Last weekend I worked on a great project, it was a mini garden makeover as a Mother’s Day present for my dear friend Rose.  I thought I would share a few pictures from this garden project and give you a peek inside the garden gate of Rose’s kitchen patio makeover.

Before I share the details let me share with you how this project came about in the first place.  Rose as with many of my friends is one of my biggest garden fans, she absolutely loves, loves, loves my garden.  This whole project for a mini makeover started with a casual text exchange we had back in April when I was sharing with Rose a few garden photos of my courtyard.

Me:  “Was working in the garden today just wanted to share some pics. Have a great day! 🌺😘🌹🌸”

Rose: “I am loving all the flowers!!!  Gorgeous pics, sis!!  It truly is the Garden if Eden!!♥️💝😍.  I want my yard to look like yours…😜”

Me:  “Thanks 🙏 Rose you are always so kind 😘😘.  I’m sure I just took the best of the garden right now.  Let’s plan on a garden makeover session starting with your little kitchen patio. My Mother’s Day present – free consultation 😀😀💐🌺”

Rose:  “Oooh, I’m excited!!!  Yes, I know I need lotsa help… Thanks, sis!🙏🏼😘”

The seed is planted for a kitchen patio makeover.

I suggested to Rose that we start with a mini makeover of her kitchen patio. It’s a small enough space to tackle for one person alone and didn’t require labor-intensive garden work to get it spruced up.  I wanted this to be a mini makeover on a low budget, you know, nothing major but more of cleanup and just adding a few flowering plants here and there to freshen up the little patio.

I suggested a budget range of $50 to $100 and we agreed on $100 budget for my plant purchases. Next was for us to figure out a time when Rose and her family would be out of town so I could come and go as needed to get the job done.  As it happens Rose was heading down to Southern California for Mother’s Day weekend which was the perfect time for me to drop in and work.

Here is a look at the pictures of the patio before.

The project plan.

First Phase: I dropped in for a few minutes to take a few photos on the Thursday afternoon.

Second phase: Friday morning was the first phase of the project, which was the cleanup phase.  This involved pruning, transplanting cuttings and little plants, getting rid of seedlings and plants that were past their prime, consolidation of lots of little pots and moving a bunch of empty pots off into Rose’s backyard. This took about 2 hours. This phase also allowed me to look at the patio with what was already there, thus giving me an idea of where I needed to fill-in the gaps.

Third phase: I spent the next two to three hours buying plants that included a variety of herbs, flowering perennials and a few of my own cuttings as well. I went to three nurseries; Home Depot and Summerwinds Nursery for herbs and perennials, our local Trader Joe’s grocery store for miniature roses and even Whole foods for a hanging basket. I was at Whole Foods to pick up milk and yogurt and found beautiful hanging baskets on sale for Mother’s Day.  I picked one up and knew exactly where it was going to go!

Fourth phase:  Saturday morning is when I did the planting.  I planted all the herbs in the ground around the patio and added flowering perennials in various pots. Added fresh new soil to top off the pots and fertilized everything. This took a couple of hours.

The Photo shoot:  The last step was the after pictures photo shoot, which I did on Sunday.  The entire project took me about 8 hours over the course of 2 1/2 days, but with our gorgeous weather and mild temperatures, this was a fun project to work on for a very dear friend 😘💕 and also gave me a chance to share my novice flower and gardening knowledge.

Let me take you on a tour through the garden gate of Rose’s kitchen patio Mother’s Day makeover.

My plant purchases.

The antique bench before.

The antique bench after:

The antique bird bath before:

The antique bird bath after:

The hose pot before:

The hose pot after:

The kitchen door pots before:

The kitchen door pots after:

Before:

After:

The basket and pots before:

The new herb garden after:  Thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, and chives in the ground.  Mint in a pot.

The focal point: The antique bench before:

The antique bench after: Photos taken at different times of the day. 

The table and chairs before:

The table and chairs after:

The new flowering kitchen patio 🌺🌸🌼🌿💐.

Fresh cut flowers from Rose’s garden to welcome her home on Mother’s Day!

This was my friend Rose’s text to me after she saw her kitchen patio makeover 😊.

” Just pulled into driveway!🤗
WOW, WOW, WOW!!! I LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼❌⭕️❌⭕️♥️♥️♥️”

My plant list:

Geranums
Herbs
Dianthus
Million Bells hanging basket
Miniature roses
Mini dahlia in pot
Cuttings from my garden
Verbena trailing variety
Goldenrod coreopsis
Succulents

Happy Saturday! 🌹🌺🌿