Are you using your front porch to its fullest advantage? If you’re like me, you try to minimize things in your home that need to be refreshed, like plants… and the seasonality of potted plants makes them daunting to delve into. Well, thanks to GardenWorks I have a formula to share with you that will help your front porch to always look fresh- and at the same time become your new favourite breakfast nook or office space!

GardenWorks is a collection of BC-owned community garden centres which specialize in a unique but wide selection of plants, decor, pottery, and garden supplies. Their expert advice has SO helped my garden and home to feel more harmonious, connected and natural- and I’m sure they’ll do the same for you, too. 

Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you get started!

1. How do you want to use the space? A small table and chair is perfect if you want to get into the routine of drinking in fresh air with your coffee or morning emails without straying too far. I personally love my cozy chair, where I can sit with our new baby Bence and watch the boys take care of the garden. 
2. What colour theme/palette would you like to work with? Consider the colour of your house, car, garden- all of its surrounding elements. Do you want your porch to blend in or stand out? For bonus points, consider the feeling of transitioning from porch to entryway.
3. What is its sun coverage/exposure like? This will help you choose plants which will flourish in full or partial sun. If you are not sure, take a photo of the area once an hour over the course of a day. Just remember that sun cycles change season-to-season, and colder temperatures bring frosty nights.
4. What is the longevity of the plants you are selecting? Again, some plants might only thrive in the summer while others will live year-round. A mix of staples and seasonals will keep things looking fresh by encouraging you to update every few months while also establishing a base so things aren’t completely depleted when the cold weather comes (and you’re already busy running around with school-related activities.)

When redesigning my porch, I prioritized creating a flow between the house and garden, as well as a comfortable place for baby Bence and I to purvey our kingdom (😉).

As a new mom, a calming space for me and baby Bence was a natural choice. Not only does it allow me to purvey our kingdom while Gary and Pierce mow and water the lawn and garden, but it gives us easy access to fresh air without being too far from fresh laundry and the changing station when the inevitable occurs. Plus, being on the porch makes it that much easier to monitor our exposure to the sun. I chose a beautiful black wicker chair from Homesense, which I of course styled with a pillow and throw— my go-tos to make any space more comfy and pulled together.

Using a boxwood shrub as the staple was the perfect choice for me for several reasons. Firstly because they’re long-lasting and will serve as an anchor when I bring in new plants season-to-season. Secondly, I have boxwoods in my garden already so it creates flow and consistency between the two spaces. Thirdly, boxwoods are easy to care for and maintain in the kind of exposure I have on my front porch.

Our boxwood shrub is a perennial plant, which means it will last a long time. I wanted to include pops of white alongside different shades of green bringing in some light greenery and textures to elevate the space, so we mixed in flowering annual plants and a few grasses for height.

Colour-wise, I chose different sizes of white pots so they’d match my black wicker chair. This way the greens stand out while keeping things neutral against our house’s beige paint and black accents (ideally I would have had the house painted white but that will have to be a project for another time!) When decorating I tend to gravitate towards whites and neutrals, so sticking to the same palette helps the porch to feel like a natural extension of our home without too much need for thought. 

Plus, freshening things up is a breeze when there are multiple sizes of pots to play around with! I just have to rearrange where they are and it looks all brand-new. I love playing around with styles like raised pots, textures like ribbing, and different surface-fill options such as pebbles!

So there you have it! Just spend a little time answering the questions above, and you’ll be set for a porch that is easily reinvigorated with a couple new plants and a little decorative cheer 🙂 I can’t wait for the holiday season to come!! Our porch is going to look even more homey with Gary and Pierce’s hand-carved jack-o-lanterns 🎃

Now that the summer is coming to an end, gardening supplies are on sale so it’s the PERFECT time for you to get started on your journey. Let me know how you transform your space in the comments below!

xx

Natalie

 

Photography by Alyssa Dawson Creative

 

List of Plants We Used:

2 x White Petunia Planters with Euphorbia Diamond frost from Grow and Gather 

1 x White Petunia Planter with trailing Sweet Potatoes (I can’t wait to harvest these!)

1 x Blue Dune Sea Lyme (Leymus Arenarius ‘Blue Dune’) from GardenWorks

1 x Boxwood Shrub in a GardenWorks White Planter

1 x Dusty Miller from GardenWorks, in an elevated black pot from HomeSense

2x Fancy Leaf Geranium variety called ‘William Langguth’, in a white pot from Garden Works with a trailing Dichondra Silver Falls

1 x Angel Wings from Garden Works is in a small pot from Michaels

1 x White Polka Dot plant from GardenWorks

1 x  White Hydrangea from GardenWorks in a basket from West Coast Gardens

The Boxwood Wreath is from Vivio Flowers in Port Moody

 

Decor:

Hello Mat – Wayfair

Chair, Pillow and Throw – HomeSense

Calvin Klein Rug – HomeSense

Silver Watering Can – HomeSense

Happy Place Sign – The Cross