Outdoor flower decor...

 Ahhh, sweet spring!

This photo was taken two days ago through the dining room bay window.

The same view, exactly three months ago in early March. 

The summer view is soooooo much more appealing!

This is the view looking in the opposite direction through the bay window. The Major Wheeler honeysuckle vine we planted last year has now climbed to the top of the arbor!

It was only a couple of feet tall when we planted it last summer.

I'm so happy it took off. I wasn't sure if it would, because this isn't a very sunny spot.

But despite all odds, it is growing and budding, just as I'd hoped it would.

One more place for our hungry hummers to visit while visiting our yard!

We also planted a small Major Wheeler honeysuckle on both sides of the swingset deck last summer. It has climbed to the top of the framework, so hopefully we'll be surrounded by hummers when we sit out in the Adirondack chairs this summer!

I mean between the honeysuckle and the feeders, how can our tiny feathered friends resist stopping for a visit?

The vines are loaded with blossoms ...

...that are just starting to open!

Another beacon for our little hummer friends - the Calibrachoa on the plant stand on the deck. 

I finally got around to planting impatiens in the shed's window boxes. I'm really off to a slow start this year with my planting.

Out in the front yard, a hanging basket gets 'plopped' down in the whiskey barrel, as it does every year.

The irises are blooming in the rock garden next to the whiskey barrel...

... and the clematis has started blooming by the light post.

(the view from my studio office window)

It's so wonderful to welcome spring after the long New England winters (especially this past one!), even on rainy days like today!

I hope you all have a beautiful week!

Donna

Impatiens, my "go-to" flower

Impatiens is the flower of choice in the planters and window boxes of this brown-thumbed gardener.

They ask for nothing but water.

They need no pruning...

... no fertilizer...

... no dead heading.

They cheerfully greet each new day...

...with an abundance...

... of colorful blossoms.

Sweet impatiens...

... you will forever be my flower of choice...

I'm so happy that you are thriving.

You were hard to find at the garden centers this year...

Hopefully the disease you were prone to...

... will be a thing of the past by next summer.

I can't even imagine a summer...

 .. without you.

The high temps and high humidity have fled New England for a spell, leaving us with gloriously beautiful weather! If the temperatures stayed like this, I'd love to have summer year 'round!

I'm joining Tracie's Cottage Garden Party at Fishtail Cottage this week.

Have a great week, everyone!

Donna

The makeshift window box...

Every summer the screen feeder attached to the dining room window becomes my makeshift window box...

... and this year is no exception.

Although a lot of nurseries did not carry impatiens this year due to the
 downy mildew problem...

... I was able to find enough flats to take care of the screen feeder window box as well as all the other flower boxes that hang on the shed and on the fence panels.

So far, so good. The impatiens in the shed flower boxes seem to be thriving...

... as do the ones planted in the tree house flower box. I also took a chance buying a hanging impatiens for the tree house, and that's also looking good. I don't know what I'd do if nurseries stopped selling impatiens completely because, not having a green thumb when it comes to flowers, they're the only annual that doesn't look dismal by mid July in the yard and on the deck.

I put some trailing Calibrachoa in front of the impatiens. I miss my Vinca Vine though. I think I'll go back to that next year.

I tried to take photos of the window view from inside.

The outside view definitely shows up better when I have the inside lights on.

The dining room is the same as always, so there's really nothing new to share except this very inexpensive thrift store bird cage that I stuck on the table with a fake Ikea plant inside. (I know, faux is a no-no.)

And, of course, you know who had to have some fun with the cage before it went on the table.

Because, as anyone who owns a cat knows....

"In a cat's eyes, all things belong to cats..."

(Old English Proverb)

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Donna

The new patio tent and a mish-mash of flowers...

This is the new tent we picked up last week for over our little backyard patio.

We would love to have gotten a few more years out of the old tent...

... but during the high winds and heavy rains of the past few weeks, several branches fell right through the tent to the patio below (Glad I wasn't sitting out there when it happened!).

 And although the little white wicker set under the tent is water resistant, it's not waterproof. As it is, it's deteriorating faster than we'd like so we want to keep it as dry as possible to get as many (more) years out of it as we can.

 While I was out photographing the tent, I noticed one of the bright clematis blooms right by the deck. I focused first on the new tent in the background....

... and then on the clematis bloom right next to me. I have to say, I'm really pleased with my little Canon Power Shot Point & Shoot. I know it's nothing fancy, but it has served me well over the years.

I did the same thing on the other side of the deck, focusing first on the impatiens on the dining room window 'screen feeder' flower box...

... and then on the clematis cascading across the arbor over the back yard gate.

This last photo is just the hanging basket I put together that hangs from the deck with the girls' old tree house in the background.

A couple of posts ago I shared a photobomb I recently captured, and in my next post I'll share a videobomb that I caught today! It's all in the timing...

I hope you are all having a beautiful weekend. 

Donna