Another Blank Slate

Each spring, our front porch becomes my gardening "blank slate".  The porch faces north, so it is shaded in the morning.  It is about 8 feet wide and 27 feet long. I go crazy with garden art and potted plants - ferns, hostas, fuchsias, salvias.  I think last year I ended up with over 150 pots on the porch. 

The porch becomes an exuberant celebration of summer.  It is a lovely shaded haven in the heat of the day - for people and for birds. I have a small fountain nearby with two small Japanese maples acting as sentinels.  The gold finches and hummingbirds use the maples to perch as they await their turn for a drink of water or a cool bath.  I sit and read and cross stitch and just "enjoy the moment."  It is a quiet, reflective place.    

But each spring, before I can start, the porch needs a good cleaning.  I spent most of yesterday (9:00am-3:45pm) helping to power wash the front porch, the walkways around the house and the back patio.  It was one of those projects that took much longer, and was much more physically demanding than I'd originally thought!  Today I am stiff, and sore, and sunburned - whaa!

 

I did work on potting up a few plants this morning - ferns, hostas, and primroses.  I watered in everything and will let them rest in the shade.  I'll move them over to the front patio this evening so the deer don't munch on them.