My Poor Plants

What happens when you have a month of 100+ degree temps, hardly any rain, and then forget to water your plants for a day or two:

BEFORE

AFTER

Whoops!! Guess I’ve been spending too much time in the pool!  Luckily the rest of my garden doesn’t look quite this bad!

French Quarter Lace

I spent a couple days last week with my sister in New Orleans.  One of my favorite things about the city is the beautiful iron balconies in the French Quarter.

It’s always interesting to see how people decorate their balconies with plants and flowers.

Most of these condos/apartments don’t have an outdoor space (aside from a shared courtyard perhaps), so they have to make do with the space they have.

While researching my genealogy in high school, I learned that one of my ancestors was an iron-worker and some of his work can be found in the French Quarter.  It’s so neat to think that a piece of my history could be on any one of these balconies!

Tomorrow I’ll share more details from our shopping adventures!   

Sharing today’s post with:

       

Wordless Wednesday: My New Fuchsia Plant

Treasures From Canton

Between the two of us, my friend and I filled up her whole SUV with treasures from our trip to the Canton Trade Days.  Most of my purchases were for outdoors.  They have great plant/flower vendors this time of year with great prices and beautiful varieties.

These gorgeous double petunias have already found the perfect spot in my fence boxes:

Edited to add: these petunias are actually purple.  It seems they are coming across as blue on some computer monitors (including mine).  It is so hard to get an accurate photo of flower colors!

I should have gotten one more of these potato vine plants.  At $6.00 each, they were half the price of the ones at a local nursery.  I also got the stand for $15.00.

I got two of these Snow on the Mountain (also known as Bishop’s Weed) to hang in my carport.  They should get a lot bigger.

A sparkly little jeweled fleur de lis iron stake found a home in my hydrangeas:

And a cute little air plant and hand painted rock make a unique little display on the lower shelf of a plant stand:

We were seeing these old chairs painted up in fun colors and used as plant stands in several booths:

But at $30-$40 each, I knew I could find something cheaper, and I did! I spotted this cute yellow chair for $5: 

I haven’t even cleaned it up yet, I just plopped a plant on it and called it a day.  I was originally wanting to put it in my front flower bed, but I really like it here by the back door:

One booth was selling shutters for $1 a piece, so I snagged a 2-pack of small ones to paint up and use somehow, maybe as a display:   

And finally, this shabby tin frame:

Aside from a couple other small purchases, that was my haul!  Even if you don’t buy a lot, it’s still fun to look and dig for “treasure”!

I’ll be linking up this post to Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer.

DIY Beaded Plant Hangers

A great way to jazz up those plain wire, chain, or plastic plant hangers is with glass beads.  I’ve seen these beaded plant hangers for sale in stores and on the internet for around $30.00, but you can make your own for much less.  This is the perfect project for spring and they make great Mother’s Day gifts, too. 

You will need:

~Wire plant hanger (I found mine at Lowe’s & a local garden store)

~Glass beads (Available at craft stores like Michael’s or online)

Use a 40% off coupon and these large containers of assorted beads will be around $6.00.  You’ll be able to make at least two or three hangers with one pack.

~Needle Nose pliers

~Crimp beads (optional)

~Crimping tools (optional)

The instructions are easy.  Simple string your beads on your wire hanger in any order you choose.  Use a crimping bead at then end to keep the beads from sliding off:
You can also just bend the end of the wire up if you don’t want to use the crimping beads.

Once you’re finished stringing the beads, insert the exposed wire end of each strand of the beaded hanger into each pre-made hole in the your hanging basket. NOTE: Factory baskets/pots are typically manufactured with either three or four pre-made holes. If there is no rim with factory-drilled holes, simply use your needle-nose pliers to wrap the wire end of the beaded hanger around the top wire of your wire hanging basket. 

Next, again using needle-nose pliers, carefully bend each end of the beaded hanger strand around the hole until snug and secure.
 
Finally, hang your new bead-accentuated plant on a sturdy hook and enjoy!

At Michael’s they sell the bead packs in solid colors or in multi-colors.  Somehow the purple pack ended up in my cart!

Now instead of being plain and boring, your plant hangers are works of art!  It’s like jewelry for your plants!

I’ll be sharing with Metamorphosis Monday, Bring in the Spring Party, DIY Day, Transformation Thursday, and other fun linky parties found HERE.

Edited to join Sharon’s Garden Party at Keen Inspriations and the special edition DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land. 

Mother's Day Wrap-Up

I hope everyone out there had a great Mother's Day - moms and children alike. I've been promising to share the gift I made for my mom, so here it is:

I made a terrarium! This came together piece by piece. I bought the glass bell jar lid a couple months ago from Paul Michael Company in Monroe and knew it would be perfect for a terrarium, I just had to find the perfect things to display inside.

I knew I wanted to put something real inside, not a fake flower or anything like that. Luckily, during our shopping extravaganza in Canton, TX, last weekend, I stumbled upon these cute little air plants that don't need to be planted in soil. Then I found this great piece of driftwood at another booth and a cute little iron turtle at yet another booth.

My terrarium was finally coming together! I just had to find a base. So many of the ready-made ones were a little more than I wanted to spend, so I decided to make my own. I picked up a terra cotta saucer at Lowe's for about $5 and spray painted it with some Stone-look spray paint I already had.

So, I just glued the plants to the driftwood, arranged everything on the base, and topped it off with the glass lid. My mom loved it and it will make a great centerpiece on her kitchen table, or outside on the patio.