Flower Power!

I got some monies for my birthday from the in-laws, a week late, but I forgave them ;-)  Now I could save this money or go buy boring groceries with it, but why would I want to do these things?  I went out and bought some of my favorite things.  FLOWERS.  I drug the flower pots out this last Sunday, just in time for a huge thunderstorm, and placed them in the front flower bed.

I'm using my pots out front this year because we plan on painting the house, and I don't want my precious flowers trampled while doing this.  If they are in pots, then I can just move them, and then move them back once we're done.  Always thinking, I am.  

But back to the pots and flowers.  The pots looked so bare and sad.  They definitely needed a little pick me up.  So I took my birthday money (yes, you never get too old to enjoy birthday money), and went to Menards to raid they're garden center.

I knew they had a bunch of annuals and perennials on sale, so I was an excited girl.  I have always loved flowers, but have never even attempted to plant any until we bought the house.  And after my successful attempt last year, I'm more then ready to get some new ones going.

I picked up some creeping phlox for the front corner of the lawn.  This was planted in the ground, but I'm hoping we can be careful around them when we paint.  I love the way these look.  I also hope they don't over run my mums I planted last fall.

I picked up some hens and chicks.  I love these.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet.  Maybe a hanging basket or one of those pots with the holes in the sides.

Those are my garlic chives in the pot behind the hens and chicks.  They are 3 or 4 years old and come back every spring a little bit bigger then the last.  We never have a a shortage of chives here.

I also got these awesome Fuchsias.  They are called Dark Eyes because they have a dark purple center.  I saw them and had to have them.  I'm hoping they fill out this basket and there is waterfall of pink and purple flowers.

 
I picked up a variety of different flowers, including pansies, begonias, violets, and inpatients.  I got some spikes as well.  I love the way these look in containers.  They just add so much depth to the pot.

  
I filled the hanging baskets with different colors and types of flowers.  This seemed to work for me last year.  All of my flower pots were over flowing with color.  Lets hope I can do that again this year.

And my birthday gift to myself was this pot full of Calla lilies.  I love lilies and calla lilies are my favorite.  I've never had luck with calla lilies in the past, but this year, I'm determined to keep them healthy all year and then have them come back next year.  We'll see how well this works.

So this is how the front looks right now.  Actually I added another large pot since I took these pictures, but it looks generally the same.  My gladiolas are coming up and I hope they bloom this year.  Last year I didn't get any flowers, sad face.  And in a few weeks, I'm hoping all my pots are overflowing with color.

And hopefully next year we'll be tackling the landscaping in both the front and back yards.  Then I can start planting more permanent plants and fill our deck with all the potted plants.  Woohoo.

Happy Monday!