From the category archives:

Outdoor Decor

Container Gardening Grab Bag – 4/30

by Fern on April 30, 2010

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This week there were some really good garden blog posts to share, and some kind of funny gardening news. I particularly liked Sue’s post about comparing seedlings growing in potting soil from last year versus ones that had fresh potting mix. There’s also a corny gardening joke, and a bit about the nasturtium seed scarification project.

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New Trend? Metal Animal Sculpture

by Fern on April 15, 2010

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At the San Francisco Garden Show, the best of show display garden featured oversized metal animal sculptures meandering through “prairies” of tall, wispy grass. It was quite stunning in its simplicity. And then the other day I saw this at a local gardening accessories shop…

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Creating a Napping Zone on Your Balcony or Patio

February 19, 2010
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Everyday at around 3 in the afternoon I wish I could crawl under my desk and take a nap. Maybe I lived in a Latin country in a previous life, because siestas sound fantastic to me! It may sound a bit crazy to think about napping out on your balcony or patio now–though Southern California [...]

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How Long Should I Wait Before Complaining About My Neighbor’s Christmas Lights?!

December 23, 2009
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Photo by Jenny Peterson The condo association in charge of our new place has all sorts of rules, most of which I see my neighbors breaking left and right. For example, you’re not supposed to hang any planters on the railings of the balcony, but I have seen at least two people doing just that. [...]

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Grow Your Own Birdhouse: A Great Container Garden Project to do with Kids!

December 9, 2009
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I’m pleased to publish Life on the Balcony’s second guest post, written by Janet Luke. Janet is a Landscape Architect who has a Masters degree, with Honors, in Environmental and Resource Planning. She has a passion for sustainable design, edible landscaping and permaculture. Her website–Green Urban Living–is inspiring many urbanites to grow their own food, [...]

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Using 2010 Color Predictions to Plan Next Year’s Container Garden

December 3, 2009
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Nell of Secrets of a Seed Scatterer came up with a great idea that I think could be easily applied to container gardening. Nell got the idea to use Pantone’s color forecast for 2010 to pick color combinations in the garden. Brilliant! Acording to Pantone, the three top colors for Spring 2010 are aurora yellow, [...]

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Decorating Your Balcony for Halloween

October 23, 2009

I hate Halloween. There. I said it. If there was a bad guy for Halloween–a grinch of some sort–I’d be it. The constantly ringing doorbell (even with my porch light off!) drives me nuts and scares my cats. And then when I open the door, half the time I see teenagers too old to be [...]

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Sound Advice About Noise Reduction On Your Balcony

August 11, 2009

Apartment/condo living means living thisclose to your neighbor. It often means hearing all sorts of things from your neighbor’s unit that you’d rather not hear. And often times, living in a high density area means listening to all sorts of other noises from streets, trains, planes, jack hammers, and on and on. In addition to [...]

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Ahhh! Independence Day is Tomorrow, I’ve Invited 20 People Over, and My Place Looks Horrible!

July 3, 2009

If the title of this post describes how you feel right now, take a deep breath and sit down for a second. Hopefully you’ve got today off, but even if you don’t, the collection of 4th of July decorating ideas below are easy enough to accomplish before your party starts. I’m tempted to make these [...]

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Umbrella Stand + Flower Pot = Beautiful Spot in the Shade

June 8, 2009

When researching ideas for a client, I came across several articles on how to make a flower pot umbrella stand. What a great idea! Often times we balcony and patio gardeners could use an umbrella, but the standard umbrella stands are ugly and we don’t usually have room for a table that also holds the [...]

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Outdoor Umbrellas – Don’t Settle for Something Plain!

May 18, 2009

Now that things are starting to warm up, and the days are getting longer, you’ve probably been thinking about dusting off your umbrella, or perhaps you’re trying to find a brand new one. There are umbrellas perfectly suited to balconies and other small spaces, like half umbrellas, petite umbrellas, and offset umbrellas. Which is all [...]

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Interview with Jayme Jenkins, Owner of aHa Modern Living

May 4, 2009

As readers of Life on the Balcony know, I am very excited about discovering a new (to me) website dedicated to modern home and garden accessories, all inspired by the garden and the great outdoors. The site is called aHa Modern Living. If unique, modern, and eco-friendly are your cup of tea, you definitely need [...]

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