In the Garden

I mentioned in my last post that we had recently bought a home that we absolutely love, but that needs A LOT of work. Here’s the house:

It’s big and beautiful, plus it’s in a great neighborhood. The only problem is that the previous owner didn’t do much updating or maintenance over the past decade, so we’ve had our hands full since January when we moved it. As you can see, the yard is pretty boring right now and there’s not much curb appeal. We definitely want to add some shutters ASAP, I think the house looks naked without them (previous owner removed the shutters for some reason).

I’ve been gardening since we bought our first house 7 years ago, and it’s one of my favorite hobbies. My gardening style and preferences have changed over the years though. When I first started my only consideration was aesthetics: I had tons of rosebushes and many other beautiful yet delicate and high maintenance plants in my first yard. As the years have passed and life has gotten busier and busier I have shifted away from plants that need a lot of attention and maintenance. I’ve discovered several favorite plants that work well in my area with very little care (or even borderline neglect).

This is the garden area right by our front door. It’s one of the first outdoor areas that I’m focusing on. I worked out there a few weeks ago cleaning up the flowerbed and removing weeds & debris. You can see a few small plants that I recently planted as well. One source that I frequently use for ordering plants online is Santa Rosa Gardens. I’ve been ordering plants from them for years. I’ve tried many online nurseries since it’s not always easy getting out of the house to buy plants at a store with young children, plus you have access to a much wider selection of plants when ordering online. I’ve had several bad experiences with online ordering of plants, but that’s never been the case with Santa Rosa Gardens.

This is a sedum plant from an order that I received from them a few days ago. If you’ve ever ordered plants online then you know that this is not what your plants usually look like coming out of the box. That’s why I love this company so much: the plants are always healthy and packed well. Another bonus is that they frequently have sales in addition to coupon codes and flat rate shipping. Several of the plants from my recent order were on sale, plus I was able to use a coupon code, ( gold20 for 20% off! It’s good until the end of April).
(By the way, this is not a sponsored post and I received no compensation for writing this about Santa Rosa Gardens, I just truly love using this company).

Here’s my little garden helper. We had a bit of a girl’s weekend since daddy and brother were away for a cub scout camping trip. She is such a girly girl and just loves doing whatever mommy is doing.

I’ll be posting lots of updates on the home and garden here on the blog, but for today I’ll end on this note: the fruit of my labor (sorry for the terrible pun–these are from my beloved miniature meyer lemon tree). I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!