Every fall when I put away hanging baskets and plant containers ….that I save…I vow that next year I am going to reuse the baskets and containers and do my own baskets. And so far, every year, I go to the nursery and buy beautiful hanging baskets already full of bloomin’ stuff. Yea, well…NEXT YEAR!

I absolutely love going to the nursery, though. And yesterday’s trip was my third trip this year, although the first I actually bought anything. See, if you put things out before Memorial Day, you either have to be a martyr to covering up and/or bringing everything in and out or you will lose it because we have these teaser summerlike spells mid to early May and then it snows one more time. But it is so hard because things are greening up, leafing out, the sky is blue and you really, really, really want to plant something – of course, I did – once…

But yesterday was June 1! So off I went. My local nursery is on a funny little rural corner between my house and Bigfork. There is Swan River School on one corner, Swan River Community Center on another, Echo Lake Cafe and Echo Lake Store on the other two. The nursery sits next to the Community Center.

Store ……………….. and Cafe

The owners of the nursery are a young couple. This is maybe their 4th or 5th year. Sometimes their little girls are there as well as their golden retriever. A number of employees that have been the same for these years are around. It is another thing about this community that I enjoy – the continuity, seeing the owner and his family, seeing the same people getting things…

I wandered around inside several times and didn’t see what I thought I wanted. The front porch gets morning sun and doesn’t get too hot but where the baskets hang do not get a lot of full sun. I always get something that will do well in part shade. And although I love how petunias look, I’m not all that fond of the maintenance required. And I don’t like too much pink and purple…last years baskets were mountain bell in red, white and blue and mostly I just watered them. There is not so much of the pinching off of dead blossoms. So, I was thinking that maybe I would have to put on my big girl panties and just plant my own baskets when I wandered outside and found the perfect baskets – 2!!! – planted with the same colors, the same size baskets – the perfect thing!

Done! – well, one quick trip inside to gather a few things for another idea I had…

One of the “perfect” baskets – it picks up all of the colors on the front porch and then some – I LOVE it!

My other idea… this tree root – last year I looked at it and thought that it would be pretty with a little color in it.

not a real gardener, but we’ll see how this goes.