Planting a Little Beauty

It's not so hard to plant a flower or two in a pot to beautify your outdoor room. For beginners, I have outlined the steps below. You can do it!

PICK

1. Choose a plant. Look for flowers that have the colors that you enjoy and keep your climate in mind. Now that we are having warmer weather, you can even plant the ones that want "full sun".
2. Choose a pot or planter. It doesn't have to be expensive and can be made of most any material. If the plastic toy bin down the aisle matches your deck decor better than the ceramic beauty in the plant section, grab it and drill a couple holes in the bottom. Keep in mind that it won't have a "plate" underneath to catch water unless you make one.
3. Buy a bag of general potting soil. Don't worry about fertilizer-just get a basic bag of the stuff.
4. Read the tag that comes with the plant. It will tell you the name of the plant and what conditions that it likes.

PLANT

1. Place a few stones over the holes in the bottom of your planter. You do want the water to drain-but not so quicky that the roots cannot drink.
2. Fill planter about halfway with potting soil. You might want to use gloves as some potting soil likes to give out slivers as a gift.
3. Turn your plant upside down carefully, letting it ease into your hand. You may need to squish the temporary pot that it came in.
4. With other hand, loosen up the roots at the bottom of the plant. It's OK to break some roots.
5. Place plant into planter and fill in the sides with potting soil.
6. Pat soil around plant gently and water it.
7. Place the tag that came with your plant in your planter and OBEY it.
8. Enjoy the beautiful spots of accent beauty in your ourdoor room!