FRONT PORCH : SPRING UPDATES

Spring is a very short lived season here in Montreal. Even though the snow melts and the temps warm up, we get a LOT of cold, dreary, damp days. May and June are hit and miss, so when we get the sun, it’s a true blessing! Buds are finally growing on the trees (it’s a little late this year), my perennials have just started to poke out of the ground and I love to check the progress as it all starts to grow! We can’t plant anything until the end of the month because of frost, so it can be a long time to wait! I’ve mentioned in a previous post that I’d been looking for new lanterns – I was down to only two mismatched ones, brass and black.
I wanted to share my latest purchase with you, from HomeSense (HomeGoods if you’re in the US). I bought these two light grey wood lanterns, with LED lights and I absolutely love them!I was looking for ones to match the black or brass but I stumbled upon these – and fell in love.
I think they were literally made for our house, the color is an exact match with our stonework.I put the lanterns in front of the door, rather than on the steps, becuase I think they add warmth and are so inviting and welcoming as you enter. Also, being made of wood and not metal, they have to stay dry – I learned this very quickly when it was pouring rain and I had them on the steps – I went to look at them and the water was seeping right into the wood – they would never withstand the elements! Make sure if you have wood lanterns (unless they’re made of a wood that can stand up to water, like teak or cedar), keep them in a dry spot! The same happened with my beautiful brass lanterns – they rusted from the rain, so now I have to touch up the one I have left with some outdoor spray paint. Lesson learned!You can see my empty planter, here on the left –  I’m very eager to get something in my planters to add some color here. I’m trying to decide whether I want to plant a grass, or flowers. I’m still undecided. Last summer I had some beautiful coral impatiens in them and then in the fall, I swapped them out for my fluffy deep burgundy cattails (as I like to call them because I don’t know the real name), which I love, as well as mums. I am no gardener by any means – my husband says I have a black thumb because I kill everything… So I like maintenance free plants!

Here is the porch last Spring :

My lanterns have clearly seen better days… I ended up throwing out three of the four that I had, unfortunately they were very rusted and corroded. On a side note, the purple flowers in the garden beds are really pretty but they don’t last all summer and by the time they stop flowering, the plant itself is a little weedy looking. So I think I’ll be replacing these this year. If you have ideas of what I should put here, please let me know, I’m always looking for suggestions.

Here is a look from last Fall :You can see more of my home from last fall, HERE. I planted hydrangeas and another lavender-type plant under most of the windows – which are really hard to see here, they’re very small! They haven’t started to bud yet and I’m praying they survived the winter…I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they come back and I’m very eager for the warm weather to finally stick around.

GET THE LOOK OF MY PORCH HERE :

Let me know what you think of my new lanterns and if you have any recommendations for plants! I always love to hear from you! xo

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