Remember my last post about My Green Thumb Journey and how stressed I was and how I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about gardening?? Things have changed.

I. Love. Gardening.

It soothes my soul.

It’s bliss buried in dirt.

It’s art that smells good.

It’s just wonderful.

Ever since Paul and I started planting our first flower garden a few weeks ago, we’ve been absolutely hooked. Almost every time we’re running errands we find some excuse to stop somewhere that sells plants. We’ve visited Fleet Farm, Walmart (I typically dislike this place but their flowers are cheap), and The Mustard Seed (they even have roosters and chickens roaming the gardens – I wanted to take one home to cuddle with but Paul said no). But my favorite place that we’ve discovered is Shady Acres – a lovely hidden garden right off the highway. As soon as I got out of the car and looked around, I felt right at home. They have a couple greenhouses full of vegetables and herbs, and then they have a whole front section of beautiful blooms, more herbs, fairy gardens, planters, hanging baskets, and more vegetables. Next to the front sections is a winding path up to the adorable house that is the home to all sorts of gardening & home decor gifts. Behind the little house is a beautiful, open garden complete with a pond, benches, roses, vegetables, towering trees, and much more. It reminded me of a lovely English garden. I wanted to sit there for hours. I should have taken photos of it…

So Paul and I have been updating our little garden. We’ve figured out what things should go where and we’re learning lessons to use for next year’s garden. We’ve transplanted things, bought new plants, and check on our little loves daily. :) I love that we are both on the same page – we get excited about watching the plants grow and we love learning how to take care of them. We also love seeing the new wildlife coming into our yard lately. Especially the little birdies. Scroll to the bottom to see our newest little loves in our yard. :)

We’re obsessed with big, bold, overflowing, colorful planters. :)

We are so excited about how our newest Hydrangea is growing (on the left)! The one we got last year had to be transplanted to the backyard because it wasn’t doing too hot in the front yard. We can’t wait to see both of them in bloom! We also noticed how amazing lilac bushes are (we have one in our backyard already) so we planted this little beauty that will bloom light purples (on the right). Cannot wait!

I’m a little sad about this planter – I think the rain/wind is giving it a run for its money. But it is so beautiful when it’s all blooming!

Another exciting project: Shutters!! My parents gave us these shutters when we moved in and they stayed navy blue and full of spider webs until last week. Paul spray painted them white, hung them up and bought the wood to make window flowerbed boxes!! :)

Our little yellow annual is growing lovely! We decided that next year we’ll be doing more of these. :) Paul’s been digging up the grass to put in stepping stones that my parents gave us. We’re going to have the stones connect the front garden to the backyard – cannot wait! Plus, those stones came from the house I grew up in – we moved when I was 15. So excited to have them at my house now!

Oh. We also bought a tree. :) A Serviceberry tree – it blooms white in the spring and orange in the fall with berries for the birdies. :)

We’ve also been sprucing up the back deck area. I really want to make it into a living room space so we added curtains for more privacy. Next, I would love an outdoor area rug. :) I think I’ll have to show you a photo of it at night – when the lights are on it’s so magical. :)

BABY BIRDY!!! :) How cute is he?! His momma is starting to trust us because we can go near the nest and she doesn’t leave as often. :)