Our Hopeful Home: spring porch décor

Hello, friends

and

Happy Spring!

I am so excited to finally be able to say that!

Since today is the first day of spring, I thought I'd talk a little bit about front porch decorating. I'm no expert, but I did learn a few things recently when I turned to my Hometalk friends for advice.

As you can see from the question that I posted, I was in a panic about finding a quick fix for those poor empty urns on my front porch. You know, curb appeal and all that!

Anyway, I was so glad I posted that question because I got a gazillion great answers! They really made me think outside the box and got my creative juices flowing, so I thought they might do the same for you. Kind of like a jump start into outdoor spring decorating, if you will. So what did I ended up doing? Read on to find out!

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My main dilemma right now is the lingering chilly temperatures here in the Midwest. So the most popular answer was, you guessed it: pansies! I have to admit that I've never even planted them before since I normally don't get my act together until well into spring -- at which point I just plant any old flowering annual.

Pansies can bloom from spring through early summer and do well in zones 4-8. I'm in zone 5b, meaning that our average annual extreme temperatures can range from -15 to -10 degrees Fahrenheit. Yes, that's really cold. So I'm sure they'd do fine with our current average high-lows in the 20's/40's.

If you'd like to find out your hardiness zone you can visit this USDA Agricultural Research Service Interactive Map and just plug in your zip code.

Another popular idea was to plant various evergreens, along with flowering plants.

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Juniper is just one example.

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Boxwood is another.

I think boxwood is my all-time favorite.

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Someone even suggested rosemary, with some pansies planted at the base. I think that would be fabulous! I love the smell of rosemary.

Another suggestion I found helpful was to add height with things like pussy willows.

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Maybe even tie some of them up with a pretty pastel ribbon?

So what did I do? Well, I would have loved to go out and shop for just the right evergreen bushes and some pansies, but I had less than 48 hours to implement the whole process. Plus, our big box stores' nurseries aren't even selling anything yet. So I trekked to our local nursery and picked up some, you guessed it, pansies!

While purple isn't my color, I liked that these arrangements had some height built in with the taller grasses already in the middle. I also Iove the contrasting shades of green going on with the leaves, especially the trailing chartreuse vines

I added some faux forsythia for a bigger p-o-p of color and was pretty happy with the results on such short notice.

Obviously, I just plopped the pot right inside the urn.

One of my Hometalk friends said pansies would be great, but that I should make sure that they're the yellow ones because houses with yellow ones sell faster than houses with other colors! Who knew?

I obviously missed the boat on that one but since I threw in the forsythia for good measure I think that counts!

Don't you?

What do you have planned for YOUR front porch this spring?

Have a great weekend, friends!

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