This past spring I made a goal to beautify my living space. The last few years, while being in a busy season of life with pregnancies and small children, the yard work has fallen by the wayside. Now that baby #2 is much more independent I have the time and energy to work on some of the outdoor spaces. I focused on the back deck, which had been a bit neglected since having children.
The catalyst was when my daughter brought me a tiny white impatient plant home from school for Mother’s Day. Wanting to keep it alive, I went out to buy some potting soil for it. I also ended up getting my two basil plants. My daughter and I had so much fun potting these plants together that I knew I needed to continue.
So without further ado, this is what my cozy deck looks like this summer.
We have a canopy overhead that we use every year to provide shade (our backyard faces south and gets full sun). We planted the maple trees in the backyard ten years ago when we moved in the house, and they’ve been the best investment possible. Our home had no trees on the property and no shade whatsoever, so we needed tree cover. Now that we have children, having a shady backyard is invaluable.
The iron table and chairs we also bought when we first moved in, and they’ve held up well. They are starting to show their age, since they’ve sat through all kinds of inclement weather, but they’ve been a great investment.
We have a bird feeder on our back door, and it attracts lots of cardinals (the state bird!). My girls love to watch the birds come to eat while we have breakfast. Note: I empty and wash the bird feeder every 1-2 weeks to prevent the contents from getting moldy. This is imperative to keeping our bird friends healthy. Dirty unkempt bird feeders are breeding grounds for mold and fungus and can make birds ill.
I bought this chaise lounge years ago from Target. I’ve had to replace the cushion, but otherwise it’s held up well. It’s nice to have a relaxing place to lay down. I used to nap out on the deck on nice weekend afternoons before having children. These days I’m lucky if I get to sit undisturbed for a few minutes. 🙂
My mini herb garden. Back row: two green basil, amethyst basil, white impatient. Bottom row: parsley, thyme, marigold, pink geranium, lavender.
We plant basil every year, no matter what, because we use it in everything.
The amethyst basil was a happy new addition this year. My daughter insisted on getting it when we found it at the nursery. It has been a beautiful (and tasty!) addition to the herb garden this year. The only downside: Japanese beetles were attracted to this plant like moths to a flame. We spent a couple months relentlessly picking beetles off it. The basil survived! Once I bought a marigold, the beetles mysteriously disappeared.
Marigolds are traditional to gardens, as they are natural pest deterrents. I picked this one up thinking that if it didn’t deter the bugs, at least it would be pretty. It’s gotten very busy since I potted it but lost most of it’s blooms. Since taking these photos it’s gotten a lot of new buds!
Parsley and silver thyme were also new additions this year. I use these herbs for baked chicken or most anything I cook on a sheet pan.
My daughter’s white impatient and pink geranium. I like to let her pick out plants that she likes, and she chose this geranium. Who am I kidding, it’s really for me.
This is also my first successful attempt with lavender. I have a plan to make lavender sachets with it.
My flower baskets had been sitting empty for awhile looking sad and forlorn.
Every time I saw them it was a reminder of an area I was neglecting. It was definitely time to spruce it up.
I bought a buttload of impatients and let my daughter help pot them in the window boxes.
The result has been stunning.
The flowers have really taken off since being potted.
I love seeing these beauties every day.
The magic of doing all this work and planting all these herbs and flowers is that I see them every day. It’s incredible how much joy these plants bring us. Whenever we stand at the sink washing dishes, we can look out the window and see the beautiful flowers. My husband has remarked multiple times on how nice it is to look outside.
That’s it for my cozy deck and plant tour. I hope that this inspires you to beautify one of your spaces!
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe! I write new posts every week about creating a beautiful life at home.
Very pretty! A paradise of a deck. Now you need a hummingbird feeder! Or do you have one elsewhere? I can’t remember. It’s been too long.!
I don’t have a hummingbird feeder. They need to be cleaned pretty much every day, and ain’t nobody got time for that. But we do have a friendly hummingbird who loves the flowers from our basil!
I wouldn’t want to do that either. I do love basil. It was the only thing the deer wouldn’t touch in the garden.
It is such a cosy extension of your home. I love that bird feeder on the window. My kids would love it I bet.
You’ve given me some ideas to add color to our back deck space. I have herbs & marigolds but more color would be nice too.