In what must have been an OCD fit, I hit the porch at 8am this morning armed with a nozzle sprayer, bucket, detergent and sponge. Our house got a bath. The front of it at least. 
Scrubbing only occurred from my height down. But it still made a huge difference. I’m much, much, too excited over that awesome sprayer handle. 
Other improvements include:
– New ferns. The old ones were threatening to become fireballs in the heat.
– Grass seed and dirt over the existing “grass” (i.e.: weeds that grew in over the pebbles we’ve been digging up for the past two years)
– Caladium (19) and vinca (90). Please grow in nicely, little plants!
Don’t ask about the backyard. Remember that patio Paul dug up? Yeah, well, we’ll let you know when we find it again. It’s that scary.
Matt and Laura | 19-Jul-06 at 11:02 am | Permalink
Okay, so I love YOUR house. I’m thinking about getting some ferns for my front porch too…any words of wisdom?
Holly | 19-Jul-06 at 11:08 am | Permalink
I like Boston Ferns. (That’s what these are.) They are pretty happy plants with light care. They like shade normally, although there are some sun tolerant varieties — although you usually can only find those at speciality nurseries.
To much sun will make the leaves look “bleached” out a bit.
I got mine on clearance for $4.98 at WalMart — maybe they are on sale at your WalMart, too??
Matt and Laura | 19-Jul-06 at 2:29 pm | Permalink
Wow! $5 at Wal-Mart? That’s a bargain. I thought these suckers were like $20! I’ll go to Wal-Mart tomorrow!!! Do you have a problem with them shedding? Also, do you bring them inside during the colder months, or do you have cold months down there?
Holly | 19-Jul-06 at 8:16 pm | Permalink
The ones we bought pre-Katrina from our nursery were $15/each — and they were super, super nice and were the sun tolerant kind. I think they are usually $10 or so at Home Depot/Lowe’s.
The baskets were the splurge. They were $29/each — and I seriously shopped around. Other places wanted up to $50/each! We really wanted that look to dress up the porch and go with the rod-iron fence. (Plus, it helps less-than-stellar plants look much better!) I ended up getting them from our nursery and they gave us a good deal and essentially put in one of the ferns for free. (There are some seriously good people out there, you know?)
Holly | 19-Jul-06 at 8:19 pm | Permalink
Oh, and no — these don’t shed unless they are seriously dying. You can cut dying branches back periodically and the plant will grow back.
We don’t have to take anything inside around here. 🙂 Although, these are the third set we’ve had in the past year. First Katrina, and then our being away — both times returning to dead ferns.
Matt and Laura | 20-Jul-06 at 10:57 am | Permalink
Okay, went on a fern hunt at lunch. My Wal-Mart sold the suckers for $9.95 a pop, but the Home Depot’s price was $8.97. I bought two…hoping that will fill up my front porch enough. I really would like to get a better looking basket, but I’ll do some searching for that too.