I’m sure I’m not alone in having friends who have green thumbs. Actually, they have green hands – magic powers – when it comes to gardening. They seem to put together beautiful floral masterpieces like this, almost effortlessly.
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| StoneCanyonStudios.com |
Or this…
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| DIYideas.com |
Or this…
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| HGTV.com |
I am not one of those people. Lucky for me, the world doesn’t have to know that. It will be our little secret.
So, what do you do when you don’t have natural gardening skills? You fake it. You heard me. Fake. it. That’s what I do.
How? There are great tools out there for those of us who are gardening-challenged. One of my favorites, that I reference year after year, is the Proven Winners Container Design Book. First off, it’s FREE. FREE, people. It’s like paint by numbers, for planting beautiful flower container gardens. Seriously, they totally dumb it down – in a good way. There are lots of catalogs to peruse too – take a peek.
Here is an urn that I planted one year with their help:
Inspired by this in their catalog…
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| Proven Winners Container Design Book for Gardeners |
But do you see the little cheater-guide at the bottom? It tells you what plants to buy and takes it to the next level by showing you where to plant them. Their ideas are serious eye candy – eye-deas, if you will. (That’s lingo thrown about by the gardening-challenged.)
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| Proven Winners Container Design Book for Gardeners |
I’m all for things that enhance the curb appeal of a home, which beauties like these definitely do.
That, my friends, is the secret to looking like you know what you’re doing when it comes to beautiful container gardening. No more excuses. It’s literally as easy as 1-2-3. You can find even more Container Gardening for Dummies ideas from Better Homes & Gardens. Great stuff.
As a side note – I am in no way compensated by Proven Winners – I just seriously love these catalogs, and thought you might appreciate them too!
11 Comments
Tom Stevens
May 25, 2011 at 1:01 pmWe only have a small back patio at our house but nevertheless we have lots of different size pots with both flowers and vegetables.
So I totally agree that even a dummy can make their back yard or patio look fantastic simply by putting some pots and tubs out there.
Kathysue
May 25, 2011 at 3:10 pmJenny thank you for the heads-up on these guides. they look like an easy peasy way to do container gardening!! I did a post on window boxes last week. I love a lush beautiful window box, it looks as if these guides could be applied to a window box also, Kathysue
Andrea
May 25, 2011 at 4:35 pmI must invest in this book. I'm working on a post about our backyard and you'll see how much of a green thumb I have (ZERO)!! Thanks for turning me onto it.
Lisa
May 25, 2011 at 5:26 pmLove your inspiration photos. I'm a big fan of buying a ready-made pot of flowers and transplanting into my own pots at home – lazy like that!
Your paint-by-number pot looks gorgeous!
Bill
May 27, 2011 at 1:42 pmI gotta say those pots certainly do make all the difference. We´ve been wondering what to do with our garden so I think I´ll suggest these to my wife.
If this is from a book can you tell me where it can be bought from?
Jenny
May 28, 2011 at 3:03 pmThe best part is that these catalogs are FREE! I happened to get one from a garden center, you can also download them for free from the website. Here is a link to the one I really love:
http://www.provenwinners.com/catalogs/07ContainerDesignBook.pdf
I guess I should have emphasized the "free" aspect of the catalog. That's why I love it so much! 🙂
Colleen
June 4, 2011 at 8:05 pmWell I'm one who can definitely use all the help, so thanks for the tips, downloading the pdf file now. 🙂
Pam - diy Design Fanatic
July 25, 2011 at 1:28 pmI can use any help I can get! The book looks fantastic and so do your containers!
Linda
July 25, 2011 at 6:02 pmHi – thanks for sharing those beautiful photos and ideas!
I do some containder gardening around our back patio – one of the best/easiest have been fox ferns in planters ;o) – hearty, hearty plants!
Am visiting from the hop and am your Newest Follower!
Love your blog and posts!
Happy Monday!
Linda
beachside cottage
Susan (Between Naps on the Porch)
July 26, 2011 at 3:14 amJenny, your pots are beautiful…every bit as gorgeous as the pros. I always have trouble finding the right plants…I definitely need to try this again after seeing how pretty yours came out.
sabineshome
February 2, 2012 at 11:16 pmGreat home goods ideas! I have been blogging my home design projects on http://sabineshome.com What do you suggest using for home decor?