Today I’m back with My Five Favorites along with Jennifer at Dimples & Tangles, Kris at Driven By Decor and Pam at Simple Details and today we’re so happy to welcome our guest host Kelly Elko!
Recently Kelly shared her dining room that was transformed with hand painted wallpaper – I love this unique design and especially a tiny detail the artist added that is special to Kelly’s family. And those floors are gorgeous too, aren’t they?
Kelly shares home and garden projects and inspirations, including a whole series on hydrangeas and how to maintain them. See Kelly’s dining room here and find the hydrangea posts here!
Thanks for joining us Kelly!
Are you loving summertime? We are too and thought it would be fun to chat about all things garden related because we can’t get enough of being outside this time of year….even if it means weeding the garden!
A few of my favorite plants, tool and tips for maintaining and enjoying your outdoor space…
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HARDY PERENNIALS
What is better than low maintenance plants and shrubs that come back year after year despite a harsh winter?
I planted Neon Flash Spirea around our patio and it’s starting to mature and fill in. It blooms all summer into the fall in shades of light and hot pink and then fades to a rust. These shrubs have weathered two New England winters and have come back hardier than ever.
There are a lot of different varieties of spirea and many of them are suitable across many planting zones. If you don’t know it yet you can find your zone here!
I also love willowy and wild ornamental grasses. I find they can take a while to get going every year…..
but they fill out over the summer and by fall they are lush and full of soft plumes. The breeze blowing through them is so lovely!
There are tons of varieties of ornamental grasses – most thrive on full sun. We currently have maidengrass, ravennagrass, and zebragrass and they all grow really well here in Massachusetts.
A CONTAINER PLANT THAT KEEP PRODUCING ALL SUMMER LONG
Mandevilla climbs, grows and produces tons of blossoms all the way into the fall. You can also bring this perennial inside before the first frost and keep it going until next year. I love to grow one on our deck steps…..
and this year I used them in the urns at our front door and they have continuously blossomed. Read here about how to winterize a mandevilla.
In related news we are in the midst of planning the makeover of these crumbling stairs and the overgrown beds on either side of them! Can’t wait to share that project with you as it unfolds!
LANDSCAPE FABRIC TO INHIBIT WEEDS IN PATIOS AND PATHS
Landscape fabric is very controversial in the world of gardening and landscaping, but I think there is a place for them.
I don’t use landscape fabric in garden beds because there you want hearty, rich soil, and for that to happen you need a healthy ecosystem of earthworms and other organisms doing their thing, which the landscape fabric inhibits. Read more about why landscape fabric is not a good idea for gardens in this post.
Landscape fabric is perfect under a loose stone path or patio. When we installed our pea stone patio, my cute little helper here and I laid out landscape fabric over the cleared area before the stone arrived, and in the two years since we’ve had just a handful of weeds pop through. As far as I’m concerned it’s so worth the time and effort!!
To install it you just roll the fabric across your cleared space, secure it with rust resistant galvanized metal pins (also called garden staples) that are hammered into the ground, and then trim the excess fabric. We also added the pins where the sheets overlapped so it would stay in place when it was time to install the pea stone.
The landscape fabric is quick and easy to install – it took us just one half hour to lay it all out and pin it into place.
This is what another part of our yard looks like without the landscape fabric under gravel – the weeds are never ending!
For some recommendations on how to keep weeds at bay, check out the comments when I posted this picture on Facebook!
Garden tools are obviously a must for any gardener. Be sure to clean them after each use so you don’t pass any threatening fungus onto the next plant you cut.
These little rakes are great for dislodging weed roots, and believe me, I’m a weed pro – I neglected my gardens for a few weeks of summertime fun, and have spent the past three days weeding my heart out!
This is a great set that is perfect for planters and garden upkeep. Don’t forget gloves – I like these cheap, breathable fabric ones that have latex on the palm.
GARDEN EDGING
I wasn’t sure I loved the look of the powder coated metal edging I installed to separate the pea stone from the garden border, but now that we have added more pea stone and mulched the gardens, the metal almost disappears – but keeps the materials separated.
You can barely see it now and it keeps everything neat and tidy.
For garden beds that abut grass I skip the metal edging and just use a good old fashioned border edger – it’s not hard at all and it makes such a difference!
I hope you found a couple morsels in this post that are helpful for your summer gardening! Now let’s go check out the rest of today’s garden faves!
Thanks for coming by today!
Lisa – I love your pea gravel fire pit area. I’m suddenly craving s’mores! Great tips – I love mandevilla too and thanks for the tip on how to winterize them.
Thanks so much Kelly! Mandevilla is so hearty, it flowers outside into the fall and then transitions inside really well!
HMMMM mandevila? Ive never heard of it but I think I’m gonna add it to my yard next year!
Ellen I saw that around here the mandevilla plants are already on summer clearance so it’s a great time to pick one up….here in MA they bloom into the fall with tons and tons of blossoms!
Great tip about cleaning the garden tools. Your garden is just lovely!!!
Mary Ann
Thanks so much Mary Ann! Our garden is definitely a work in progress but it’s coming along!