garden tour, edition 2013

The time has come once again for the ever popular Sarah's Garden Tour. I assure you this tour will only take about 3.25 minutes so no need to worry if you have appointments to keep.

Two years ago I had an extensive pot garden. Last year I had one window box and one daisy in a pot. I've had gardens ever since I was little, but that was back in the day of dial tones and rotary phones so they were never featured on el blog. This year I have one flower box and three pots so things have just about doubled since last year.

We hung our new Amish birdhouse above the daisy. And by we I mean Christopher. I stood around supervising and questioning his ability to hang it without some sort of tool. It's not that I completely doubt his handyman skilz, it's just that they're very minimal. After all, there was the afternoon we hung 10 mirrors in the kitchen and upon being asked if he wanted the tape measure, he said, "Why do I need a tape measure?" He quickly realized why he needed the tape measure. Much to the satisfaction of all involved (and I'm thinking especially of the birds here), the birdhouse was successfully hung.

The country's most patriotic (and non-flowering) gardenia plant. I picked up the piece of wood during a walk one day because I thought it looked like an alligator head. (Or a crocodile head. I can never tell the difference)

I have always taken great pride in the wreaths on my door so I was both intrigued and shocked to find that I suddenly had front door decor competition when new neighbors moved in across the walkway. It's become a MAJOR case of keeping up with the Joneses. I may or may not keep a watch on the proceedings through my peephole when they're changing their wreath. I say this with all the modesty I can muster, but my wreaths are always better. As I finished surveying my newly planted flowers with great pride, I happened to notice for the first time that Mrs. Jones deck has three flower boxes, four flower pots, two chimes and a hose.

You win some outdoor decorating competitions and you lose some outdoor decoration competitions.