Happy Friday!
I’m sharing a look back at how I puttered, played and planted
around the Potting Shed this past year,
but first a ‘thank you’ for all your visits and comments in 2022!
I’m still surprised and humbled that you find the time
to visit my little blog and Potting Shed.
My Potting Shed turned 10 years old in September. . .how time flies!
We built it in 2012 before I’d ever heard of the concept or term, ‘She Shed’.
You see that first post, HERE.
Regular readers know I don’t actually do any ‘potting’ inside my shed,
but it’s my happy place and where my creativity blooms.
This is a photo heavy post, so grab a mug of something warm to drink!
Click on the links below if you’d like to see the complete post or more details.
I’m also sharing some garden love with a little giveaway at the bottom of this post.
Potting Shed Winter Porch and DIY Grapevine Wreath Garden Girl
The Potting Shed back porch got a little winter love with foraged greenery
and trio of grapevine wreaths to make a DIY garden wreath girl
Blue and White Transferware in the Potting Shed
A blooming vignette of blue and white transferware,
Snowball Viburnum and Lenten Roses from the garden,
paired with grocery store hydrangeas and tulips
Building a Potting Bench with Reclaimed Barn Wood and Chippy Porch Columns
I was thrilled to have my handy hubby build a potting bench for me this past spring!
It was built as a roomy work bench for planting and projects, as well a place
to display garden collectibles. We used reclaimed barn wood and added some vintage charm
with chippy porch columns and repurposed pressed tin roof tiles.
Tabletop Gardening with Peter Rabbit and Friends
Hopping down the bunny trail with Peter Rabbit and friends
for some tabletop gardening fun in the Potting Shed!
May Garden Flowers Around the Potting Shed
The first flush of blooms in our zone 7b garden is when flowers look their best,
and when the roses, clematis, peonies, wisteria and salvia are in bloom.
Pretty in Pink Peonies and Ball Jar Bouquets
Celebrating the short but sweet peony season with
Ball jar bouquets and blue and white transferware on a window shelf.
Tabletop Gardening and Garden Bouquets in the Potting Shed
Garden bouquets of Coleus, Speedwell (Veronica), Lantana and Cleome join daylilies, hydrangeas
and hosta leaves in mason jars and watering cans.
Flower pot napkin rings and garden gloves hold flatware for table top gardening with
Johnson Brothers Windsor Ware ‘Garden Bouquet’ and ‘Sheraton’ joining the mix.
Nesting Season and Nest Feathering on the Potting Bench
Celebrating nesting season on the Potting Bench and every bird is welcome!
Blooming Watering Cans, Bunnies and Roses on the Potting Bench
Earth Angel, Tea Clipper, Charles Darwin, Popcorn Drift and Pink Double Knock Out Roses
fill watering cans and join bunnies, both real and faux.
Window Boxes and Garden Blooms
Window boxes planted with an assortment of sun-loving annuals,
featuring Endless Summer Hydrangeas and daylilies in bloom.
Celebrating National Pollinator Month and Buzzing with Bees
Celebrating National Pollinator Month with tabletop fu; garden blooms fill vintage honey tins
with a reminder to *bee* kind. Find out what you can do to help pollinators.
Summer Garden Blooms Around the Potting Shed
Butterflies and bees buzz around the Limelight Hydrangeas, Butterfly Bush,
Cleome, Vitex and battling the dreaded Japanese Beetle.
How to Grow Fragrant Climber, Prolific Bloomer and Over Achiever: Sweet Autumn Clematis
Oh boy…the garden police wanted to arrest me for singing the praises of Sweet Autumn Clematis.
It is considered invasive in some areas, so plant according to your zone. . . or don’t. ;)
Prune after blooming to prevent reseeding.
Celebrating the Cusp of Fall with Woodland Friends
A little whimsy and tabletop fun with a few woodland friends to celebrate the cusp of fall.
Upcycled Gable Vent and Pediment Addition for The Potting Bench
An upcycled copper gable vent adds an architectural element and pediment for the Potting Bench
A Fall Harvest on the Potting Bench
Welcoming October with a harvest of pumpkins, leaves, Indian corn,
mums and limelight hydrangeas.
Black Cat Trading Company and Halloween Tablescape
Halloween fun in the Potting Shed, aka, Black Cat Trading Company
🏡❄️🐝🌸🐰🌼🦋🍂🎃🐈⬛
Now for a little garden love giveaway!
I’m giving away an aluminum garden sign to one reader with a favorite quote/poem.
“The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God’s heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.”
~ Dorothy Frances Gurney
🌸 To enter the giveaway and a chance to win, leave a comment telling me your favorite garden flower.
🌸 Subscribers/followers automatically get a second entry.
Subscribe by email and let me know by comment.
🌸 For a third entry, Pin a photo from this post and leave an additional comment telling me so.
(The Pin/Save button pops up on the upper left corner of each photo)
This giveaway is open to those living in the continental U.S. through midnight January 13th.
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.
Thank you for your visit, sharing with:
Between Naps on the Porch
Beautiful!
So obvious that it is your “happy place”. Your spirit and creativity in each photo is apparent. I just blessed that you choose to share.
I have so enjoyed seeing your blog all year! It has truly motivated me. My favorite flower is the hydrangea, Annabella!
Carol Burger
I adore the photos of in and around your Potting Shed. I would dearly love to have your green fingers, mine are more the fingers of death. I can’t believe the potting shed is ten years old, where has the time gone. I have to say that I am also overawed at the never seen storage space you must have for all the wonderful dishes etc you’ve collected over the years. There is always something beautiful for every season and celebration. Looking forward to all your future posts including the views from the lake.
I agree with Margaret. I wish I had your green thumb, too.
How can I pick a favorite!!? I love all flowers and have a hard time leaving a garden center without a full cart! Love the saying on the garden sign
I have been following your for years but I must have started just after the building or my memory is fuzzy. I don’t remember seeing it being built. I am amazed. It looks like a seasoned, weathered, treasured building and yet it is fairly new. Love that. Also loved the upcycled pediment and gable being put on your potting shelf. That was absolutely brilliant! I love all the paint choices you made on the outside-the green and red, the stained glass windows, the twig window treatment and that front door-oh my!
I keep going back to look again as I write and I was so excited to find the link to the building of it. Thank you for sharing. I am usually so busy looking at the dishes or flowers that I missed some of the beauty of the darling Potting Shed. Happy New Year,
Pinned lots-Peter Rabbit, the making of the shed, the transferware plates, different angle so the shed and more.
My Favorite flower is the peony! Wishing you a fantastic Flower-filled new year!
It is hard to pick a favorite, but I am going with Lavender. Happy New Year to you!
I always enjoy your she shed posts, They are lovely and inspiring.
It’s really hard to pick one favorite flower, but for me it would be my lilacs which bloom around my birthday. The color, fragrance and texture of the flowers is enchanting. My gardening is mainly with perennials so that they return year after year and I really enjoy your decorative exploits in the shed!
This review truly shows your creativity! Thank you for all you do on your blog!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful potting shed and your creative ideas! I always love seeing the beautiful flowers in bloom and your dishes on display. My favorite garden flower is the day lily – I have several different colors and varieties. I am a long-time subscriber of your blog and love all the inspiration it affords! Happy New Year!
I love blue and white dishes and pinned your post with the blue & white transferware in the potting shed!
Good morning, Mary. I am always ready for a review post especially if it involves flowers! I like so many it is hard to choose but I would say pansies w/ their sweet little faces. I am a long time subscriber. Thanks for bringing such loveliness to my day.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful potting shed and all of your creative ideas! My favorite garden flower is the day lily – I have several different colors and varieties. I am a longtime subscriber and enjoy all of your inspiration. Happy New Year!
I swoon whenever you post about peonies! I love them, but find them impossible to grow in Texas so I live vicariously through your pictures. Over the years you have both inspired and challenged me in my gardening efforts. You have such a remarkable eye for arrangement and color schemes and I appreciate you sharing your obvious talent with the world!
Happy New Year Mary! I am in love with Hydrangeas! I too live on the water and have a potting shed. My dream is to one day have it half as beautiful as yours. Also, the garden sign is a verse my mother had on a black trivet back in my childhood. It has stuck with me all these years. Thanks for your posts they are truly inspiring! I have posted the garden plaque to my pinterest page under garden!
My favorite site on the entire internet!!!! I love peonies too (also Texas) but hydrangeas are my all time favorite! I’m working on getting a line of them started along the side of my home where they grow best. Your blue and white dishes are so pretty. I’m pinning as well! I look forward to your posts!!
The potting shed and bench have beautiful displays each and every season. Your creativity inspires us all. It’s nice to have an area where you can go and let creativity flourish. That’s a cute sign! Since I’m still enjoying my LCF centerpiece, I’m wishing the entrants luck. You’re so generous Mary! Enjoy your day. Happy Friday! Clara❤️
Looking at your pictures of your potting shed, dishes and flowers brought a smile to my face and peace to my heart. Thank you for that. I pinned Peter Cottontail ….just love anything Beatrix Potter. My favorite flower….it’s like picking a favorite child but if I must 😀 it would be lavender…or my lilac bush…or my roses…or any kind of daisy. Peace.
20 years already, I have enjoyed each and everyone of your blog posts. Such inspiration and just plain fun. Especially when your little pups come along for the ride…
Good morning Mary! Your potting shed would make another beautiful calendar! It’s so hard to pick a favorite flower. They are all beauties in their own right. Happy weekend to you! 💐 ❤️
Hi! I love seeing all your beautiful pictures of flowers and your pups!!
If I had to pick a favorite flower, it would be irises because there are so many different colors, some smell heavenly, and usually the deer don’t eat them!!
Love to see your story every month. The colors are unbelievable. But mostly love the fur babies(Bichon’s). Happy New Year
Beautiful photos 🌸 My favorite garden flower is my Endless Summer hydrangea.. I pinned the bluebird picture because this was the first year I have had bluebirds at my feeder. Now I want a house!
you have such a photographers eye! thanks for sharing all your pretties & projects!
Good morning Mary❣ I can’t believe the potting shed is 10 years old! Thank you for years of beauty, inspiration, information, and flower joy! My favorite flower is the old fashioned blue Morning Glory.
I love looking at all of your beautiful pictures. What a breath of fresh air. Thank you for sharing all of these wonderful moments.
I love your potting shed and your flowers and decorating. It is all so inspirational. My favorite would have to be Lantana mainly because it draws soooo many butterflies, grows so well in full sun and can tolerate some dryness so it is easy to care for, spreading and attracting those bees and butterflies. I’m in NC also and it is pretty much a perennial on my south side. You should publish a calendar!!
Mary, you are as delightful as your gardens, table settings, puppies, tips, ideas, resources, inspirations and all you so generously share with us through our journey through our own garden of life. THANK YOU FROM THE DEPTHS OF OUR GARDENS. XO, FRANNIE STEVENS-MESHORER
Happy New Year Mary! I loved looking at the Potting Shed “in review”. You are so creative. My favorite flowers are geraniums but they don’t thrive very well in our Tennessee climate.
Mary…my dream. is to have a fabulous shed such as yours!!!! I hope I can get one approved by our ARB! This is my favorite post! Although I love all of your tablescapes, recipes, the antics of Sophie and Lola and more..your Potting Shed is so special! Love, love the garden sign. Will look great near our waterfall and pond. Thanks for always offering giveaways to your readers!
I must say that I am in ❤️ love with your Garden Girl door wreath. You are sooo creative! Happy New Year Mary!! 🎉
“A” favorite flower???!!! There are so many! But I’d have to say in MY flower beds it would have to be iris, as I have iris from my beloved mother’s yard! She and my grandmother both were gardeners extraordinaire! And I now have the green thumb! To all of you that think you don’t….keep planting, reading and sharing plants with neighbors and friends! Your thumb will eventually turn green! And you’ll have plants to share with your children!
….avid sharer of posts from homeiswheretheboatis !❌⭕️❌⭕️
Happy New Year! The review of your Potting Shed year is beautiful and I’m always inspired by both your flowers and table settings. We copied one of your ideas last spring – the black-eyed Susan vine on the slinky “trellis” and it worked perfectly. We had tons of blooms until the end of October. Thanks so much!!
It is hard to believe all these incredible posts were in just one year!! And what a wonderful beautiful year it was! Your gardening, decorating and tablescaping skills are so impressive Mary, beauty just flows from your finger tips! The giveaway sign is the perfect thing for the avid garden and flower lover~ I am fickle when it comes to favorite flowers, I love them all! 💐
My Favorite Flower is aSunFlower
Happy New Year! I love your garden and shed! My favorite flowers for planting are lavender and dahlias. My grandpa used to grow dahlias all over his yard, various colors and sizes. I have wonderful memories of his flower arrangements for the church every Sunday.
Ia always love to see your beautiful pictures. My favorite garden flower here in west Tennessee sweltering heat is the never-failing zinnia!
Very hard to pick just one photo, but ultimately I’ve decided to choose the picture concrete bunny and the Beatrice Potter sign. Yes, I’m ready for Spring!
What a beautiful post! I love the garden sign you are giving away. I am a subscriber and also pinned a photo. Thank you for the chance to win! Many blessings to you in the new year!
What a beautiful group of pictures. Nice seeing them in the dead of winter. Gives me hope there will be a spring soon. I pinned the birdhouse with the Welcome and birds below. I collect birdhouses and this one is particularly lovely. Would like to have one of those for my collection. My favorite flower is the hardy lantana. With our hot summers, this flower needs little attention and it blooms continually. Thanks for the post.
So many favorites depending on the season. I really like tulips but I guess will go with hydrangea. Yours are always so lush. Hope to learn how to do window boxes like yours.
I love your garden shed posts. And have been inspired to incorporate small touches in my own gardening spaces. I often wonder if your neighbors are lucky enough to see and admire it. My favorite garden flower would have to be my limelight hydrangeas which bless me ( sometimes overwhelmingly so) with huge and prolific bouquets.
I love looking in your potting shed. Thank you for sharing it with us. My favorite garden flower is Coneflower – any color.
What a delightful post! I am a gardener with very limited space, but I often am inspired by your garden and shed. My favorite flower changes with the season, but if I must choose one, it would be Endless Summer Hydrangea. Keep up the good work!
I love your blog. My favorite flower is hydrangea
I pinned the picture of Tabletop Gardening and Garden Bouquets in Potting Shed. It joins many other pins from you! I pinned because I love to do small vignettes of flowers all over my house.
Hi Mary ~ this post was like looking at the most beautiful seasonal garden idea magazine. You have such a knack for creating art with flowers and Knick knacks/dishes. I’m so stumped to pick my favorite flower. It would be so much easier to pick my least favorite!!! I will pick my favorite as the snapdragon because it reminds me of being a small child in the garden with me Grandma Elizabeth learning about flowers and she would play with me by having the snapdragon “snap” my finger. Aren’t memories wonderful? Hugs, Dorinda
Love your review and all the inspiration! Any idea where you found the cute birds nest placemats?
Mary ~ I have been a longtime reader of your beautiful blog.
Mary ~ I pinned a few pictures of your beautiful post in my Pinterest boards. ~ hugs, Dorinda
Like all your readers, this subscriber swoons over flowers of all sorts. But today I would choose nasturtiums ~ tumbling over the edges of our elevated veggie gardens. Bright jewel tones for sure but also the delicate ones like peach melba and moonlight. Joyful in the garden or on our plates!
Mary, I have loved your posts and go back to them over and over….they always make me happy! If I have to narrow down to a single plant I would say David Austin roses….from first flush to late fall hips and surprise blossoms at Thanksgiving in the snow. Fragrance and beauty.~Tricia
I Love your blog! The Dahlia is my favorite flower, so many forms & colors.
I enjoyed looking back at your year playing in your potting shed! All the vignettes are so beautiful, and my favorite one is the one with the peonies and the blue and white china. So pretty! Happy New Year!
What a fun, beautiful review of your year in the potting shed. I love your recipes too! My favorite flower is the peony.
Your garden is beautiful! I’m not sure I can pick one favorite flower. I do really love your hydrangas! I’m going to try to plant one this spring. Hopefully someday it will be as lovely as your’s are.
I so enjoy your posts. Just a tad jealous of your luxuriant blooms. My favorite flower is the peony. Love the creamy pink petals whose subtle fragrance remind me of my grandmother’s garden!
I pinned a photo of your beautiful pink peonies!
I have been a subscriber and admirer of your blog since before you built the Potting Shed. You blog is by far the most gorgeous than any other by far. Your talent is amazing and unending! I pray you never end the delightful morning treat
With love from my home to yours, Kathi
Oh, and I forgot to add, I love hydrangeas the most!
-Kathi
~hi MarY~
I cannot believe it has been TEN YEARS wow !! You are still the Queen Bee always will be !! Thank you so very much for the wonderful years of sharing all of your God given gifts, you definitely have an eye, well two!! for beauty !! I will have to say my favorite is Peonies and Roses, okay 2!! reminds me so much of my dear mom !! Stay safe and warm !!
xx
Paula ~ Indiana
p.s. I sent you a card, but it was returned :( sorry
I’ve been admiring your blog for years. Your potting shed is what dreams are made of!
I love hydrangeas- my favorite flower! Also roses make me happy too!
Dorothy Frances Gurney’s poem already hangs on the wall in my potting shed. It is framed with dried real flowers and has always been one of my favorite quotes! I cannot choose a favorite flower – I love so many. I do seem to fancy Columbines. I love their cottage garden antique delicate style.
My favorite garden flower is mint. It’s just my favorite garden plant! Pretty in a simple way, tasty, smells fantastic and has a ton of uses. It’s the best! I pinned a photo and I’m a subscriber.
I pinned a photo and I’m a subscriber.
My favorite garden flower is probably the snowball viburnum, but the oakleaf hydrangea runs a close second!
I’ve been reading your blog for years and have pinned so many of your pictures I can’t begin to count them all!! Hydrangeas are my favorite flower followed closely by the peony. Thank you for sharing your gorgeous yard and adorable puppies! You are such an inspiration!!
Would love to win the garden sign. My mother was a fabulous gardener and it was her favorite gardening quote! I pinned the gorgeous pink peonies with the red knock out roses in the background!! Beautiful!
I love the Black Cat sign because I have a sweet black kitty who visits me while I putter around in your gardens shed. I love your hydrangeas. I have several young ones outside my shed.
You are so creative. I enjoy your floral arrangements and table settings! I have a new favorite flower- dahlias.Their colors and symmetry delight me.
Yes I subscribe to your blog by email.
My favorite garden flower is coneflower because they’re so prolific and do well every year.
I pinned picture from your blog onto Pinterest.
Hmmmn, hydrangeas, all kinds but little limelights are fun.
The photo I pinned was the plaque “The kiss of the sun….” This recap was lovely.
Mary,
My favorite flower is the gardenia- a true southern gem!
Thank you for the inspiration you give us to beautify our gardens and homes throughout the year! Your blog is a jewel!
By far my favorite flower in my zone 5b garden is day lilies. They have a long bloom cycle and you can’t kill them. I have blooms from June to the end of August in a wide variety of colors. Disease and deer resistant too. Nearly perfect 😁
I posted the fall potting bench. Love it!
My favorite? Hands down it’s peonies! Fragrant fluffy long-lived virtually carefree peonies! I have Karl Rosenfeld, Sarah Bernhardt, Festiva Maxima and several heirlooms with long forgotten names. I adore them all when they come in bloom.
Oh Mary! Not fair to make us pick just one favorite flower! Lol Can I say my favorite for each season? Haha. My favorite for spring is the bright yellow daffodil, summer, is cosmos and zinnia, but I like big alliums too! I’ll stop kthere as you really just asked for one. All your pictures are wonderful and should be in a special garden book, but I pinned your awesome potting table with the great looking pediment, giving it a “crowning” touch. We are having unseasonable warm weather in the high 30’s , low 40’s so I took down all the Christmas lights today and popped into my shed to get out a winter wreath and got excited for Spring! Happy New Year!
My favorite flower is the peony! Their smell is heavenly and the colors are outstanding…and, it was also my father’s favorite!!
I pinned the beautiful white bird house surrounded by a gorgeous purple flower! I have always loved those birdhouses but they have always been financially out of my reach!
My favorite flower is the peony! Their smell is heavenly and their colors are outstanding!!
My favorite flower is peony because I remember them growing in my grandmother’s yard when I was a child. Your posts are so enjoyable to read.
I also subscribe by email.
Oh, it is SO hard to pick a favorite, as I am a flower fanatic! I would have to say that Zinnias are right there among the top of my most favorite flowers. Sunflowers are right there, too! Your post is beautiful, and I thank you for all the great giveaways. :)
Your garden looks gorgeous all through the year! My favorite flower is tulips and I am a subscriber.
I pinned your Potting Bench.
my favorite flower is the beautiful rose
Clematis are my favorite, and nasturtiums too.
I am one of your current email subscribers.
My pin: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/225461525087000916/
I love, love, love this garden sign! My favorite garden flower is the Lenton Rose.
I pinned the photo of the garden sign.
My favorite garden flower is the gardenia…I had a little gardenia bush that bloomed like crazy last spring but our hot hot Texas summer this year did it in 😞…will see if it comes back this spring, but I think it’s a goner.
This truly could not have been any medicine for me if I went to the ER! Loved every single photo, gardens are my happy place, we have been dealing with nonstop wild weather and I miss my outdoors time dearly, but this was a warm balm all over my body, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU SHARE!
Peonies are my favorite.
Your potting shed was my inspiration to have one of my own. Just as you stated, I don’t do any potting in mine. It is my happy place with lots of nature things that bring me joy!
I subscribe through email.
I am a long time subscriber and my favorite flower is either a Nikko Blue Hydrangea or a Peony. Happy New Year!
Gorgeous post, love seeing the potting shed all decked out for different holidays. Hydrangeas are my favorite. I love the abundance of flowers round your property. Being on a well, we are limited to what we plant. We also have lots of sun. Always inspiring to see and read each post. Happy week ahead.
Favorite garden flower is the Rose followed by Lillies.🌹❤️
I am one of your current email subscribers.
I pinned the Blue and White Transferware and Monday Morning Blooms
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/248190629458396745/
You do inspire us. Love your potting shed and the beauty around it. Itching for Spring but still raking leaves from our huge trees.
My favorite flowers are peonies but I have to enjoy them vicariously on your site as I cannot seem to get them to grow. My daughter and I formed the “Dead Peony Society”
Pinned the ball jar peonies.
The fact that you are still humbled by others reading and taking time for your blog speaks volumes! You have a special gift and I for one am blessed to of found it and share so many of the joys and creativity you send our way. Thank you for doing this blog, it continues to be a creative inspiration and blessing to me. I hope it continues for many more years.
I’m about speechless…what a gorgeous space! The pretty green trim on your “potting shed” is such a serenely cheerful color. So fun!! Happy New Year! Happy creating! Best regards, Julie M.
I love your potting shed in every season! My favorite flower is a hydrangea, with a ranunculus coming in as a close second.
Lovely post! Too hard to pick a favorite flower as I love all brightly colored ones. I’m a long time subscriber.
Your pictures are simply stunning❤️Snowball viburnums, slowly but surely growing them in northern FL😍
That has to be the most viewed and loved She Shed in America. I love the shelf and pinned the blue and white dishes.
My favorite flower is blue irises.
I subscribed again with a new email address.
I love you sweet potting shed! I have one as well! My daddy and husband built it in 2016 when I was undergoing breast surgery. It was the perfect medicine!! I love peonies, but ranunculus are a favorite as well!!! :) Happy New Year blessings to you from Greensboro, NC :)
You always have the most beautiful photos. My favorite garden flower is a peony! They are beautiful and so fragrant!
I subscribe vai email
I pinned a post on Pinterest! https://www.pinterest.com/pin/118993615145447461/