You know this little online diary of ours is all about keeping you posted on the little stuff along with the big (and the bad and the ugly along with the good). So file this under small but good. Remember our little petunia-fied mailbox? Well, it went from this in June…
…to this in August…
…to this in October:
Womp- womppppp.
The petunias were annuals so they weren’t gonna last forever. And between rain washing out a lot of the mulch and the flowers thinning to a scraggly looking vine mess… yeah, it was ugly. But wait, we’ll get to the “good” in a minute.
Fortunately I was able to pull them out with virtually no effort. Note: Some of these pics were taken before we removed/transplanted a bunch of bushes here – you’ll see why we waited to post about this a few photos down)
We had actually just received a Home Depot coupon in the mail for “Buy 2 Mums, Get 1 Free” (we signed up for some free garden club a few years back so we get random coupons every once in a while). Sadly we didn’t get that coupon before purchasing our porch mums a few weeks back, but oh well – we decided to put it to good use in another place. The mailbox o’ tumbleweeds. So $14 later we had three sunny yellow mums out front. And yes, Sir Squirrel is chilling out right in the middle of them (more on him here).
Even though the mums are perennials, we’re so happy with how the petunias filled in the space over the summer that we’ll probably plop some of those back in come springtime (and just transplant these guys so we can enjoy them somewhere else). But we’re loving the autumn look for now.
What weren’t we loving? The washing out problem that we’d been battling after every big rain. See the weed blocking fabric that’s completely exposed next to the drainage grate on the right? In the words of my wife: reeeeal claaaassy.
The drain worked well most of the time, but heavy rains overload it and, well, you get the idea. So I borrowed some stones leftover from the patio project (they used to line those rows of liriope that we removed here) to build a little stacked stone wall beside the mum-bed. Things are looking up, right?
We have since had two big rains (we waited to post about it to be sure it wasn’t an epic fail) and we’re happy to report that it kept the water from whisking away the dirt with it. So… victory!
It doesn’t look half bad if you ask me. Although of course those mums could use some filling in, sort of like our petunias back when we planted those. Heck, now that we have the little stacked stone wall, maybe we’ll add more plants to really fill it up come spring. And hopefully we’ll straighten and paint the wooden mailbox post then too.
Did anyone else do any quick outdoor updates for fall? Were they mum related? Or stone related? Or ceramic squirrel related?
Oh and Sherry promised more pics of the feather wreath that some of you noticed from afar on the door in this post, so here we go. It’s just an old black feather wreath from JoAnn (picked up after last Halloween on super clearance- maybe it was $8?). Sherry lazily placed it over the door knocker (didn’t even bother hanging it) and called it a day. That’s my girl.
Sherry also meant to toss the three remaining black spiders that we had (from this post) into the yellow mums for more black-on-yellow action before snapping these pics but completely forgot. But she was sure to do that before those cute little trick or treaters came a-knocking yesterday evening. The ones who noticed seemed to love spiders as much as Clara (more on that here). So yeah. Good times going on at the mailbox and the front door. Although we could definitely use a new doormat (or at least a new stenciled paint job over our current one). How about you?
Psst- You can check out how we painted our front door yellow here and ORBed the handle & doorknocker here.
tina says
mums are like our “goodbye” flower before winter sets in. love them.
Camila@effortless-style says
I love how sunny and happy the yellow mums look by the mailbox. Looking into doing a mailbox for our house. We have a mail slot and the mail carrier is constantly wrinkling all of my magazines by trying to squeeze them through.
Heidi P. says
Oh, and p.s. Just wanted to share my halloween wreath. :) Nothing spectacular, but homemade, so ya know, I like it. :)
http://dhperezfamily.blogspot.com/2011/11/halloween-decor.html
YoungHouseLove says
Sweet! You know I always love the use of spray paint. And tiny spiders.
xo,
s
julianna says
Have you considered making the flowerbed surrounding the mailbox a few inches smaller?
YoungHouseLove says
Sure, just would need to seed some grass in the spring (too late this season to do that).
xo,
s
Iva | in my studio says
oh wow! that looks so cute and fluffy! excellent choice
Candace says
Love the new mailbox look with the mums. Maybe you could consider some grasses (small-medium size) to fill things in and add texture (along with some flowers next spring). I LOVE how mums and grasses look…and the cool thing about grasses (how many times am I going to say ‘grasses’???) is that they work almost year-round!
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that could be cute!
xo,
s
Jessica says
My family went to Disney over fall break. While we were there we searched for Hidden Mickeys. My 4 year old is sitting next to me while I’m reading this post and he shouts “Yook mama, it’s a mickey” – – he saw it in the last picture of the mailbox with the new mums. He’s spotting them everywhere.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- so cute!
xo,
s
Jennah says
Don’t move the mums, let them be! Plant perennials between them and they’ll fill in nicely. As another poster said, you’re supposed to pinch back your mums until the 4th of July to maintain a nice smallish round shape with them (otherwise they’ll be too big when they bloom and just flop over). So the mums will be smallish and green anyway until the fall, and the colorful annuals will fill in the space between during the spring and summer.
Heather is also nice, but I’ve not had great luck with it here (I live in Southern Maryland). It blooms in the springtime, so you’d still need a summer bloom, anyway.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for all the tips Jennah!
xo,
s
Elle Sees says
$her-dog,
Has anyone told you that you look like Piper Perabo?
She has blonde hair and brown eyes, but other than that, totally you! Or is it my Nyquil that came to that conclusion?
Here she is sporting The Sherry:
http://www.beautyriot.com/celebrities/piper-perabo/photos
YoungHouseLove says
I totally see it but I have only been told that a handful of times. I always get Rachel McAdams or that chick from Game Of Thrones.
xo,
s
Elizabeth says
Agreed!
Janice says
Loving the mums (nice way to bring the yellow door across the yard too!). But also, grats on the Huge Holiday Guide from Emily Henderson :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks! It was so much fun to be a part of that gift-fest!
xo,
s
Elizabeth says
You two + plants = hilarious!
Elizabeth says
By the way, I love the mums!
Veronika says
It happened to me too! I had a dream about you!
Here’s the story: I was at a Halloween Party and someone in a very scaaaaaary costume approaches me and scares me to death (for real)! And then that someone starts laughing in a giggly voice and I’m like “Do I know you?” Why yes, someone takes of her mask and it Sherry! OMG! “Is that you? Sherry from YHL?” that’s exactly what I said! And then I see John approaching wearing dead man costume and for some reason he had piercings all over his face! OMG! He just came by laughing along as if we all knew each other for a long time!
Crazeeeeeey!!!
YoungHouseLove says
LOL – sounds like a weird and creepy dream all at once.
-John
TheChangingHouse says
Great work! THE MUMS LOOK FANTASTIC!
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com says
The blog post title got me intrigued :) I thought Sherry was put on a duty to collect mail or something. Apologies for the pun!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I am a mum who likes getting the mail.
xo,
s
Kellie Bango says
Have you guys thought about just giving the mailbox a good pressure-washing? I swear by mine! It takes the first layer of yucky grey wood off the post and cleans the gunk off the mailbox. Mine always looks brand new and is virtually maintenance free. I just drag the pressure washer to the end of the driveway in Spring and three minutes later I have a new mailbox.
YoungHouseLove says
That would be nice too!
xo,
s
Shannon says
Looks great! But here I thought this might be an exciting new piece of furniture from IKEA. Malm – mailmum. Get it?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha totally!
xo,
s
Stacy says
The mailbox looks really good. Nice touch with the retaining wall.
You’ll have to let us know if the mums make it into the spring. I’ve tried to winterize them and have never had any luck as it gets too cold here. Once they freeze, their done. We don’t have a gargage to keep them properly over the winter, so they die off and don’t come back.
Some plant nurseries here have suggested cutting them way back once they die off then covering the plants with a thick layer of hay, but I’ve never tried it. I have a fear that while it may save the plants, it will also attract critters such as mice. As it is, we have to cut back our oriental grasses (I’m not complaining. It’s a really easy job…) to keep critters from nesting in the centers of them.
I enjoy the wildlife that visits our yard, but I don’t want them to become too comfortable, if you know what I’m saying.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, we might actually try cutting them back and mulching them to see if they’ll live (they’re way out away from the house so we’re less worried about critters out there). We’ll let you know how it goes. With our luck they’ll die. Here’s hoping they make it though!
xo,
s
Ira @ Chicago Home Improvement says
Very sunny and beautiful flowers. Those coupons can really be of good use no matter how small of a deal they are. :)
Barb says
Oh yea, I won’t for an outside entry Fall update, and had to take a few retakes to get the wreath right. Created 2 blog posts about it. Mainly because I’m a procrastinator and had a few problems along the way!
Your Fall updates look great – but everything you do looks great!
http://www.chosenelements.blogspot.com
Samantha G. says
I’m not sure if this will work for you but it might be worth a shot! A couple of years ago my sister got married in my parents backyard and to get the yard looking beautiful I helped my mom put in a HUGE garden. We planted mostly perennials but also added petunias along the edges for instant color. That fall mom was too lazy to clean up the garden & left the dead stuff to deal with in the spring. (We live in northern MN, so all of the ugliness was covered by the snow, several FEET of snow!) Along came spring and the petunias came back!!!! This year was the 3rd year they have come back and they get thicker and spread further every year! Maybe it’s worth trying just cutting the tumble weed junk back instead of pulling the roots? I would think if our temps drop to 40+ below zero they could grow just about anywhere, unless we just happend to get some crazy strong flowers?! Just a thought! Have a great day!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip! Would be awesome if those guys came back.
xo,
s
Janette@The2Seasons says
Hi Guys,
Here is a link to our kitchen remodel with before and afters. We did just what you are planning to do. We knocked out a wall and built a peninsula. The difference is that our cooking area is on the end that opens to the dining room/great room because I didn’t want to be cut off from the fun when I was cooking. I have a great antique screen that I can put in front of the opening if I get too messy in the kitchen. Enjoy.
http://the2seasons.com/2011/06/14/our-new-kitchen-reveal-2/
YoungHouseLove says
Gorgeous! I love it!
xo,
s
Alex says
Hey i have a question – did you guys go with a graphic designer for this blog? Not sure if its your blog i’m thinking of – but there was a blog who used a graphic design artist who does stationary too, and i’m trying to look her up so i can order christmas cards, and i can’t remember the naaaaaame? Was it you guys? If so, WHO?
YoungHouseLove says
So sorry! We do our own blog design (that’s all John… with me looking over his shoulder- haha). Are you thinking about Nicole from Making It Lovely? She designs stationery and also does blog design stuff I think!
xo,
s
Wom-mom Ethne says
Pinterest projects and pumpkin carving filled our weekend!
Sara V says
If those are the florist mums variety (which they appear to be) you’ll be lucky if they survive until next year. If they are “Hardy Mums” they will be more likely to survive and also produce stolons and spread a bit.
YoungHouseLove says
They’re actually Hardy Mums according to the tag! So we’re hoping for the best!
xo,
s
Vel Criste says
Just discovered your blog!!! Wonderful job! Thanks for the inspirations, I’m a new blogger myself (just started in October), hopefully I can share some of my ideas too someday. Keep up the good work!!!!!