More Plant Love

Just a few quick photos today of one of my favorite summertime activities, plant shopping! There is something very therapeutic about being around nature. I always have a calm feeling when I can spend some quiet time outside. Lately I have been really wanting to bring that feeling inside by adding more indoor plants to our apartment, but the task has proved rather tricky for a number of reasons. We have a very mischievous cat who is likely to try to play with just about anything, & we have only a sad two windows in our apartment. Succulents and cacti just aren't practical for my feisty kitty and I just seem to kill everything else. I also don't want to bring any toxic plants into my home either. It can be tricky plant shopping. So far I'm having to be super selective and careful with what I purchase so if you have any recommendations I'd love to hear!

-Reagan

Succulent Love

I couldn't help but take a few pictures the last time I went plant shopping. I love cacti and succulents because they're so pretty to look at, are actually pretty inexpensive, and are easy to take care of. I didn't end up getting any new succulents or cacti on this trip, because some indoor plants distracted me, but I love to check them out regardless. I have never really had any indoor plants before, but I'm excited to have more greenery inside now. If you have any indoor plant recommendations definitely let me know.

Have you planted a spring garden this year?

-Reagan

Patio Gardening Again

With spring finally here it seemed appropriate that we begin shopping for new plants for our patio garden again. We decided to shop mostly for herbs, cacti, and succulents. This year we feel like we definitely know what we're doing a little bit better, and also know what works for us and what doesn't. We ended up getting some sweet basil, lemon thyme, some lavender, two different succulents, and a few cucumber plants. I'm pretty happy with our garden right now because I wanted to focus mostly on herbs. I think we still need some rosemary and mint next but I'm super excited to be gardening again, it's one of my favorite things about spring. We try to spend as much time as we can on our patio or with the windows and patio door open to enjoy the beautiful weather when we can and I'm loving every bit of it. 

 -Reagan

Last Days of Autumn

 

 One of my most favorite things about autumn is the leaves changing into firey hues. They didn't even begin changing around here until late November. I've always thought of December as the beginning of winter so it seems strange to be seeing these beautiful colors still peppering the trees. Many have begun to shed their leaves so I decided to capture a few last photos of autumn before all the trees are bare. I definitely feel like I got to see so much more fall colors this year. It was pretty wonderful! This whole fall was actually pretty great, and it flew by. I know that I should expect the same from winter. Time to switch gears in to all things winter and Christmas. Goodbye fall.

-Reagan

Fall Leaves

Today is my birthday so I'm going to keep things short and enjoy my day :)

 I always wanted to take photos like these after seeing so many like it on pinterest. Fall is my favorite season and I've done all I could to enjoy every bit of it. It feels with Thanksgiving fast approaching that winter is creeping in on us already. I do plan on taking time to enjoy these last few weeks of fall while I can, although I must admit I love wintertime as well.

Hope you're having a good weekend!

-Reagan

Around Here...

1. peeling veggies for a lot of soups lately. I love "fall" food!

2. Also baking a lot. Lots of cookies and cakes! (with some cute vintage Pyrex, of course!)

3. We have gotten a lot of rain here lately and all the succulents have grown like crazy. 

4. More fall baking with some fun Halloween sprinkles.

5. Got out my owl for fall decor and Murray has claimed it.

6. Even more fall baking! This time it's an apple pie! (& more cute vintage Pyrex!)

Can you guys believe October is already half way over? When did that happen?!

-Reagan

A year apart.

 I was looking through old Instagram photos when I realized I posted pictures of the same tree exactly 52 weeks apart. kind of a weird coincidence, but it's interesting to compare the two photos.

Happy first day of October!

-Reagan

Mexican Snowball

 A week or so ago I shared a picture of this succulent in my August edition of Around Here... He had been re-potted to a much bigger pot than he had originally been in and had been showing growth and improvement after just a few days. The other day when I was watering the plants I saw these beautiful little flowers that had begun to grow and I just had to take a couple of pictures to show how much growth has taken place since moving the plant to a bigger pot. It made such a huge difference and this succulent is really looking better than ever.

 These pictures are actually already a couple days old and there has already been some more growth on the plant. I decided to do a little research to find out what this succulent was and I found this helpful post from Apartment Therapy, that told me the name of this succulent is "E. elegans or Mexican snowball". It's nice to know what it is called. I might try to figure out a couple of the others as well. I also feel like trying to re-pot a few more of them to see if they start growing like crazy as well. 

I really love having a mostly succulent garden. I've found that I don't do well with most plants, but that I am able to keep succulents and cacti alive and well. I like having plants to tend to and watch grow. Some day when I have a back yard I'd love to have a real vegetable garden but so far we haven't had much luck with trying to grow them in containers. I'm just happy with my succulents for now.

Do you have a garden of your own? What are some of your favorite plants?

-Reagan

around here...

We've been adding a few more plants to our patio garden. I love succulents and have had a few in the past. They're pretty easy to take care of, and they have very unique shapes and colors and so many different varieties. We purchased ours from the local home depot, but you can find the easily at your local nursery or even walmart. We also added in a little cactus, cause why not? Although these two snapshots are before we potted them, they are currently in a container all together (I'll be sure to share a photo of the final result soon!). The whole process of having a garden has been very exciting, and it's very easy to become obsessed. We love the succulents and cactus and are very excited to add more ornamental plants to our garden and a few inside as well. Do you have any succulents or cacti in your garden? -Reagan

Patio Container Garden: Round Two

 One of the nice things about living in central Texas is that spring arrives earlier here than the rest of the country. Everywhere outside has transformed into greenery and flowers blooming. It's pretty awesome, and it inspired me and my husband to kick start our patio garden again. We added on a new plant every grocery trip and ended up with one tomato plant, two different varieties of peppers, a basil plant, a cilantro plant and three small decorative plants. We want to add some succulents and possibly a few more herbs, grasses and veggies. What can we say, we have spring fever!

 

 This year around we decided to put all the vegetables in our largest pots, so we won't have to transplant any of them later on. The herbs were placed in medium sized containers, and the decorative plants in the smallest pots. We're pretty happy with the variety and colors on our patio so far. The pets love hanging out on the patio even more than before! Do you have a garden? What does spring inspire you to do? - Reagan