Life Requires Flowers

I've always said that life requires flowers. It even became a bit of a battle cry as a struggling single mom. I often found a way to buy at least a simple bouquet at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market, to brighten the house. And while I love gardening, I don't seem to make much time for it lately, and am really unsure where I want to dig and what I want to change in this yard.

Thus...pot gardening, on decks and hanging from posts has provided the flowers for this year. It made me a little sad yesterday, the first day of September, to look around and see that all of our pots of flowers were full, lush, and at their best. In the past it was a guarantee that when I admired the peak of the outdoor flowers, a frost soon followed. I decided to grab a few shots yesterday, and retain the images of bright flowers and lavish foliage when frost and flurries take over.

This is a view of some pots on the railing, and the butterfly bush centered between two lounge chairs on our main deck --

These three different sweet potato vines in one pot grew so well, they obscured the New Guinea impatiens in the center --

















These pots were to be primarily herbs and scented geraniums, but I couldn't resist adding some foliage plants and petunias for more color --

















When we were in NC, we loved having a couple of palm trees on the porch, which provided a nice green arch behind our porch swing. This one didn't grow as large, but it still adds some nice texture with the fragrant petunias, and Gerry's big tomato plant nearby. I think the pot with the impatiens, caladium, and trailing chartreuse foliage is one of my favorites.


















I love this old sugar pot that belong to my mother. We have planted it every year since I inherited it, and this is my favorite arrangement. The Kong coleus obscured the smaller standard coleus, but it's hard to complain when it makes such a vibrant display!