Playing with Flowers

With less than a week until school starts I have been feeling a little sad. It seems as if Summer just started and I was looking forward to being home with my boys. So I thought it might help if I focused on something I love. Flowers! Every Spring I take pleasure in picking out flowers to add some curb appeal to our home. Are yard is not very big so my planting consists of window boxes, urns and a few hydrangea bushes in our yard. I can't say I have ever planted the same arrangement of flower's twice. I think I am still looking for that perfect combination.  Here is a comparison of what our annual flower's looked like.

I loved the color that this plant had to offer and it did get much fuller throughout the summer. But, it just didn't have the pizazz I was looking for.

This year I went for a plant that had some height and I really liked how it looked.

I will definitely stick with this flower next season.

These are the plants I used.

 I typically do a combination of red, white and blue in our window boxes.

 I liked how I did not have to dead head these petunias and they looked great all summer.

This year we did red wave petunias, white geraniums, one spike in the middle and vinca vine.

 This hydrangea was an anniversary gift a few years ago and we have several in our yard (they are my favorite flower).

We had a lot of blooms last year.

This year....only one bloom!

I don't know if it was the dry Spring/Summer or pruning them at the wrong time. If any of you have experience with these I would love to hear from you.

Not only do I enjoy picking our flowers but I also like receiving them! My hubby brought home this rose for our Anniversary and it still smells heavenly.

Jen