Summer on the front porch

I am a little late with the annual front porch pics, but 2021 has been a HOT summer and shook up the growing season for my potted plants. We had 3 unusual days of SW desert heat here in Oregon-108f, 112f, 117f at the end of June.

 My hydrangea were burned so badly that they will not recover until next season. Camelia shrubs were badly burnt too. As for the potted flowers and plants, they went into dormancy for about 10 days, but with some water, fertilizer, and love they have rebounded quite nicely. 

A few pics from the back Patio

Americana Flag pillows

Every June I stitch up a few fun novelty flag pillows that are great porch sittin' decor!

These are all available for purchase in my etsy shop

Marionberry Farm Store

Plant the Pot!

If you haven't already planted your outdoor container pots, try this simple technique. I am just getting started! We recently returned from a 3 week vacation to Hawaii (that experience will be another post soon😊) so I am playing catch up with my annual summer container plants.

So onward with this amazing and easy way to plant your flowers in containers! Instead of planting the plants, you are going to plant the pots first. This eliminates breakage and damage to the roots and helps with spacing if you are planting several small plants.

The pics below I am planting a hanging basket using this method

First you will want to remove the plant from it's original pot to use the the smaller pot for your template

Below you will want to add soil to the bottom of the larger pot so when you insert the empty pot that it sits just above the rim of the larger pot

Next, you will need to fill in the sides with soil, packing it down firmly. When finished, simply pull out the empty pot.

Last step is to simply drop in your plant and water in.

No broken stems and underfilled pots!

This method works well with multiple small plants for a mixed basket too. Simply place all your small empty pots, fill soil around them, pack down, remove pots and simply drop the plants in the holes.

Front porch sitting Patriotic style

A little patriotic decorating this week for the front porch! I do this every year, but try to add a little twist. I came across this little freedom sign, nothing unique about it other than I liked the aged country farm coloring.

 I drug out my old king size quilt, the colors work really for all summer, but I like it for the 4th. The easy no-sew pillow covers are just fabric wrapped like a gift and safety pinned. Makes the fabric easy to store and I can use the pillow forms for something else.

 Love to have lots of red flowers! I planted this pot with the 4th in mind although the little daisies are not happy in this brutal heat we have been having :( An attack of bud worm has set back my petunias, so the blooms are sparse.

 Above is my shutter "flag" project I worked on last month. I saw a version on pinterest and thought it was an awesome re-purpose of old shutters. I have had a thing for old shutters lately--lots of cool ideas out there!

 I didn't get a real good picture, but I found this cute hypertufa watering can planter at a garage sale to add to my watering can collection.

Below is the evening view from our front porch. Panorama pics didn't work too well. We have farmland on two sides, and some nice Cascade foot hills and mountain views. In the first picture (hard to see) there is a peek at Mt. Jefferson. Not too much snow left on it.

 

 Watch for a tutorial on this shutter "flag" and other shutter re-purpose fun later this month

Let Freedom ring!

Happy 4th of July!

Fall on the porch

As most have figured out, I like to decorate my large porch! Fall decorating comes a bit later for me. It is really hard to let go of my summer flower pots as they tend to linger well into October since we usually do not have the killing frosts until late November here in western Oregon.
With a big change in the weather coming this week, I decided it was time to make the transition even tho it was 75f and nice warm breeze!

 I have to admit, the wagon was not my idea, it was inspiration from Pinterest and I just happened to have a red wagon to pull it off.

 I picked up the black enamel camp pot at an estate sale this summer. Usually you don't see many this color or the wider stockier shape. Kinda cool to add to a fall display too!

 And of course, my trusty wood carrier, always transitions to any seasons display!

 Normally not a big fan of mums, but I couldn't resist these yellow ones, they were like big fluffy cushions!

 Love this metal sunflower sculpture I picked up several years ago.

  A couple of "go to" pieces that seem to always fit. Vintage metal watering can and the wood picket fence wall hanger. Some of the pumpkins are "real" and some are not! Quite a conversation piece for our visitors to try figure out!

I hope you enjoyed the mini tour!

Patriotic Porch

Having a little fun this week decorating my porch space for the holiday weekend. This the first time I decorated for the 4th of July, usually I just use one them and leave it up all summer, but I decided changing things up a little would be fun.

 I grabbed this old king size quilt from my linen closet, perfect fit for the teak bench I must say! I had this wonderful vintage tablecloth pillow sham that had all the right colors.

I gathered up a few coordinating treasures. I forgot I had these colorful Burpee seed mugs tucked in the back of a cupboard. I need to use these this summer, they are perfect for the season. Picked a handful of bachelor buttons (or cornflowers as the farmers here call them)

One of my favorite display pieces is this old wood flat. Fun to just tuck in what I can find. Goes well with the wispy pink baby's breath, alyssum and brachycome daisies.

I went to the back shed and found this old window that I have used in a number of places mainly the back patio or on my back fence, and thought-why not? So here it is above the bench. I had some vintage looking flag fabric in my stash and simply gathered it up to dress the window a bit.

just throwing in a close up on my up-cycled chair I did a couple years ago. The brachycome flowers are planted in a hard hat that I punched holes into for drainage.

all set to kick off my shoes and watch the fireworks from the porch!

Happy 4th of July to all my bloggie friends!