My New Window Box Garden!

 
For our anniversary this year, my husband got me a window box! I had been wanting one for quite a while, so it was the perfect present!

 We decided to hang the window box outside of my kitchen window since that seems to be the one we gaze out of the most. That way, when we look out at the bird feeders, we can also see all of my gorgeous flowers! That area of the house just really needed a pop of color too!

Speaking of bird feeders, I found a small hummingbird feeder to put in the window box garden too! It just adds a little extra whimsy and hopefully my hummingbirds will find it soon!

Although I generally advocate the thriller, filler, and spiller philosophy in container gardening, I had a few different flowers on hand already and I just decided to use those in the window box. They looked great together and I didn't have to spend any more money! Win, win!

This window box gets full on sun most of the day, so it was necessary to use flowers that can take a lot of sun. I also make sure to water it at least once a day, sometimes twice on super hot days!

I used a mix of white sunpatiens, and pink and purple dianthus.

View from the top! They are really starting to fill in.

It's almost like having fresh flowers on hand at all times!

I love looking out the window and seeing the flowers peeking over the window sill! Now if only I could get my hummingbirds to start drinking out of this feeder too! They love feeding at the other one, and fight each other off constantly.

I feel the need to add one to every window on my house now!

Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram @ sweethome.indiana for more ideas! 

The New Flower Garden, Part 2

 Yikes! Has it really been almost a month since I last posted? Please excuse my blogging absence as I have been hard at work actually doing things to blog about! Well...mostly! It is summer after all, and we have been super busy lately with all kinds of fun outdoor activities such as yard work, grad parties, and of course, lounging by the lake!

My Fourth of July was spent completing the border on my new flower garden on the side of my garage. Although I was planning on waiting to finish the border of the garden until Fall or maybe even next year, Menards had the landscaping blocks I wanted on sale/rebate for almost half off! I couldn't pass that up!

As usual, the laying/straightening/leveling of the retaining blocks ended up being a lot more work that I had originally planned. Isn't that always the way? But, my husband and I finished the job in a few hours and amazingly, the garden now looks exactly how I pictured it would in my head! I love it when that happens!

I still have a lot of flowers to add to the garden, and that will come bit by bit. I can't afford to buy all the plants at once, they are super expensive! Plus, shopping for plants is my fave and I just love coming across new flowers! I am still debating exactly what I want to do with it, but I am really leaning towards more of a cottage garden vibe.

We laid out the retaining blocks in a vague border before leveling and setting them. I'll spare you the boring pictures of us actually laying the blocks out, plus I didn't take any. :)

An almost perfect (half) circle! Next up, getting a load of dirt to fill in the garden area! The ground in this new garden is so rocky! It was almost impossible to dig a decent hole.

Here's the garden so far. I can't wait to fill it up! I've been eyeing some Echinacea and Black Eyed Susans to put in here to make it more cottage garden-y.

I've been dying to grow Sweet Peas ever since I fell in love with them on my favorite blog, The Bon Savant. I finally had a spot for them this year and am trying to train them to grow on this upside down tomato cage. It's a cheap alternative to a trellis!

Plenty of room for more plants!

My favorite of the new flowers all planted. The blue are Delphinium and the pink are Phlox. They are perennials that will (hopefully) come back year after year. They should get a lot taller too.

I've already got some tulips planted in the back end

Now, what to plant here? I guess we'll see!

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