Flower Power

Want a summer project that you can finish in a few hours and that will brighten your home and your life? We’ve got that!

Recently it was my husband, Randy’s, birthday and when I asked him what he wanted as a gift, he didn’t hesitate to tell me. “You know what I really want?”, he said, “I want to see some flowers hanging from the balcony outside our bedroom.”

We have a small sofa on our patio under a pomegranate tree where Randy sits early every morning to drink his coffee, read his Bible, and have some quiet time of thought and prayer as he starts his day. What is facing him in his immediate view, is the balcony outside our bedroom. He loves to watch the hummingbirds flitting about and watch the occasional butterfly swooping past. So it occurred to him that having flowers adorning that balcony would enrich his morning view and experience, and make life a little sweeter. At this stage of our lives, those are the things of value to us, simple things that bring beauty and joy.

He very much wanted it to be a project we would do together…time spent together in simple tasks is another of the things he values. So it was decided that we would adorn our balcony with flowers.

Off to Armstrong’s Nursery we went and then on to Home Depot to find all the kinds of flowers and other supplies we were looking to use. Turns out geraniums aren’t as easy to come by as one might think, at least in our area. (Maybe a lot of other people are already sprucing up their gardens as well. ) We chose pink and deep red ivy geraniums which produce flowers that hang as they grow for that droopy effect we were after, as well as some salmon and white standard geraniums that grow upright. We got some white “Iceberg roses”, a lovely variety of purple petunias with yellow edges, some bright yellow marigolds, and some dainty white flowers I had never seen before called calibrachoa.

It so happened I had already purchased some individual metal baskets for hanging over the railing, intending to do a project like this at some point, but I had just never gotten around to doing it. If you are looking for something similar to those we have that hang over a railing, you can find them by clicking here. If you prefer the type that hang by chain from a ceiling or the eves, you can see or buy some of those here.

While we could have easily used pots in our planters I liked the organic look of using coconut coir liner. It is inexpensive and comes by the linear foot that can be cut to fit your planter in lieu of a pot, or as you can see from those we suggested above, some planters come with the coconut coir liner already. A bag of potting soil, and hose and faucet attachment and timer we needed to install a drip system, and some good gardening gloves and we were good to go. I confess I rarely ever use gloves because my hands are very small and the gloves NEVER fit me well, but my chum Jackie wouldn’t dream of doing these kinds of projects without her gloves! I do have one pair that are actually children’s gloves and they work the best. (Just thought I’d mention that in case any of you also have small hands but would like to use gloves that actually fit.)

Randy ran the small hose and installed the drippers to water the flowers in a jiffy. That was his part of the project. Having drippers isn’t essential but since regular watering of the flowers is, having the drip system in place is quite nice. You can of course hand water them, but if you prefer to have a drip system to hand watering and aren’t handy with those sorts of things, ask your gardener for help.

So each planter was lined with coconut coir, potting soil and a variety of flowers. Each one was slightly different…by design. And in an afternoon our plain balcony was adorned and butterflies began to appear to check out the new “color” on the balcony. It went from this:

To this:

It’s amazing what the addition of some flowers can make in your home and in your life…its Flower Power! A little time invested and about $200 hundred dollars, and I have a much improved home and a very happy husband.

What project, that would make your life or that of someone you love a little sweeter, have you been putting off? Now is the time to do it. It’s not just flower power, it’s the power of love, joy and abundant living.