247 E Mohawk Drive
Yep, that’s my address. I purchased some house numbers a while ago with plans to put them on the front door. Then I got nervous and didn’t want to drill holes in the door. Earlier this week, we decided to make a plaque to hang on the front porch since it’s all spruced up and looking lovely.
Originally we were going to buy some wood, but then we remembered that we had some beautiful maple that was milled from one of those trees we had taken down last spring. First we thought about painting it, but then decided the light maple would be perfect as is.
Mr Chiots cut the perfect size board, complete with a slightly beveled edge. He gave it a good sanding, though not enough to make it furniture smooth. We wanted to still have some texture. Then I gave it a few coats of organic boiled linseed oil.
After it was dry, I attached the number, added the eye hooks, and wrote a small description on the back. Hopefully whoever has this house after us will find this little treasure when they take the number down.
Mr Chiots and I were laughing that they’ll probably take it down because they think it’s ugly then they’ll feel bad since it’s got history.
This house humber is perfect because it’s easily visible from the road now, which is why you put house numbers up. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been searching for someone’s address and couldn’t find house numbers either on the house or the mailbox. We’ve always had a mailbox with huge numbers on it to make it easy for people to find, now this is even better.
Do you display your house number somewhere visible?
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Aloe Hedgehog
I’ve been trying to come up with something unique & interesting to put in pots to flank the front door. Our porch is HUGE and unless there are a few pots of plants it looks like a bowling alley. This year, I was considering purchasing a few boxwoods clipped into spheres for this spot. When I was at Buchwalter Greenhouse on Monday with my mom I spotted these aloe ‘Hedgehog’ and knew they’d be perfect.
Our front porch is hot, hot, hot since it gets the afternoon sun. I’d love to do ferns, but they just can’t take the heat. These lovely aloes should thrive up there in those conditions.
These are certainly unique, I’m guess most of my neighbors are going to have petunias and other plants on their front port. Now I just need to find something unique that can take the heat for my hanging baskets.
What’s your favorite front porch plant? Do you have a tough spot in the garden you have trouble finding the perfect plant for?
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Happy Mother’s Day
Yesterday, I went over to my mom’s. We picked up my nieces and went to the Buchwalter Greenhouse so they could buy a Mother’s Day gift for their mom (my sister). They also needed to get a few new plants for the Fairy Garden that we made last fall. They really enjoyed walking around the entire greenhouse oohing and ahhing over all the beautiful flowers. They debated and argued over what they wanted to get for their mom.
They finally settled on this lovely hanging basket bursting with lovely flowers. My mom buys it and the kids pay it off with chores at her house. I also purchased the same basket for my mom and it looks great hanging on her front porch.
On the way home we stopped by Hartzler’s Dairy to pick up some ice cream. The kids then spent the afternoon playing outside with a cart my dad built that my sister and I used to play on when we were kids. I think flowers and plants make the perfect gift, you can plant them in the garden, enjoy them on the porch and when the season is over they can become houseplants or go into the compost pile.
Do you enjoy receiving flowers for gifts for Mother’s Day or other holidays?
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New Porch Posts
Our front porch posts have needed replaced for quite a while. We never really liked the old ones because they didn’t really fit with the style of our home. They were kind of cottagy and our house is a traditional cape. I always knew what I wanted in their place, but we just never had the time to get them replaced; until this past weekend.
Pre-made porch posts can be quite pricey, hovering around $60-$100 each. We didn’t really like the look of plastic ones either and wanted real wood. Finally, we settled on using wooden 4 x 6 posts with trim detail, which Mr Chiots made some trim from 1 x 6 boards. Everything was primed, caulked and given many coats of crisp white paint. The results were quite nice, not bad since it cost us less than $100 to do all six posts.
They now look fantastic with our freshly painted shutters and foundation. Hopefully in the next couple weeks the rest of the trim and the doors will be painted and the entire project will be finished.
I must admit, the fresh facelift for the house makes the gardens look even better! When all the rest of the outdoor to-do’s are finished I’ll give you a tour of the house and gardens (since so many people have been asking for it).
What is one thing you’ve been wanting to change about your house but haven’t gotten around to it yet?
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Lettuce Explosion
Just last week I was looking at my lettuce wondering when it was going to get big enough to harvest. I guess all it needed was a good soaking rain a few days of sunny warm weather. We were away for a few days last week and during the 3 days we were gone things exploded in the garden, especially the lettuce.
My lettuce bed is about 10 foot long by about 4 foot wide and it’s now overflowing with lettuce. Looks like we’ll be eating salads every night for dinner for the coming weeks. No doubt we won’t be able to eat all of this lettuce, so it’s a good think I have a neighbor that will be happy to have some.
I don’t mind all this bounty, I’ve been patiently waiting for this day and made a big batch of salad dressing on Saturday. My salad dressing of choice in the spring is a balsamic vinaigrette made with a dash of maple syrup, garlic, shallots, freshly ground pepper, sea salt, a bit of whole grain mustard, apple cider vinegar and a healthy measure of good olive oil.
Is there anything that has exploded in your garden in the last week? What’s your favorite kind of salad dressing?
