I was out walking around the house today, hoping to see some spring flowers starting to bud. After all, it is March and I’m thinking that early bulbs might be up. Although the grass never died out here, there really doesn’t seem to be much indication of spring yet. At least in my yard. I wonder when I’ll see my first Robin Redbreast! When I see that first Robin, I will be extremely happy! This has been a long winter and I don’t know anyone who will be sad to see it go! Spring is officially only a few weeks away – I don’t like to wish my life away, but come on spring!
As I look through the landscaping books and magazines that I own, I find myself thinking about where on our own property would be a good place to put some landscaping architectural structures such as gazebos, arbors, and pergolas. I used to have quite a few clients in New England that had me install such structures as part of their landscaping plans. My wife always told me that she would love to have an arbor over the front walk with either climbing roses or clematis growing up over it.
When we lived in New England I did buy her an arbor but never bothered to plant anything to grow on it. I don’t really know why I did that – I think it would have looked much nicer with something growing up on it.
I’ve been thinking about putting a pergola in the sunny part of the yard and plant some grapes on it. I know that this is a good area for growing grapes – there are a lot of vineyards in the area! I’d like to plant some sweet seedless red grapes – those are my favorite.
One of the things that I’ve noticed about houses that I fee drawn to is that so many of them have window flower boxes full of trailing petunias on the side of the house that faces the road. I think that having a window box full of flowers makes the house look very welcoming. I guess it all goes back to my childhood when I would go to visit my aunt and uncle in the country on their farm.
Aunt Janet had window boxes on every window – even the ones in the upstairs dormer windows! She grew these wonderful cascading petunias that trailed all the way down to the ground. She had them massed in different colors so it was very eye=catching. I didn’t much care for the scent of petunias, but I think that they are one of the prettiest flowers. I have been thinking about putting some on the windows in our house but my wife thinks it would be better to hang them on the porch railing because they would be easier to reach.
Even though we are the dead of winter I can’t help but start thinking and planning on some things that I want to get done come spring. I really liked the stone benches that my mother-in-law purchased last year online at stonebenches.com so I’ve been checking out their site as of late to see if they have any that may be suitable for around our house, yard and garden areas. I think some nice garden benches would look great in a few choice locations.
My mother-in-law discovered this site when she was looking at memorial benches to place by her late husband’s grave site. He is buried in a VA cemetery, where they only had a flat marker for him and the family really wanted a nice bench to sit on when they visited the grave site. Their stone work are hand made in the U.S., they are made from cast stone and are shipped to you free of charge, which is a huge savings considering how heavy they are. Can you imagine how much you would have to pay for the shipping if they charged you for that?
Anyway, I’m sure that I will find some nice looking stone garden benches that I’ll end up ordering. Spring can’t get here quick enough as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never been a fan of the cold and wet weather that we experience each and every winter here. I’m all about the sun and all the activities that go along with the nice weather that spring and summer bring us.
When we lived in New England, I made my living doing landscaping work and grounds maintenance in the summer. I took great pride in how nice my clients yards looked. Although I did basic work such as lawn mowing and shrub trimming, my favorite work was with the flowers. In New England, the growing season is very short, so flowers are dearly appreciated when they bloom!
I especially enjoy working with planters. One of the advantages of working with planters is that if you are planting something that can’t survive the winter up there it is easier to bring the plant indoors for the winter! I think my favorite window box planter was one where I filled it with cascading petunias and they cascaded all the way to the ground. That was simply breathtaking! Lining the edges of a deck with a variety of decorative planters filled with dinner plate dahlias added a great dash of color to an otherwise stark deck. And I like being able to move the planters around to mix it up a little bit, get a little variety.
