Plants, Ponds & Pottery

Click to enlarge all pics to see all the details!

We recently got plants installed in our office & I was in charge of shopping for the planters, so I went to a few places to see what was available. I found our planters at 2 different places downtown. This one is called The Arbors & they have really great looking concrete garden accessories, as well as some beautiful fountains. I always enjoy browsing here.
This is my kinda stuff!
This is one of the planters I picked up for the office. It now holds 2 beautiful plants (just got one of them). The others are all clay pottery pieces & we are so happy with the way they turned out. Our plant service is going to be great. I'll have to take some pics of the finished plants for you sometime soon. It was really fun picking out planters.

This is one of my favorite nurseries in town, Hanna's. They have gorgeous plants, accessories, & garden items. I love to browse here & have bought several plants from them. They have a huge selection of perennials & annuals & those of you here in AL would love shopping here. If you need a new nursery to try out, come to Hanna's. They have the cutest little shop cat. He lives here fulltime & has the run of the place. He finally plopped down & let me take his picture. Sometimes he lets me pet him.
Lots of architectural pieces too....I love these iron pieces.
Small garden table, lots of plants & see all the containers in the background. That's what we are looking at for the office. I see a few possibilities here.
More iron pieces.
Love this bunny bench. I'd love to have one of these for our yard.

This is part of the indoor plant selections, including orchids.
Outside in the conifer area.
Blooming treeforms.
More plants.

Cute concrete bunny that I love, of course.
Inside they have some nice accessory pieces.
Lots of garden things. Aren't those birds cute?
Right next door is a pond place, called Aquatic Gardens. This place is SO neat...I love to browse here. They have all kinds of fountains, they build ponds too, & just have a great selection of pond & fountains & garden art.
Front courtyard with lots of fountains to choose from. They have them all running too so you can see how they look.

Busts & more fountains. I just love all this stuff!
Pond with fountain & bench.
More fountains up close.
Pond with water feature. Wouldn't you love one of these fountains at home? I would!

Love this fountain!
This is inside, where they have lots of garden accessories too.
Place settings on a table.
Accessories for the pond.

Hope you enjoyed the nursery & pond tour. These are all fun places to browse. I really love gardening and will be ready to go next spring with some new garden ideas!

Mother's Day Memories

This Mother's Day was a really good one. I went over on Sunday morning & joined my parents at church. We came home & then went over to my sister's house, where she had prepared lunch for all of us. My hubby, Peter, spent the day with his mom in B'ham, so I went alone this time to spend time with my family. It was a beautiful summery day & we sat on the porch & enjoyed the fresh breeze. I know my Mama was happy to have all her chicks with her this year!

It's just me and my sister, Renee (she's 2 years older than me) and she has only one daughter, Lauren (who's 24). Since I don't have kids of my own, Lauren's the only grandchild & my parents absolutely dote on her. She's a little spoiled (since we've all been guilty of that), but we are so very proud of her. Lauren is especially close to my parents & informed me today when we were chatting on the phone that she's never leaving the Atlanta area, cause she does not want to be away from her grandparents. I think she'll stick to that one too! Lauren is graduating next Saturday from The University of Georgia Lawschool. She finished her 4 year degree & has now completed 3 years of lawschool. Think we're a little proud of that girl? Yep, we are! She has a job lined up this fall at a local law firm in Marietta (where they all live).
My niece, Lauren; Sister, Renee; Mom, Iris; and me
Here we are in the shade of the deck. As usual, I have no clue why some pics open larger & some don't. This one seems to be the only clickable one! My sister made chicken divan, green beans & almonds, black-eyed peas & homemade rolls! It was delish! I brought the strawberry shortcake & it was yummy too!

Here's my sister & brother-in-law's back deck where they spend a lot of time. It's a beautiful paradise in their backyard. They spent about 3 years landscaping & working on this backyard & my BIL, Bruce, built the pond from scratch. It's truly a backyard tropical oasis & they love having parties & spending time out there in the summer. Thought I'd share some of the backyard pics with my fellow gardeners. Their lot is not that big & slopes up in the back, so it was perfect for a stream & waterfall. They have koi & goldfish in the pond. Hope you all enjoy the pics! It was a perfect day to take in the fresh air & beauty of the backyard.
My little garden redo didn't run yet, but it is supposed to hit the paper this Saturday. We are leaving then for a week at the beach, so I'll have to post that when we return.

Hope you all have a wonderful sunshiny week!