Beautiful Gardens, Pots and Plants

Shiny Friday is here. Today we'll leave our lovely interiors for a while and enjoy some of Martha Stewart's great ideas for gardens, plants and pots. Have fun!


Pansies and their cousins violas are among the most popular garden plants, adding color, whimsy, and grace to a bed, a border, or steps.



Instead of the usual sphagnum moss or coconut fiber, line a hanging planter with canna or hosta leaves.


Gardeners everywhere have opened their eyes to hydrangeas' intricate beauty, abundant summer-into-fall bloom, and obliging tolerance of some shade


Dress your potted plants in a picket fence made from clothespins.


Bushel baskets from the garden center make charming and inexpensive containers. Their wooden slats provide built-in drainage, and they can be recycled after the plants have had their season in the sun. As autumn draws to an end, the entire basket can be composted once the wire handles are removed.


Give each herb its own personalized pot, and you'll never snip the wrong sprigs.

Use beach pails to hide less attractive flowerpots within.

Create custom cabinetry in your garden shed with vintage wine crates.

A vintage wooden cupboard provides handsome storage for gardening supplies.


When the garden is especially exuberant, it seems you can never have enough vases. Make a matching set of vessels by painting metal cans in muted hues.


Flower pots and windowsills, a perfect match.


Dogwood branches are arranged in an antique Japanese wicker backpack.


Various English hybrid delphiniums, orange Alstroemeria 'Ligtu,' blue Geranium 'Nimbus,' and white-flowering Clematis recta 'Purpurea,' which adds its dark foliage to the mix.

Along a drive, Lombardy poplars soak up most of the water. Spring-blooming bulbs -- Spanish bluebells, Dutch iris, and daffodils.

Morning haze heightens the pinks of these roses.

Garden at Martha's Turkey Hill home.

Create a rustic, richly textured presentation by placing a vase of lush flowers in terra-cotta pots adorned with tree bark.

All images from Martha Stewart.

I have linked this post over at Jerri's Friday Favourites Party, Melissa's The Inspired Room and Laurie's Saturday Favourite Things. Thanks once again Jerri, Melissa and Laurie!