, stones, furniture, water, fences, decks, outdoor buildings, terraces, balconies, roof top decks.

Most of the gardens, on the tour over the years, are magazine quality.

Every bit of every space has been carefully considered and used. They are very polished and very clever.

In our yard, the area at the top of the driveway, where we just put in an upper and lower walled garden, is the same amount of space as many of their (whole back) yards.

It is like a blank canvas to me. My husband has been leveling out the ground all summer. There are three trees and two raised beds, with a nice space around them.

And we are pretty capable around here. So I am considering floating wooden decks (they sit on the ground, not cemented in ground) and large pavers and other options.

I would be interested in finding someone who works with design in that old neighborhood to help me with ideas for my space. Because I would like it to have that clever, small space feel.

We have just sort of winging it so far.

But the end result is three stone walls in the back, and they are exactly the sort of design details that I love in gardens.

Tableau (Not in my yard, these are all from around my neighborhood)

I did a double take

Looked out the living room window on Tuesday and something looked funny.

There used to be a trampoline out there. Neighbors took it down while I was running errands on Monday.

It was under huge trees and the kids had to sweep it in order to play on it, so they did not play on it very often.

The two families their kids play with have trampolines in their yards. They play on those all the time.

It left a huge dirt area where it killed the grass. So they will have to reseed.

It makes a big (positive)  difference in their yard and ours.

Two remain

We helped our backdoor neighbor take down the hedge between our houses, Saturday.

The bush right behind their swing set, we left. 

There is one further down that we left too. 

I had taken out 6 dead ones earlier in the spring. We took out the nearly dead ones (maybe 7) on Saturday. So just two remain. 

My app says they are viburnum. 

My app also says we have three viburnum on our driveway (that thrive). 

Hopefully the last two hedge bushes, and my flower beds, do much better with more light and air. 

Picture This

These are screen shots from my phone of what this flower identification (Picture This) app does.

Super easy to use.

Can take photos on the app, or use pictures already stored on your phone.

It will identify plants from a leaf too, it does not have to be a bloom.

I think $20 a year.

This (below) is one of two things I identified for a neighbor. The other was a Lilac identified from leaf only.

Rose of Sharon - clump/bush style - pictures not from my yard

These pictures are from around my neighborhood. And since I did not include people nor the house, I think they are okay to post.

Theses bushes are several different Rose of Sharon plants planted together, note the different colored blooms.

This might be a common thing, but somehow I did not notice them until this fall. Even though I have been walking and driving by these exact houses for years.

My hedge has several different colors planted together (white, white/pink center, pink/pink center, purple/pink center. They are all singles. And on my wish list is to add additional colors types to my hedge.

bathroom shelves, version 3

I had odds and ends on these bathroom shelves for years. At the time I did it, I liked it, but it came to feel like a dusty mishmash.

And then I collected the little chairs (from around the house) and filled the area.

I do like identical collections in the yard and the house.

The white cubbies are from Target (maybe on clearance now).

But I kept looking at the space and wondering if it could be a bit more functional.

The two big cubbies hold towels (hand in one, bath in other).

The four long cubbies:
Extra bags of Epson salt
Youngest’s bathroom stuff
Tissue box
Middle’s bathroom stuff

The girls are in our tub and shower a lot. The tub is the only one in the house; the other two have showers. And when we have a lot of extra people, youngest is in our shower, so she keeps duplicates in our bathroom.

The huge canister is full of Epson salt.

I think it is now the right amount of little chairs.

I still love the dark grouping of three and it is the perfect place for it.

I added Hosta to the extra little wall in the back

Twenty Hosta added to the long bed in the back. Yes they are sun burnt. They were in a too sunny spot at my mom’s. There were three at her house. Sunday, we dug and then divided and planted 20 at our house. 

This is the view from our kitchen window. Hopefully it all thrives and makes a sweet view. 

Hosta

There are over 100 Hosta in the yard:
two in front,
several against the back of the house,
one long bed very full in the back.

They have bloomed at various times. I have not gotten pictures of most them.

Next year, I will try to remember.

I did get a picture of the two in the front, side bed.

This was one plant. I divided off a bit and made a second plant a few years ago, maybe when I planted the black eyed Susan’s.

It was not in full bloom when I took the picture, but I was afraid I would miss it. I will take another picture (hopefully) and add it.

Dwarf Joe Pye Weed

This is my inspiration piece, growing in a neighbor’s front yard:

Lower/back bed

Starting in the corner of the two stone walls,
and headed toward the driveway, the first row houses:
Hyssop
Opening Act Blush Phlox (3)
Neptune Catmint (3)
Pardon my Purple Bee Balm

Second row;
Lupine
Double Scoop Cranberry Coneflower (3)
Vernique Rose Speedwell (3)
Royal Candle Spike Speedwell


Third row:
White Siberian Iris
Pow wow coneflower (3)
Pink Dianthus (3)
Walkers Low Catmint

Fourth row:
White Siberian Iris (there are 3 total across the back)
Bachelor buttons (3)
So many balloon flowers!

Fifth row:
Balsam (Touch Me Not) (annual)
Purple Siberian Iris
Spider Wort
Virginia Knotweed
Coral bells (5)

Added later,
Across the bottom/toward the driveway
From left to right
Sweet William
(Mystery stalk)
Magadi dark blue Lobeli

And we are pretty full.

There are 3 white irises, everything else is blue, pink, dark red, purple. which I will like. The front yard has a lot of yellow (and purple and white). But there is no yellow in the back.


Not everything will survive (probably). But the only way to add something is as a replacement, so that will make it okay.

I am super pleased. And it will be very fun in the spring/summer. It is very visual from the driveway.

My across the street neighbor who has a huge perennial bed in the front, that I enjoy, came over to see it and said - very tidy.

This new lower/back bed is very orderly. And everything is planted so it (hopefully) fills in.

No one else sees the point of the little paver stones, but I need them for reference. I will map out an actual plot drawing, so I have a good visual. And the stones are vital for that, to have spacing correct enough to identify plants in the spring as they pop.

And I can add bulbs in the spaces I left between the pavers.

And this is from the top of a stepladder,
Taken from the side,
Driveway to the right,
Rose of Sharon Hedge to the left.

Extra little wall

On the left, against wall, Spider Wort.
On the right, against wall, Astilbe.
In front (invisible corner), crab apple tree (start).
In back left, behind wall, a boxwood.
(Far right, Liropa that I will probably move next year.)

Yes, this is the area where nothing likes to grow.
These are (almost all) replaceable hand-me-down starts, that I can get again, from neighbors.

And If I Perish

And If I Perish
by Evelyn Monahan & Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee.

Nurses during WWII.
Female greatest generation.

My mother (age 78 and a retired nurse) highly recommends it.

I sent it to Gretchen Rubin as a suggestion.

I am catching Chris

Chris Guillebeau
SideHustle

He posted 964 today.
I am on 930.

I will be current before he hits 1000.

I downloaded two new (to me) podcasts to try:

And I have a couple weeks worth of Gretchen/Elizabeth, Liz/Sarah, Do the Thing, and The Moth.

And I still have major This American Life archives.

So I will not be out of podcasts when I am current with SideHustle.

And I have several audible books in my queue.

Rose of Sharon Trees

Rose of Sharon are in the hibiscus family.

I think the only difference between a (Rose of Sharon) tree and bush is how it was trimmed/shaped.

We have hundreds of bushes.

We have two trees, whose buds are different than the hedge. I think the trees are “doubles”.

Window boxes 2019

Bittersweet

We have three huge archways. 

I moved the clematis off the first one. I pitched the wisteria off the second one (that was a tough job, massive roots, but poor plant). And I replanted both with bittersweet, which had already been planted on the third. The kids sent me the bittersweet in the spring. 

First archway. One plant thriving, three not doing much that I can see.

2nd archway (5 plants that are doing so so)

3rd archway which is full, but has never bloomed

Rose of Sharon

I will try to remember to get a picture of the whole hedge when it is in full bloom. But posting at least these three now, so it is documented. 

This hedge is almost 50’. The blooms are shades of white, pink, purple. Several hundred Rose of Sharon in this hedge. 

It runs between us and one of our (two) backdoor neighbor’s. 

On our side it is just a hedge. On her side, it is the back of a border with Hosta and day lilies planted in front of it. I missed a picture of those in bloom, will try to catch them next year.