SUMMER SPACES

Summers are the best. Everything grows. Everything flourishes. Everything is beautiful. Just perfect for growing the most beautiful and memorable summer gardens. It doesn’t matter if have endless acres or just a modest balcony, everyone can bring the beauty of summer to their doorstep with a container garden. They can be dramatic to simple, colorful or monochromatic, herbs and veggies, anything you can dream. The best thing about a container garden it can be moved around. Changed seasonally. And just for fun, add a little twist, just because. Elevate yours from nice to extraordinary. Simple. Beautiful. This gardener’s motto.

Find a cozy spot or an area in need of a little love and you can create a garden that is just uniquely your own.

This is what you will need-

Container or Planter

Grapevine Sphere...Link here

Brown Wire 35 Mini Light String

Dark Floral Wire

Wire Clippers

Coffee Filter

Swim Noodle

Potting Soil

Plants

Test your mini lights to make sure the bulbs are all lit.

Cut the floral wire in 3” to 4” lengths.

Bend the wire in the middle.

Wrap around the light and twist wire to secure.

Wire all lights.

Run the lights into the sphere through the bottom. I just looked for an opening that was large enough for my hand to fit. I did gently push a few of the strands apart so there was a little more room.

Starting at the top, attach one light at a time with a twist of the wire to the inside of the grapevine. Randomly space the lights. It is OK if the lights poke out.

Wire all lights to the grapevine.

Snip the excess wire.

This planter was a yard sale find. Slightly scraped and nicked, but still worthy of something great. Ahh, just love potential…

When selecting your plants for your garden, you must decide where the container will end up. If it is full sun, then your plants need to be able to tolerate all day sun. If it is a shady spot, then select low light plants. This container I may move around in my yard. I have areas of all kinds of light. This garden is intended for part day to half day sun.

Composition. Think of these elements when composing your garden- height, cascade, filler, and color.

Height-Salvia. Loves sun and some shade, strong and beautiful purple spikes all summer.

Cascade-Summer Wave-(Torenia). Spills and flows beautifully over an edge, endless blooms all summer long.

Filler-Diamond Frost (Euphorbia). One of my summer favorites. It grows well in containers, loves sun, grows quickly and gives a light airy feel between annuals.

Filler and Fragrance -Lavender

Color-Purple and White (Salvia, Summer Waves).

Check to make sure there is a drainage hole in the bottom of your planter. If not, water will collect in the bottom and your garden will become a swamp. If you love the container, you must drill a hole in the bottom.

With a kitchen knife cut the swim noodle into 1” discs, just like you would slice a baguette. Cut half of the discs into fourths.

Place a coffee filter over the hole so your potting soil will not pour out of the bottom.

Layer your noodle pieces on the bottom of the container. The noodles will fill the bottom of the container to keep it lighter in weight-easier to move around.

Fill the container about ¾’s full of potting soil.

Make a little hole in the center of the potting soil to plant the Salvia.

Next place the cascades, Summer Waves, space them in thirds around the rim-2:00, 6:00 and 10:00 (ish).

In a between the spaces between the cascades place the Diamond Frost and tuck in a few Lavender  near the Salvia.

Carefully place your grapevine sphere over the Salvia. Gently, one at a time, pull each stem of the stem/flower up through the top of the grapevine.

Place your garden. 

Sit back and watch it grow...