Happy almost summer friends! Over Mother’s Day weekend I had a chance to start playing around with the planters and pots on our front porch. Our school greenhouse has a wonderful selection of affordable flowers. and this year I fell in love with their dark bronze leaf white begonias and interesting coleus varieties.
I purchased a few of the brozne leaf begonias to see how they would look, and i am crazy about them. I am purchasing more this week (only two dollars each and I am supporting our future farmers class!)
I also picked up some vibrant green and coral -pink begonias, and dark purple coleus to create a new combo for the planters on our porch. I grabbed some creeping jenny and sedum that I had growing elsewhere in the yard to see how a “spiller” would look, and I like the combination. I am going to pick up a few more creeping jenny plants to really spill out over the sides. I have four identical planters along the porch ledges, and normally it costs a bit more than I like to spend to fill them all. This year I am paying less than half of what I usually spend due to the great prices at the school greenhouse.
Begonias and coleus do very well in the porch planters due to the shade. Now if I can just keep the deer out of the planters! I grew begonias in the planters last year and they were huge and lush by the end of June. I used deer netting to deter deer, but this year the netting is NOT working so far in the backyard, nor is the granule repellant. I have already lost numerous hostas and small hydrangea!
Can you believe this is only one coleus plant filling the entire planter? I normally do a mixed planting in this gorgeous clay pot, but I really like the simplicty of the coleus this year. The colors are so interesting that I think it can stand alone. It was only $5 at the school greenhouse!
After all my choir programs are finished up in the next 2 weeks and school is out, I will have more time to spend in my happy place…the garden of course! I will share an update on the planters in mid-june.
How is your garden coming along? I love hearing from you!
Thanks for visiting!
Amber
1 Comment
Amber, these planters are lovely! What a great price for the plants and such a good experience for these students. 🙂 I’m glad you were able to get these planted and so far the deer haven’t eaten them.
We don’t have deer here in North Texas, but the voles are a menace. I hope over time your husband might be able to build you some 8′ tall fences to keep the deer out. 8′ tall cattle panels made into fences would keep them out but not block your views much.
Also, I hope you’ve had a good summer. I see that you haven’t been posting much; I hope all is well with you and your family. <3
Thinking of you,
August 20, 2025 at 6:10 pmBarb 🙂