Okay so just a quick reminder. I’m no professional landscaper or gardener. My reasoning to share this post with all of you is to hopefully inspire you to roll up your sleeves, head outside and get dirty. Because I think gardening and landscaping is kind of this foreign concept to some of us younger home owners. I can remember literally having temper tantrums when my mom wanted to drag me to a greenhouse. UGH it was the worst as a kid! I felt it was so boring and silly. Fast forward 10 years and I’m calling my mom up every weekend in the spring to head to our favourite Garden houses. Funny how things come full circle right? Obviously Mom is over the moon about it, and I can pick from one of the best Garden brains I know on how to work my gardens and get the look and feel I’m wanting. Oh – and obviously picking the plants that require the LEAST amount of work! Because friends, you will kill plants.. and its a sad sad fact. But you will get better at it as time goes on! I promise!

The Vision

Lucky for me, the previous owners had huge green thumbs. Actually, they used to run a garden business out of the gardens – so yes, you can imaging the perennials they left behind! But the garden was overwhelming, I had no clue where to start, and couldn’t name any flower – I was a bit over my head. That’s when I decided to just start with the perimeter of the house and nourish that garden into my vision.

So you may ask what my vision was for my garden! Now I’m not a huge colour crazy gal. Whites, Greens, Yellows were the colours of blooms I was going after. Right off the top of my head I envisioned hydrangeas, daisies, lambs ear, grasses etc just to keep things simple! And these are some of the easiest keepers when it comes to gardening. Also I had in my mind I wanted to be a complete do-it-yourself decorator with actual real greenery and flowers for decorating my house throughout the WHOLE year. You may think well Sam, flowers only bloom a couple months out of the year, how can you pick things from your garden year round? The right type of plants my friends can take your house from season to season. For example, you all know I love Hydrangeas. When I saw those beautiful white hydrangeas (for all those wondering, the original hydrangea is called an Annabelle Hydrangea, those are my favourite! The coloured ones are beautiful too) come into bloom, I knew I could cut the blooms and they would last in my house at THAT colour I picked them at, even before they turn their full green, the green is so nice to cut because they will stay fresh in your house for years and years. But what I was after was when the Hydrangeas were at the end of their bloom cycle and the sun started to ‘burn’ them turning them a burnt brown colour. I had a vision to use these cuts with greenery for my Winter pot arrangements. See where I’m going with this? You can plant Dogwood, have them show their leaves for a ‘landscape’ type filler during the summer and then as they drop their leaves, you can cut pieces again for your winter pots. So there’s lots of ways you can strategically plan your garden so it will nourish your needs year round!

And that my friends ties into your budget concerns when landscaping. Think ahead for all seasons therefore you are more so investing into really good plants vs just buying annuals to fill your garden… think and plan. Trust me it will pay off! Also this goes without saying, a $40 truck load of black mulch can turn any garden from drab to fab, again just takes a little bit of elbow grease 🙂

     ^ Christmas greens haul!!

Also, have a mentioned yet how meditating gardening is? Whether you like to put your ear buds in and listen to a podcast or some tunes or just want to work away with your thoughts – its basically therapeutic. I like to get right into my work clothes when I get home and get right into my garden. It almost lets me distress and relax (does that make sense – even though I’m doing physical labour haha?!) before Brandon gets home and we start a project or begin cooking dinner. It truly is good for my soul, and being able to plant something, nourish it and watch it grow – is pretty dang cool.

So if youre no wear near a fan of gardening before reading this, I hope I’ve changed your tune or at least changed how you look at the exterior grounds of your home. Landscaping can get expensive I completely agree, but hopefully these cheaper fixes of some good easy keeping plants, colour mulch and strategic planting will help you start the process on updating your gardens! I would love to see some of your transformations across social media, make sure you tag me!

Thank you for stopping by today my friend! You’ll find me in the garden… Talk soon! Sam xx