More Mailboxes

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I really like shopping (and window shopping) for cool outdoor and garden decor and accessories, like planters, garden statues, mail boxes, benches, etc. My taste is pretty eclectic so I'm always looking for new stuff that I like.

Today's a mailbox day so I'm looking at a site that sells all kinds of residential mailboxes as well as multi-unit mailboxes, drop boxes, address plaques, and other decor. I really like this shadowbox style mailbox:



I love the contrast of the white and a bright color (they have several different colors to choose from), and I like that it's different from a "traditional" looking mailbox, but also a decent size and totally functional.

Aside from mailboxes, they also have some other great decorative items for the house and garden. This doorbell is really cool:



And I absolutely love this Times & Seasons outdoor thermometer:



What do you think? What's your favorite decorative piece in your garden?

Patio Planning

The weather is supposed to be really nice here this weekend, so I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time in my backyard and working on my garden. One of the things that I want to do this year is get some new yard furniture and kinda rearrange the layout of my yard a little.

So I've been looking online and shopping around for some new patio furniture and other decorations for my yard...or site furnishings, as they'd be called if my yard was a park, and I like to think that my yard is totally that important. I need a new table for my yard, so I've been looking at picnic tables. I really like this Octagon Table because it's cute and it offers a lot of seating without taking up a huge amount of space.


I also like the look of Park Benches in a garden, both for seating and also to put planters on.


And for even more seating, I'm thinking Adirondack chairs - benches and picnic tables are great, but I also need a place to lounge with some lemonade and a book. I found these really cool Adirondack chairs that are made from recycled plastic, so they're both durable and eco-friendly. (And no splinters!) I'm loving this sunny yellow color:


What are your plans for your yard or garden this summer?

Back to the Garden

Spring is finally here! We've definitely had our share of April showers where I live, but we're also starting to have some of those beautiful sunny spring days. One of the things that I look forward to when the weather warms up is working in the garden. I haven't done too much yet because the weather hasn't fully started cooperating, but I've started planning and thinking about what flowers, plants, veggies, and herbs I want to plant this year.

I also have to admit that I have a weakness for garden accessories, so I'm always on the lookout for new planters, garden statues, wind chimes, and things like that. One thing that I definitely want to add to my yard this year is a garden trellis. I've always liked the way that they look, especially when they're covered with climbing vines.

So I found a site that sells nothing but trellises (I love the internet) and I've been checking out my options. I love this combination trellis and wind chime:



This vinyl trellis is really pretty, and the white really helps the colors of the climbing flowers to stand out.



And this wrought iron trellis is really beautiful. This style just might be my favorite.



Happy spring and happy gardening!

Brightening Up The Winter

It's been a cold and snowy winter here so far, and it's getting to that point where you feel like the freezing weather is never going to end. So I've been thinking about what I can do to brighten up the rest of the winter a little bit.

One of the things I decided to do was bust out the indoor planters and get some new house plants. It's nice to bring a little life and color into the house during the winter - it's a good reminder that we will eventually see some green outside too.

Of course, a side effect of all of this indoor planter action is that it makes me start thinking ahead to when I can get the outdoor planters going again. And that makes me want to shop for new planters and garden accessories, because I'm one of those people who believes that you can never have too much garden stuff.


After doing a little "window shopping", I'm thinking that I might just have to look into getting a new evergreen or some winter flowering plants so that I can bring an outddor planter or two out of the garage early. I'll just pretend it's spring.

Rain Chains

I was visiting my aunt the other day when that big rain storm came through. Luckily it wasn't too bad where she lives. I love being at her house when it rains because she has rain chains and I think they're so cool. If you're not familiar with rain chains, they're basically decorative chains or metal cups that hang and can take the place of a gutter spout. They look really pretty and when it rains many of them also sound nice too. Kinda like a wind chime sort of thing.


It's not really practical for me to do the rain chain thing where I live right now, but I'm definitely planning on it in the future. I think it's an unexpected nice touch to a garden, and I like that it lets you take something that's usually pretty unattractive like a gutter and turn it into something much more beautiful.


Usually people put some sort of catch basin at the bottom of their rain chain. It looks nice, it protects the ground below from getting too waterlogged, and it allows you to collect the rain water which can be used for a bird bath or to water plants and things like that. This copper rain chain and catch basin is really pretty:


Nice, right? I'm looking forward to the next time it rains.

Gardening One Box at a Time

The other day I talked about how I'm experimenting with easy ways to get into gardening, because I'd like to be better at it but I want to start small so that I don't get overwhelmed with a whole garden full of plants that I don't know how to care for. One way to do that is with planters, because you can try out different plants and flowers but do it in a small and manageable space.

I've shopped for some regular planters but I've also been looking at window boxes. I think they make a nice addition to any garden, and they're also great if you don't have a lot of space to work with.


I've always liked the look of window flower boxes, because you can really make some cool visual statements by mixing colors (or going with just one bold color) or switching up different heights and styles of plants.


Another thing a window box can be great for is growing herbs. That's one thing that I do know a little bit about since I love to cook. Planters are really good for certain herbs, like mint, that have a tendency to grow like crazy and overwhelm a garden. But really you can grow just about any herb in a planter and it's really cool to be able to have a lot of different fresh herbs on hand for cooking.


It's also not a bad time to start with this project now. Since the seasons are changing, I can get a fresh start with seasonally appropriate plants. As soon as I figure out what those are. I have a little bit of research to do.

My Stately Manor Needs a Garden

I was having a little bit of fun the other day writing about what I would do if I had one of those huge stately manor type mansions that every family on every soap opera seems to have. I've talked mailboxes and fancy address plaques, but one thing I didn't really cover was the garden. What's a stately manor without some well-manicured gardens, right?

So I've been doing a little fantasy shopping for some decorative items for my many lovely gardens. Like this sun and moon sundial:



And this Whitehall patio furniture:


And what fancy estate would be complete without an old-school door knocker? Makes it much easier to imagine a butler answering the door:


And to round out the garden decor, I really like these nature hooks. You can use them to hang plants, lanterns, bird feeders, hanging bird baths, wind chimes, or whatever else you can think of. Of course when I say "you", I mean my fantasy gardener, because I'm definitely going to need one to keep all of these stately gardens looking nice.



I think someone should just go ahead and give me a stately manor now that I've got all of these amazing decorating plans all laid out.

Safe Gardening

I really like gardening. And by that, I mean that I really like the idea of gardening. In practice I find it a little intimidating. It's not like I totally suck at it - I can keep houseplants alive (most of the time), and I've done the whole herb garden on the windowsill thing. I've just never done a full-scale "real" garden, and I'd like to be able to someday. But I know that if I launch right into that now, it'll be a mess.

So I'm investing in some outdoor planters as a sort of stepping stone. It's a step up from house plants, and it lets me experiment with soil and fertilizer and sun and outdoor conditions and all of that fun stuff, but it's still sort of contained and not overwhelming. I'm also going to upgrade the windowsill herb garden to a window box planter herb garden. Maybe I'll even go totally wild and try a tomato plant or something.

And even if some of the plants don't exactly survive my expert gardening skills, at least the decorative planters will still look nice.



Of course, knowing me I'm going to procrastinate and end up with an empty planter sitting inside my house mocking me for months before I ever get around to planting anything. It's all about the baby steps.