I know that 2/3 of the country is being ravaged by winter weather, but here in So Cal it has been really mild. So much so that it was time to do a spring planter to put by our front door.
A few months back I spotted this guy, just sitting on the curb. He was hanging out with an unsavory crowd of trashcans. Definitely not the kind of company he should be keeping.
I stopped the car and checked things out. He was a tad rusty and was a smidge unstable, but hey, aren’t we all? I took him home, put him in my side-yard of unfinished projects and proceeded to ignore him for 5 months.
Then a trip to Lowe’s found me face to face with gorgeous hyacinths and pansies and I suddenly remembered my curbside friend. Time for a spring planter makeover.
I hurried home, grabbed some black spray paint and a wire brush and got to it. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but knock off any loose flakes of paint or rust with a wire brush then wipe the planter down before you start to paint. (Tip: I always start out with the object I am painting up-side down. It helps to ensure that you hit those funky angles.)
When the planter was dry, I took pansies and violas and planted them in a flower pot and set it inside the planter. I wedged the pots with the hyacinths in next to the pansies and then carefully tucked sheet moss all along the edges of the planter and put loose moss on top.
When I was first playing around with the placement of the flowers, Handsome Hubby walked by and commented, “That thing looks like Shrek.”
After I had a good laugh and made a mental note to let him know he was right (which I don’t always do, because I thoroughly enjoy being right and tend to keep quiet on the rare occasion when I’m not) I rearranged the flowers and added a chicken. Everything can be made better by adding a chicken.
The chicken isn’t showing up too well because he’s close to the color of the house… I’m wondering what a purple or blue chicken might look like… Maybe we’ll see on Friday. In the meantime, I am happy with my spring planter makeover and hope that my friends in colder parts of the country get a dose of spring really soon!
Never let em see you sweat.
Never let em know they are right.
Same thing! (mine is right on occasion. It’s so irritating. lol)
I can believe someone tossed that. But I can’t believe it. Love the chicken addition. So cute!! What a nice welcome to your home.
I have the same planter! I picked up a couple about 15 years ago at a Lillian Vernon Outlet store (remember all their catalogues? They were so popular in the days before the proliferation of online shopping and Dollar stores -at least in the Midwest! ). I had used one for a school auction, it was overflowing with flowers and garden accents and was a big hit. I just dug the other one out of the back of the shed and cleaned up a few weeks ago. I used a plastic window box hidden by moss on the top to hold the flowers incase I wanted to pop it out and use it for beverages (original purpose) for a party.