Thursday, June 24, 2010

Cute up your front porch--Part 2 (Flowers)

Once we had our comfy chairs done, we needed some color and texture. We got it with potted flowers and hanging flowers.

Potted flowers
I love giant pots, but didn't know what to plant in ours to really fill it out. Then I saw a whole article on the subject in my Better Homes and Gardens. According to BHG, there are three elements to a pot like this. You need a thriller, a filler, and a spiller. (Don't you love that?!) For my thriller, I chose these tall, coral geraniums. Aren't they gorgeous? (Next year, I think I'll choose an even taller thriller.) For my filler, I used purple and white petunias, and they are doing their duty! (Note: these are wave petunias, not cascading petunias.) And, can you see my spiller? It's the chartreuse sweet potato plant in the bottom right corner. Once they get going, they'll spill down the pot. Beautiful! (You can also get sweet potato plants in a deep purple color--also gorgeous.)


Hanging flowers
The main thing to know with hanging flowers, is that you need a flower that will cascade. You can buy something already potted, of course (like these charming purple geraniums I got for my birthday).
But often hanging plants are really spendy, so this year I made this hanging petunia pot on my own. Using a basket from last year's hanging plant, I filled it with cascading petunias (not wave petunias). They will continue to grow and cascade as the summer goes on, until you can hardly see the basket. So great!
Now, I have a sunny front porch, so I chose sun-loving flowers for these hanging pots. In truth, my absolute favorite hanging plant is fuchsia. If you have enough shade, get one!

So do you want to see the big reveal?

Remember, we started with this:
And now, we've got this:
Photobucket
Now I just need to hang up my American flags...

5 comments:

Kristyn said...

Very, very cute!! Tell me, where did you get your large green pot?

Savannah said...

Wow! What a great before and after! I love it! (But what were you doing up at 5am {!!} to post this?!)

P.S. I've made the mint chocolate chip cupcakes that were posted about a while back now and they've been a huge hit. Thanks for the recipe! So easy and yummy!

Darcy said...

What a cute porch you have! I love the end result. I also read once in Better Homes and Gardens to rotate/turn your hanging pots every few days to give all sides adequate light so they keep looking good. I'm sure most of your summer afternoons and evenings will be spent sitting right there enjoying your handy work. So pretty!

Bloom said...

@Kristyn,
We got our green pot at a local nursery when they were having a pottery sale. Try a place like that.

@Savannah,
I'm glad the mint choc chip cupcakes were a hit for you! They are a definite go-to around here. (And I wrote that post yesterday while my boys were sleeping in. I scheduled it to go up this morning. I try to get up early, but not that early :)

@The Parkers,
Good suggestion about rotating pots! And yes, we just ate dinner on our front porch last night and it was heavenly. (There may or may not be dried, cheesy noodles on the cement there right now. Thanks, Rog!)

Joan said...

Lovely and inviting. Well done, Anne :)