Sunday, September 7, 2008

Front Porch Sittin'

The Saint supports the military with his employment thus, we have moved often in our years together. We moved to Georgia in the year 2000, with the possibility of being on a contract with longevity of employment. The Saint was fulfilling a 18 month contract while we lived in an apartment complex. Arggg, I hate apartment living with rude people as neighbors. During our 18 months, we got to know the area and housing market well. Once the 18 months were up, the Saint was signed onto a new contract lasting longer then 5 years. Finally, time to purchase our first house!
While growing up in Tennessee, my family spent many hours on the front porch so a front porch was important to me. As soon as we drove up the circular driveway and I saw this porch, I knew this was to be my home!
We were both impressed with the brickwork and the planters at the front of the house. In time we have reworked the planters and we will talk about them another time. Walk on past the Pineapple entrance (thanks for them mom and dad) and come on up to the porch.

We have made many renovations to the house to include adding a new front door, light fixtures and windows. We also spent a few hot days painting the entire porch. We chose paint with a 15 year warranty as we don't plan to do that again any time soon.
Play the video at this time.....



I had always dreamed of a Rocking Chair Front Porch. We found two at the local Flea market and my parents bought the third one for us. Thanks y'all...


The little table top water fountain once adorned my moms desk at Trane company. Once she retired, the fountain became mine. Thanks mom!


This cute little ant to the right stays on the fountains edge to keep intruders out. Don't tell the ant but he does not scare the real frogs from the fountain.

The table is also home to a Philly and some other fun stuff such as these two ants playing.

My mom and dad gave me the two wicker tables as a birthday gift. We found them at a bargain price and I was sooo happy about that gift. Gee, I never realised how much my parents have contributed to the porch. Seems fitting since they do spend a lot of time on the porch during their visits with us.

The Wandering Jew plant was planted from tiny pieces I found popping up in the front planters below the porch. I have not had any hanging on the porch for several years but sprigs keep coming up. I transplant them into the pot and free plant!
The cat planter was a birthday gift from the Saint one year. This year the kitty hides behind a pretty green plant which I love but don't recall the name. A bonus was the vine within from a seed in the pot! Gotta love those freebies.
On down the left side of the porch is a small table found at a discount store. A lady bug pot that was a gift from my dad with our Lady Bug game we play. To the right of the Lady bug is another gift. This handmade treat came from Tina. I cannot remember if I formally Thanked you for this or not Tina, but in my defense, I did plan to get this posting up long before now. So consider this a Great Big THANK YOU for the wonderful gift! I will cherish it along with other things you have past on to me....














The Philly plant on the stand has been with me for many years. It comes into the house and is hung high above little cat paws in the sun-room for the winter. It is what I like to call the Mother ship to many other Philly's on the porch and in the house. I clip it each fall and pot the old clippings. Dave, are you listening? Dave, enjoys doing such fun things.

At the end of this side of the porch I have a window box full of ivy. The ivy is a great hardy plant that will stay green on the porch for me all winter long. You will also see a hibiscus plant and a
Lady Bug birdhouse on the wall. I will talk about them another time. Now lets go to the right side of the porch. The second wicker table holds a bird house, small Philly, Whimsical ant and another plant amongst other fun stuff.














Don't we all love a bit of Whimsy in our life?

An ant hauling a piece of watermelon. Wow, I do have a lot of ants on the front porch. At least they are cute black ants and not the red fire ants. Ouch!


Frogs on the porch is a normal thing. Green tree frogs, the real ones, call the plants and ceiling ledge home. Most times, frogs call the fountain home therefore, I rarely have the fountain running.

Another Philly plant sits to the right side of the porch along with a cute little spring cat. This cat reminds me of my beloved Skeeter kitty with his orange and yellow colors.




The swing is also on this side of the porch. I enjoy sitting on the swing and listening to the birds sing me sweet songs.

While sitting on the rocking chairs, one can enjoy the hanging plants. Well, I should say one did enjoy the Fuchsia until the heat of the summer killed them.

I had two Purple and Pink plants.









And two Pink and lighter Pink plants. The hummingbirds loved visiting the plants daily. It was fun to sit on the porch and have the tiny birds come that close to us.


Look at how beautiful the plants were. Now they are in the compost bin! sniff sniff...










Now that the hanging plants are gone, you can sit and gaze through the woods that we call our front yard. There is a dry creek bed, just beyond the grass of the yard, that flows with water when we have rainfall. We have not had much of a creek the past 3 years. The remainder up to the street is pure woods. I once told you we had a lot of trees. I was not joking when I said, "We do have a lot of trees". We cannot see the street with all the leaves hiding it from our view. Ah, that is a nice thing.
I truly do enjoy my front porch and consider it another room of the house. This room just happens to be outside.
Like the sign states, You are always Welcome to our porch. Stop by some time and we will do a little FRONT PORCH SITTIN', when not In the Garden...

26 comments:

  1. skeeter,

    It is truly a beautiful front porch! You have added delightful whimsical touches, the fountain must add a nice sound for rockers to enjoy. I can imagine myself rocking, coffee cup in hand, enjoying your beautiful garden. Can you see Southern Belle from the porch?
    Gail

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  2. You have such a beautiful house and front porch with lots of personal touches. I can see myself sitting there too-maybe with a bunch of bloggers discussing this durned drought! Your houseplants are all so beautiful. I can see I need to do some work on mine now:)

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  3. Lovely! If you want to try fushia again you can mist during the hot part of day, give lots of water, or bring indoors during heat of day. No direct sun, of course. Sometimes people plant a sprig or two of fuschia mised in with other plants in a hanging basket. That still attracts hummingbirds.

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  4. I envy your front porch Skeeter. It is so beautiful and looks like a nice day to spend a hot afternoon. I can just imagine sitting on the swing w/ a good book & a tall glass of ice tea.

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  5. A beautiful front porch! The rocking chairs look so inviting. I love all your touches of whimsy, but the best part is the view! This looks like the perfect place to spend a summer's evening.

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  6. Good Morning Garden Bloggers!

    Gail, from the porch, one can see 7 of the pretty Belles (crepe Myrtles) in all three directions! The fountain does add a wonderful sound when turned on. With frogs living in it most times, I rarely have it on for fear of hurting them. Ah, those wild critters of mine....

    Tina, the houseplants love the porch more so then the indoors! And they call them houseplants, ha... I must put them up so high in order to keep the kitties out of them that they dont get the required sun light as our house is pretty dark except for the sunroom which has few shelves for plants...

    My Little Family, I did enjoy the Fuchsia but I am all about the “Easy Way Out” and dont spend a lot of time on maintenance of plants. Once they go outside, they stay outside until fall. I am a stick it into the ground and leave it be, kind of gal. LOL.... I do know many people which baby their plants by taking them in and out all the time but that is not for me. I guess you could say I am a bit lazy when it comes to that. So next year, we will go back to Spider plants or Wandering Jew as they dont require much more then a weekly drink. We did enjoy the hummers so much that we will add a new hummingbird feeder to the front porch though…

    PGL, Dont envy me, just get one for yourself some day! Front porches are great for all to enjoy. I sit on the swing or rockers with magazines, the phone to my ear, watching the rain fall, or just enjoying my bird friends singing to me! I usually have a cup of coffee or iced tea as well. When people that smoke come to visit us, they love the front porch as they are sheltered from the elements while indulging in a puff…

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  7. Rose, you snuck in on me. lol... It is so private during the summer months with the trees full of leaves to hide us from the street. In the winter when the leaves are gone, with so many tree trunks, we are still pretty private. This is the first place we have lived where I dont know all the cars and trucks that come and go down our street as I rarely see them! After apartment living for so many years, we do enjoy our privacy!

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  8. Yep I'm listening Skeeter ;). I've done the same with old Philly there. It's one of those old faithful houseplants you can mistreat over and over and it always comes back. You have quite a whimsical front porch!

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  9. Beautiful front porch, I can see why you fell in love with it the instant you saw it.
    I'm with Tina, your houseplants are wonderful. I baby mine and trust me....I've a ways to go!

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  10. Dave, I cannot think of rooting a plant without you in mind now! Propagation is your specialty…

    Dawn, we had house hunted for 18 months and as soon as we saw this house, we both knew it was the one.

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  11. Great porch and the plants all look like you baby them very well and we all know that lazy is not a word that would come to mind when thinking of Skeeter!! No way no how.

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  12. Yep Jean, I get a bit lazy when it comes to hot weather times of the year. The AC inside feels soooo much better then the humid stuff outside... lol..

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  13. Your porch is so beautiful and inviting. I don't think I would ever get much done, I'd always want to be sittin'.

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  14. Love the porch-the flowers look great. I, like Cindy, would be sitting all the time-with that view. Love your whimsy too. What is the name of the plant that is next to the Lady But planter? It looks so refreshing.

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  15. Ooops. That should be Lady Bug planter. t,g too close.

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  16. Mother nature, Thank you. Come on down and sit a spell....

    Cindy, Thanks, not much porch sitting gets done during the humid days of summer! Thank goodness for the climate controlled sunroom in the back of the house! lol...

    Lola, Funny with Lady But... I have put many hours of my butt on the swing and rockers. LOL... Not sure of the name of the little house plant in the planter that Tina gave me. Just a small indoor plant I found at Lowes for about $3.00... I will bring it in this winter and keep it growing, well, if I can find a spot away from the cats....

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  17. I have been out in the yard dragging the hose around for the past two hours. Now the sprinkler is working the main flower garden. argggg, where is the rain and now it looks as though Ike may pass us by as well as the others! We need rain so badly. Please someone send us some....

    Saint feeling better but been lying on the couch all day again snoring his head off. Cold medicine puts him out like a light. LOL… Hope he is energized because tomorrow, it is back to work for him.

    While he slept today, I ran to town for a bag of dirt. I found more plants that needed to be in my yard. Am I crazy or what? We are in a drought and I have lost so many new items this year and here I go buying more. Arggg, but this time, they will remain in the pots until the ground is moist. We still have until mid Nov or so until things get really cool so hopefully I can get them into the ground soon so they will take and be pretty for next year…

    I made homemade lasagna this afternoon. Instead of making one huge one, I made two smaller ones and took one to our next door neighbors. They have been out of town this weekend working on their land in NC and I knew they would be tired and hungry when they got home. They were so happy when I greeted them with a hot meal….

    Hope everyone had a good weekend!

    Anonymous where are you???

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  18. So nice of you Skeeter. I know they really enjoyed that. Good neighbors are hard to find.
    Yes, where are you Anonymous. Long time no hear.
    Have a good night all.

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  19. WHAT!......a nice neighbor you are!

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  20. Lots of chit chat. I had lasagne for dinner too-the frozen kind. Sure wish I had nice neighbors to bring me some homemade type. Family wishes for it too:) That pot is hypertufa Skeeter and I am so happy you found a spot for it. It does look beautiful with that lovely plant in it. Well, talk to you all later.

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  21. and a lovely porch it is. Thanks for sharing.

    Deb

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  22. You really have a nice porch garden! That fuchsia is amazingly colorful! Nice photos.

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  23. Such a beautiful porch! The porch whimsies make it all the more interesting. The view, the fuchsias...stunning!

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  24. front porches and whimsy are a must for living!thanks for sharin it with me, i would love to sit and see all your plantings.gee your mom and dad are very generous!

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  25. Lola, I like to be a hands on neighbor and not just a person living next door to someone. I even try my best to be a good neighbor to the other side of me even though they push my buttons... arggg...

    Dawn, come on down, I will make you dinner! I love to cook...

    Tina, frozen lasagna, gross. LOL, there is nothing like the fresh homemade stuff. Yep the little pot is neat and I really do enjoy it. Just hope I can find a nice spot in the house away from kitties to put the pot and plant for the winter...

    Aunt Debbi/Kurts mom, Come on down and you can sit in person! We do enjoy our Front porch Sittin in the south...

    Parsec, thanks and yes the porch is a bit of a garden in itself. The fuchsia was so beautiful and so sad to think it is now in the compost heap... sniff sniff...

    Kanak Hagjer, I do like a bit of whimsy and call them little spots of interest as they do draw the eyes attention...

    Marmee, Come on to Georgia and we will sit a spell and chat and sip something cold. Yes, my parents are very generous. They know I would prefer something for the yard or house over a piece of jewelry or clothes any day. They are so excited about us getting our first house that they like to add to it when possible. Birthdays and Christmas are always a great time for new fun stuff…

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