This was an old beat up, leaky, water trough that we had.
This is me and my boy, standing next to it:
(Please overlook the swollen ugliness of my feet. It just figures that the day after I start this project, I start having problems with my feet swelling. So they can be ugly in these photos.)
I had my husband punch some holes in the bottom for better drainage, and we converted it into a planter.
In it, we put the Dianthus that my kids got me for Mother’s Day.
Unfortunately I don’t know what variety of Dianthus it is, because it didn’t come with a label stuck in it. Maybe someday I’ll find out what variety it is. If someone here knows, please fill me in. :)
This is Emma & I standing next to it, today May 21st, 2012:
and a close-up:
Much prettier than a beat-up old bucket, I think.
If they do as well as the ones I bought last year, then I think it should turn out nice.
Last spring I bought these Dianthus (variety – Floral Lace Violet Picotee), at the same little local market that my Mom helped my kids get these. They cost me less than $5.00 total and they were the same size as the ones above, when I planted them last year. This is what they look like this year:
They don’t require much care.
My kids help me. They just water them if they are dry, and give them the occasional weeding.
Not too bad for less than $5 investment, and they come back every year.
Hopefully my new ones will do just as well.
Beautiful! And what a great deal too. I love the container you used. I bet it will be covered by summer. I like the photos with feet too. (I’ll have to go read your first post so I’ll know what’s going on) Sorry I haven’t been able to keep up, but I’ve kept your posts in my mail and finally thought today is the best day ever to say hi to you.
Big Hugs,
Michelle.
I ignored the feet and concentrated on the flowers. I love “repurposing” things (fancy for using again, lol). We got a variety of flowers for the window boxes and pots, including gerber daisies which currently are my favo(u)rites, but, now I’m wondering about Dianthus for the empty pots we have left (got them as seconds at a local discount grocery store several years ago — patterned terra cotta with saucers.
My spring mix is up (well at least one kind of it is, lol), and the sunflowers (short ornamental) are already poking their heads out around the canna.When we lived on the farm, we grew regular sunflowers and often had ones with multiple seed heads.
Hmmm, they look very pretty. My husband is dismayed that after all the money we have invested in flowers, we don’t have any, other than our flowering trees and bushes. So we bought some rolled-up beds of flowers, cut the mat bed to the right sizes and planted them everywhere. Some of labelled as for full sun, others for shade. We planted them appropriately. Now all we need to do is keep them watered.
I’ll let you know how they turn out, but I will keep Dianthus in mind.