As soon as the weather begins to warm up I have this itch to be outside as much as possible. Outdoor painting projects, potting flowers, and planting our garden seem to always be on the top of my to-do list. All of these things make me good and tired at the end of the day, and I love the feeling of a day well spent outside.
One of the first outdoor projects I tackle in the spring is the flower containers. It’s a good project for the kids and I to work on together because it is a smaller scale than our vegetable beds, and they love the chance to dump in the dirt and add the water. (FYI – There are so many great flower container ideas over here on this blog.) Containers are also an easy way to bring color to our front porch when the rest of the flowers around the property are just starting to bud and bloom.
the front porch before
This spring we headed to Lowes’ to pick up some colorful plants by Monrovia. I’ve planted Monrovia plants in our containers and flower beds in the past with colorful and long-lasting results. They always have healthy and high-quality plants, which is why I was glad they reached out to me this year. Because our front door is a fabulous shade of light pink we picked up plants that were pink and purple to help bring in more color.
After looking through the variety of annuals and perennials we ended up bringing home a Callie Calibrachoa in a deep purple color, two Techno Heat Lobelia in a pink, and a Nikko Blush Deutzia bush in a light pink color. All of these plants are also available on the Monrovia online shop.
I should take a minute to add that I appreciate these flower tags! I’m still trying to learn how to care for my plants and it drives me crazy when a tag only says the name of the plant and to ask the garden center for more advice. These Monrovia tags have everything you need to know printed on them. I always save mine for a garden book, which I can look back on later in the season. If I ever misplace my tags I can head to the Monrovia website which is full of information on how to best care for the flowers.
Kailey wanted to help me plant these flowers along our front porch and so we got to work filling the pots with soil, adding water to the bottom of the pots, loosening up the roots, and then placing the flowers in the pots. She’s helped with all of the containers this spring and can plant them just as well as I can at this point. The best part is she takes great pride in those containers and now wants to make sure they stay watered. And this momma is just fine sharing some of her outdoor chores!
After we planted them into terracotta pots I spent some time thinking about how to best arrange them on the porch. I wanted them to bring color and farmhouse charm to the space.
potted flowers ready for styling
In the end, I brought in an old ladder and some galvanized buckets to help display the flowers. The short ladder acts as a planter stand, and I simply placed one of the pots inside of the galvanized bucket. (No need to re-pot!)
A galvanized watering can, and an olive bucket with a couple birch branches from an old tree finishes out the front porch. Now our front porch boasts color and farmhouse charm.
If you are looking for inspiration and advice on adding flowers to you porch and landscaping take a minute to look at the Grow Beautifully blog. I spent a lot of time on the site earlier looking through all of their landscaping solutions and wrote down a few things I want to add to our outdoor space throughout the summer.
Questions or advice to share with me? You know I want to hear it all in the comments.
Wishing you the best, xo
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Dean 365Designs says
That looks really great! I love the action shots you captured potting your plants!! 🙂 Fun post!
Tammy says
Love everything about this porch. The door color, the light, all the different country things you used for pots and that ladder. This country girls heart skipped a beat.
mary says
I love how you used the ladder as a plant stand!
Christine says
Loving your porch, it looks wonderful! The ladder fits just perfect there.
Carol ("Mimi") says
The old ladder makes a super shabby-chic plant stand. And, I love the color of your front door. The entire display is very attractive.
Leslie says
I love your pink door ?
Jennifer says
Your porch is very sweetLove the coal skuttle on the ladder. I have two, one on each end of my porch with bright pink geraniums & lobelia in them.
Marie says
I love how you styled your beautiful flowers! The porch looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing your gorgeous outdoor makeover with us at Merry Monday this week!
Elise says
The rustic ladder is such a great touch. I adore exploring posts like this one for ideas.
Angie says
What a lovely and fun farmhouse front porch! I just adore Monrovia plants. Thank you so much for sharing with us at Dishing It & Digging It & congratulations on being featured this week!
Mary Jane says
This post was inspiring! We have a huge front porch that goes bare in certain months of the season…it definitely needs some attention! I do hanging baskets and cut floral arrangements in the spring/summer, but would love to create a container garden to feature when I don’t have fresh blooms. I also totally understand about the plant tags! I keep all of my tags now to refer to later (I always forget important details…like the plant’s name lol). Thanks so much for sharing! Cheers, Mary Jane