jasmine trees in container gardens

A few more container gardens from this season. The containers at the top were so large, along with the house that we had to fill them up with something substantial. We chose jasmine tree trellises as the center focal. They were so fragrant with a lovely and sweet smell, our client was thrilled. Does jasmine grow where you live? Summer breeze, makes me feel fine.. blowing through the jasmine in my mind ;)

heaven is here

I want to recommend a good book I just finished. Many of you are probably familiar with nie nie and her heroic story. Nie nie dialogs is a blog that I and many of you, have followed for years. Her book, Heaven is Here, is just as intriguing and even more uplifting that her blog posts already are. She retells the story of the horrific plane crash that left her at the brink of death and burned over 80% of her body. The memoir visits the lonely and hard days of her recovery; her children afraid of her new appearance, the inability to do the simplest tasks and her struggle to accept the new nie nie. The book is full of love, inspiration to get through any tough trial and hope. Lots of hope. It is the perfect quick summer read.
For a little more about it watch this video.

flower ID: Abutilon

Abutilon, commonly known as Flowering Maple or Chinese Bellflower and pronounced ah-BEW- tih-lon. Even though they carry the common name, flowering maple, they are not in fact maples at all. The name derived from the maple leaf shape they have. The delicate orange/red blossoms attract hummingbirds and butterflies. They will thrive both in indoor or outdoor settings (in milder climates) and bloom from spring until frost and occasionally in the winter. For many reasonably priced varieties, go here.

tuscan container gardens

i must say, the house and the containers did most of the work in helping us create the dramatic tuscan effect we were going for. Red rose topiaries at the top filled with deep dahlias, red petunias, dusty miller, yellow lantana, ivy, yellow tiny tunias and large gray leaf salvia (as seen below) did the rest of the work. I cant wait to see it all grown in later this season.  I loved finding the salvia and it was my favorite texture this year. 

palms in terra cotta

 

That's me in the green with the white legs. I promise they have a little sun now, and that's Julie in the pink.This client needed new containers so we went with modern terra cotta planters to go with the contemporary style of the house. You should have seen us muscle women unloading them from the van and placing them. We planted them up with blue lobelia, vinca vine, purple coleus, peach verbena, palm trees, yellow tiny tunias and green/pink caladium.  These are one of my favorites from this season.

sun lover

container gardening season is rolling along great! perfect weather always makes it extra nice too. i'm quite the sun loving plant myself and i'm getting a lovely farmers tan. i love coming home covered in dirt mixed with sweat. something about dirt under the fingernails and passing out at 9pm that shows a hard days work :)

happy weekend dear readers
-christina