I love Spring.
The chirping birds, green grass, the trees putting their beautiful leaves on and the
abundance of flowers popping up to smile.
I am a bit of a flower freak- as most of you already know.
Both cut flowers and planted flowers are a big weakness of mine and in the Spring,
its all about the planting and I have a lot of seasonal planting that gets done.
When we were renovating our house and were tackling the exterior
which was not a pretty site at.all. and was surrounded by a concrete walkway that made edge plantings to soften the hard lines difficult- my dad brought up a few surprises one day.
Something he made to add some of the charm our cottage was lacking, allowed us to have blooms next to the house and gave us a way to create a welcoming feeling for the exterior.
Window boxes
An old fence had to be replaced at one of his rental homes and so he took the old cedar fence boards
and built several window boxes and chunky corbels for the windows on our house.
Those 5 or so window boxes led to making more.
I made window boxes in the same fashion for each window on our house and cottage.
They are one of my favorite things about the outside of the house
and I look forward to filling them chock full of plants to really bring a fresh look in the Spring
Though they have greenery -such as ivy- as a base-I add some fresh annual flowers each year.
Last year- many of the established plants didn’t seem to happy unfortunately.
Lime Thyme was a huge grower for several years- enough that it would need to be trimmed on occasion. So beautiful, but it started drying recently and then it was kaput.
Another was some of the ivy- usually in abundance and trailing quite far something wasn’t working well for it last year.
So needless to say, the window boxes were looking quite bare and blah after winter this year
Since this months Lowes Creative Ideas theme was a pop of color and landscaping
this was the perfect opportunity to fill those window boxes up with gorgeous color.
So I headed to Lowes and got shopping their gorgeous garden selections
from instagram
from instagram
Here’s what I chose for the boxes:
Scabiosa
for the wispy height
Geranium
for their bold color
Verbena
for the trailing
Bacopa
for their full white flowers as a balance
I tend to follow a similar color theme for each area of the house- for example- the front porch or the front of the little cottage. This one was inspired by the colors that caught my eye that day.
Since our home is classic black and white- I can go a little bold with colors in flowers.
Though they already are looking full with color – the window boxes will be glorious as the plants
fill in and grow in the next couple of months.
Simple Tip:
Remember that as tempting as it is to overfill them-
plants need room to grow- so leave enough space to allow.
Also, since there is limited dirt in a window box- watering frequently with vitamins for the plants
(ie. Miracle grow, etc.) will help keep them happy.
They suck up the nutrients out of the small amount of dirt within a short period of time
and so keeping it replenished will keep them happier.
We also made 2 new wood planters for next to the door and added new boxwood to each of them.
Boxwood is my favorite shrub to add in pretty much anywhere and everywhere.
In our front patio area-I have a fence that is lined in boxwood plants and I added a few more there as well. I love the vibrant green color and that it is pretty year round.
More on these planters coming soon- they were super simple to make
Another addition- less colorful but important nonetheless- beautiful white hydrangeas.
These are HUGE plants. HUGE and only $24.99 each
I was in love.
These will be potted and placed in a shady area of the porch to warm it up and bring in some softening.
Lastly- one more pop of color I couldn’t pass up
gorgeous royal blue pottery
That were perfect for beautiful freesia on the fireplace outside
What about you?
Are you planting for Spring and getting your yard ready for Summer entertaining?
What is your favorite go-to plant to bring a pop of color to your home?
Check out the hashtag #SpringisCalling to find TONS of inspiration on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and also there is something brand new called Improve With Lowes that has weekly projects, tips and special values to help keep your home on track this Spring- all tailored to your area!
You can find it HERE to learn more.
I am a member of the Lowes Creative Ideas Network and am compensated for my projects and posts but all opinions are my own, of course.
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This is so pretty! I hope you will share it at my NEW 'Home Sweet Garden' link up party every Tuesday! ♥ Brooke
This week's party is here… http://nblo.gs/WCW2Q
You got some beautiful plants, Courtney! I love the selections you chose for your window boxes. I got some plants yesterday. I tend to usually go over board each year, but I stayed to a "list" and just go specific plants for specific areas yesterday. I think I will just do that for each time I go to stay on point. Next trip will be some plants for the urn near our garage door. I'd like to try something different this year and incorporate a grass for height.
Thank you for bringing Spring into a dreary day here in Massachusetts….your flowers are just lovely!
So pretty! I love my window boxes too. My favorite flower for them is pink geraniums!
Cindy
Your flowers are beautiful Courtney! Makes me so anxious for my own to start blooming:)
Courtney your window box looks GORGEOUS!!
I love your window boxes. Love the shades of pink, mauve & white. Thanks for sharing such awesome pictures.
Mary @ Orphans With Makeup
I LOVE window boxes! Yours look fantastic! Imagine what they will look like when they mature. I just wrote a post last week about European window boxes, you might want to check it out: http://bit.ly/1hvLhmE
I LOVE the mirror in this post, would you mind sharing where you got it?
There is nothing like a big window box spilling over with colorfully fragrant flowers, Courtney! Love the plants that you brought home – and that hydrangea is gorgeous!!! The freesia on your outdoor fireplace really pop in those gorgeous blue pots!
xoxo laurie
would love to see flower it is still cold here .If it does not rain it snow .haveing a strange spring hope you visit I will be back Laura
Bonjour,
En ce moment les fleurs sont présentes partout… Un véritable enchantement. Dans les prés l'herbe est haute et parsemé de fleurs des champs de toutes les couleurs.
Merci de partager avec nous ces superbes photos.
Le printemps est bien présent dans ce très joli billet !
Gros bisous ♡
Hello Courtney, beautiful flowers and colors… I feel the same about it. My favorite is hydrangea, I have about 10 of them in my garden. We did an outdoor renovation last summer so this year is all about planting flowers… I just came from a garden shop where I bought roses and viburnum. Have a nice sunny day, Alexandra
Beautiful flowers Courtney you captured the blooms of spring in such a lovely way. Hugs
Love your beautiful flowers Courtney!! Pincushions are one of my favorites, and I was just eyeing those this week thinking that this is the first house we haven't had any… might need to fix that 😉 Also, I have a question for you: have you planted much bacopa in the past? I always love how they look initially, but they dry out and leave lots of brown. Do you ever see that? Any secrets for keeping them fresh looking? Deadheading is a pain because there are so many and so tiny!!