Deck Tour

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We had some weird microburst blow through our deck this past week. (Microburst is a straight-line tornado.) Our old umbrella was bent over at a 90 degree angle, right where it pokes out of the table. The table was not even chipped but one of the table legs was through the webbing of one of the chairs so it must have had some lift at some point. Otherwise, nothing on the deck was disturbed - not the lightweight resin chairs, not the birdfeeders, nothing! It was very bizarre.

It was my fault that it happened because I'd left the umbrella up that day. So it serves me right it took me 3 stores to find a new one and this is literally the only one the Penfield Wegmans had left. Target has already replaced their outdoor section with back-to-school stuff. Walmart didn't have any either. Lucky for me, this lime green is a color I would have chosen if I'd had a choice.

Steve's sister is in town from Colorado so we had his family out for dinner Sunday. So we did a little sprucing up and I thought I'd give you a quick tour. Some of the stuff will look familiar to long-time readers - just that it's this year's version. I don't fix what ain't broke.

We bought this rabbit planter at Home Depot because it's super heavy and wanted something to weight down a warped deck board. Until we fix it permanently, this was a quick fix solution.

(Click on any of the pictures to make them larger.)

But it looked stupid out in the middle of the deck so I rearranged a birdbath and some plants to make this little grouping. That's the same birdbath I made years ago - it's a plastic pot turned upside down with the saucer on top. The birds love it - and it turns out it's exactly the right height to serve as a beagle water dish.

I'm very proud of my flower boxes, by the way. They are very helter skelter, more of a collage of plantings rather than my usual symmetrical line-up. It was an exercise in creativity for me - turns out it didn't kill me after all. (Gretchen, Steve's sister-in-law Sue wanted me to be sure to tell you about them. I'd told her how our personalities differ in that regard.)

I'm growing a pot full of cherry tomatoes this year. There are a couple just about ready to eat. This is a little china saucer on a stick I bartered at a recent craft show - it's for bird seed or water. I put water in it and birds seem to like it.

You can't tell this flag is new or anything, can you?? Clearance aisle at Target.

Steve gave me this hanging basket for Mother's Day. It's from Wegmans and is doing better than the ones I bought from the greenhouse. I think it's a better pot somehow. It feels like I can pour gallons of water into this thing before it runs out the bottom. (Yes, we know our house needs painting. That's next year's project. 2007 was the Year of the New Driveway.)

This is the lower deck where we always sit for a while after we get out of the hot tub. You'll notice my long-time favorite - enamel kettle with a green sweet potato vine, a red sweet potato vine with a spike in the center. Check out that pot in the foreground. On a whim (yes, me!) I planted some cosmos in some of my pots and boxes. I'd grown them in the ground before but never in a pot. They grew so fast, I swear I could see them grow. I didn't remember their stalks being so thick. I'm wondering if they sucked up all the water and nutrients because the other plants in this pot have barely grown at all. These shot up several feet tall. The cosmos in the window boxes however, didn't grow as tall and the other plants with them are thriving. I'm thinking they must have pretty extensive root systems, if given the chance.

More pictures tomorrow.

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