This shop to add some personality to my lawn has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LoveYourLawn #CollectiveBias
This past weekend we went to Tree Adventures in Nebraska City. You know, the home of Arbor Day. While we were there we got a mini tour of the grounds and they pointed out all the fun educational contraptions, the herb garden, the many tree houses, the benches, and we spent an hour learning how to tap maple trees. This was positively the most fun I’ve had in a long time.
It’s not even Spring yet and I was out in nature and I was loving every minute of it! It’s no surprise I was inspired the very next day to get outside and start working on our lawn and garden. We picked up some paint and I started in on repainting this old bench my in laws gave us when the kids were toddlers. It was old and weathered, and while beautiful on it’s own, it needed a little tlc. That got me thinking that I need to share some of our garden ideas with you. Every year we add a little something more to our garden; something to pep it up and give it more personality. Now that the girls are older, they’re really getting into this and inspiring us as well.
Fun Ideas to Add Some Personality to Your Garden
Butterfly Garden: This year we want to add in a butterfly garden to attract more butterflies to the yard. Of course the kids are thrilled with this idea. After doing some research I learned something I should have realized. You don’t just need plants and flowers that attract butterflies, you also need plants and flowers they can use when they are caterpillars! Our job right now is to research the butterflies in our area and start planting both the host and food plants for both stages of the butterflies development. Luckily we already have a few such as that beautiful echinacea up there. That photo is from a few summers ago, but it grows every year and I know the bees love it. We just need to find the right plants to partner with it to attract more butterflies.
Animal Habitats: Ok, so the butterfly garden could actually fit here, but it’s such a huge project it received it’s own section. This one is reserved for the other backyard creatures we want to attract. My kids insist on rabbits, so we need plenty of lush plants for them to hide under. My husband isn’t so sure about this because he doesn’t want to share his garden harvest with them. Other animals the kids are working on attracting are toads, birds, bats (yes, bats), and even some helpful spiders. I know, my kids are really getting into the entire backyard habitat as they learn the food webs (pun intended) and habitat requirements for each animal. I’m still not sure where we’re going to put a bat house, but the kids want one. I’m also excited to get a new bird feeder and we’re going to make a terracotta pot bird bath this year to replace the one that broke over the winter. The photo up top is the winterized version of our toad house. As soon as the plants start growing back this year it will be shaded, moist and perfect for any toad to call it’s home. We just used a broken terracotta pot and a few rocks. They’re simple to make and toads love them!
Fairy Garden: My girls are currently loving on the idea of fairies, so it’s no wonder we’re in the beginning stages of creating a fairy garden. A few months ago they bought their first item for the fairy garden, that cute little door. Now they’re researching ways to enhance the garden with little findings from around the house, and creative upcycling methods. Of course we have every book about fairy gardens we could find from the library so we’ll be experts on this one soon.
Add a Pop of Color: One of the easiest ways to add some personality to your yard and garden is to add a little color. Remember how I mentioned I painted that old bench? Well, I also picked up some new flower pots, and even though it’s not spring yet I couldn’t wait to get some flowers for the yard. Lucky for me the greenhouse had pansies in bloom and they looked amazing! Here, take a closer look at this beautiful flower!
It’s easy to add some color, you can either plant colorful flowers. You can paint up some old furniture like I did. We’re even going to paint up some pots to add our own color and personality to the garden area. There’s so much you can do and just a little pop of color can make a world of difference.
Of course today while I was thinking about all the ways to spruce up the garden my husband was taking care of the lawn. Last week we picked up some Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed.
He pulled out the spreader and got to work feeding the lawn. I saw a Scotts® Turf Builder® Edgeguard® Mini Broadcast Spreader in the store when I was picking up the Weed & Feed. Now that I’m looking at the Scotts spreader we have I’m wondering if they are the same one! I know the Scotts® Turf Builder® Edgeguard® Mini Broadcast Spreader can hold up to 5000 sq feet worth of product and that’s exactly what this bag of Weed & Feed covers.
I can’t wait to see how green our lawn gets this year. The Weed & Feed helps thicken the lawn to crowd out weeds. I have big plans of spending a lot of time hanging out on the lawn with the kids as we watch the results of all our work on the garden, so the thicker and more lush it gets, the better! Everything from seeing the bounty of vegetables growing to seeing the butterflies and other animals enjoying the habitats we’ve created.
Now that you’re loaded up on some great garden projects you can enter the #LoveYourLawn Sweeps! You could win a $1,000 Walmart Gift Card, but hurry, the contest ends 4/26/2016.
Scotts® #LoveYourLawn Sweepstakes
If you want to pick up some Weed & Feed for your lawn, head out to Walmart today. I found ours in the Garden Center. Don’t forget, the Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed is in the yellow bag making it easy to spot on the shelf.
Looking for specific information for how Scotts® Turf Builder® Weed & Feed can help solve your lawn problems? Click here to sign up for the Scotts’ email reminder service to receive specific tips and information for your area!
Bats! Yay! How wonderful that you are creating a habitat for bees and butterflies in your yard! It really helps these species when people create spaces for them. I enjoyed reading this post. I had to laugh because I travelled a lot last summer amd neglected my backyard, and I have never seen more bees! Haha – I accidentally created exactly what I’d hoped for – a habitat- but I did it through neglect (oops). I liked your link up idea – it’s so good to connect with other bloggers. Take care!
Thanks Carina! We’ve been teaching the kids the importance of these habitats. I do know that with all of the development in our area the bat populations are being pushed out, which means less control over all of the insects. Insects are great, but they do need those natural predators, so bat boxes can help! Same thing with bees. They are our pollinators! We need them for happy healthy crops, so we encourage them as much as possible. I’m glad you stopped by and I hope you’ll come back to visit again!
What a lovely idea. Makes me want to start a garden.
And I didn’t even mention our Garden Gargoyle! That’s part of my husband’s gargoyle collection, and he really does add a bit more life to the garden party. Good luck with your garden if you start one!
Love love love the pop of color and what a pretty yellow flower! Also love that “old” bench of yours. Beautiful garden! Need to step it up over here, got no excuse since it doesn’t snow in Florida! Thanks for the inspiration.
I was so excited to get the bench painted I forgot to take a before picture, lol. It was grey and looked like it was about ready to fall apart. The coat of paint really perked it up!