Can you believe it’s been a whole year since we got the keys to our flat?! Within the last year we’ve accomplished so much in terms of “making our house a home”, and dare I say we still have a long way to go? Well, there are definitely a few more things to tick off our snagging list before I’m completely satisfied, but overall I think we’ve come quite a long way!

It’s amazing to remember what our little flat looked like a year ago and compare it to what it is today. One of the main things I’m keen to do to spruce up the place is add more plants on our patios. Our bedroom looks out onto a cul-de-sac of offices so the main thing I’m looking for is privacy. Think flower box hanging on the railing, brimming with herbs. A few tall leafy bushes to add a bit of shade and soundproofing would be lovely, too!

My mother-in-law and I spent the day perusing a few different garden centres in town, umm-ing and ahh-ing over gorgeous camelia bushes, tubs of zebra primrose, bushy bamboo shoots, and hedges shaped like peacocks. Garden centres can be quite overwhelming because the possibilities are endless, but it was really fun to get a feel for the different varieties and textures of plants to choose from. In the end we snatched up four plants from the sale section of one of the shops since they were such a great deal, and then proceeded to the next garden centre to look for potting materials.

I wouldn’t say that I have much of a green thumb, however I do think that I am very inconsistent when it comes to watering plants. There have been times when plants have drowned and dried out under my supervision so hopefully the plants we picked up won’t be too tricky for me to understand. Tomorrow we’re going to repot a few of the plants so they can go straight out onto the back patio! I must say, I’m really looking forward to jazzing up our patio with these plants. Never thought I’d write ‘jazzing up’ and ‘plants’ in the same sentence, and yet here we are.