Love Gardening? Host a Party!

The only thing better than spending time enjoying a hobby you love is sharing that hobby with others. If you love gardening like I do, then why not host a garden party? Perhaps the first thing you think of are ladies in fancy dresses and hats (nothing wrong with that!) but you can have any garden themed party that suits your style. I recently hosted a garden party at my home and here are a few easy take aways from my event. Party planning is not my specialty so if I can do it, so can you!

1. Your gardens don't have to look perfect to host a garden party. We just moved here in July so my garden talk was all about beginnings and how to get started without breaking the bank. Ain't no shame in keeping it real.


2. Keep in mind how much space you have and tailor your list accordingly. We had 15 ladies (sorry guys, that's just how it went) and it felt like a good number for my first time doing it.



3. You have to have food of some kind. Plan out a realistic menu. We had a seasonal garden to table theme which I contributed to with spinach and onion quiche and my friends brought delicious lavender bread, strawberry and spinach salad, and rhubarb upside down cake. Which is another great idea - make your party more like a pot luck.

4. Create an idea sharing platform so the party can be educational as well. I decided to give a "garden talk" covering a wide variety of garden subjects that my friends were interested in. It was informal and open to comments and questions. You might decide to have topics for group discussion or just have everyone share their gardening projects for the year.

5. Have a back up plan in case it rains. The weather was incredibly threatening during my party but thankfully, it stayed clear. However, if I had to, we could have moved the party inside to our finished basement. Garden parties are much better outside but if it rains, you'll need have a back up plan.

Have you ever hosted a garden party? What was it like? Feel free to write about it below!

A New House, A New Beginning

You can't really appreciate change unless you know what something was to begin with. A person who is 20 pounds overweight might look heavy to you unless you knew they used to be 100 pounds over weight. As much as I love HGTV, it often gives the impression that renovations take place over a few months and then you get a perfect home. Most of us, myself included, can't afford to hire professionals to renovate our entire home and build the garage I'd love to have. So in the meanwhile, my husband and I, with help, will grow our gardens, DIY skills and our family.

We almost didn't even look at this house because I hate the lack of curb appeal. It looks like a box stuck on a hill, doesn't it? However, when there in person, we realized it has tons of potential and had all of our essentials. The quarter acre yard was smaller than I wanted but it's all very usable.

Part of the lack of appeal was the lack of staging and cleaning done by the previous owners. Many of the paint colors where unattractive and the stickers left on the wall wouldn't appeal to anyone. Wait till you see what we've already done to the dining area. 

The yard is large but was almost completely empty. They left one small swing set (which is great for our daughter) a decent size shed, one Sargent cherry tree, and one small flower bed. We've already created three new garden beds and have planted several bushes, but I've got tons of plans for turning it into a little homestead. 

What's the most important thing we're going to be doing here? Raising our kids. We have a beautiful little girl and we plan to start taking in foster babies soon with the hopes of being able to permanently add to our family eventually. Hence the name, Growing Lillys. This is what we've started with. Future posts will show how we fixed up the house, developed the yard and learn new DIY skills, all on a very tight budget. Stay tuned!