We’re still in the middle of winter, but my heart is already with spring! I’ve been dreaming of warm evenings filled with cool breezes and dinners on the back patio. While spring will arrive on its own schedule, I have plenty to do in the meantime, including recovering my outdoor chairs and removing dead greenery from the yard. There are many planting projects on the horizon, but the chilly weather won’t accommodate them, so I’ve been focusing on weather-neutral projects for the time being.
This past weekend I began my yard makeover by trimming dead leaves away from my potted plants and repainting a few of my planters. While I tend to embrace neutral tones in the yard (hello gray and dark brown!), I’ve decided to welcome tropical hues this year. And of course, more tropical greenery! Today I’m sharing a few snapshots of my progress, in case these easy DIY ideas can help your winter days pass a little more quickly…
Assess the Health of Your Plants and the Condition of Your Pots
Potted plants are a great place to start this time of the year. You can tend to them indoors, especially if you live in an area where the temperatures are consistently below freezing. Below we see an emerald green hanging planter. Learn more about how I made the planter in this post. This planter has been repainted twice now, and believe it or not, I thought it was time for another change.
It’s super easy to give your yard a vibrant dose of color by painting a few of your planters and scattering them throughout your outdoor space. Here’s another one of my green pots in need of an update:
In addition to checking your pots for makeover opportunities, winter is a good time to take a look at the health of your plants. Below we see one of my favorite potted plants, a Christmas gift from my brother and his girlfriend:
The succulents are so healthy, and the iron pyrite and rose quartz add modern style to the arrangement. When I look at this plant, I want all of my potted plants to be as stunning and vibrant!
So I decided to inspect the other potted plants in my yard, noting the healthy ones, as well as the unhealthy ones. This croton has done surprisingly well outdoors, unlike some of my previous croton plants:
The kalanchoe below was once much smaller, but I re-potted it last year, and it has thrived! I trimmed away the dead leaves and made plans to re-pot it once more when the temperatures warm.
Now is also a great time to make a list of new plants to purchase this spring. On my list: a few seasonal blossoms to fill a couple of planters, as well as more silver falls dichondra to add to the planter below. I took extra good care of my plants this winter, but even so, the cascading greenery is thinning out a bit at the top!
An Easy Planter Makeover
With my potted plants cleared of dead foliage and a list of planting projects completed, it was time to start the painting process. I like to change the look of my yard from time to time, so I find myself repainting pots and planters on a pretty regular basis!
To do the job well, you should probably remove the plant and soil from the pot before you paint, but quite honestly, you can usually get away with painting the pots when they’re full. It’s not ideal, but it may also not be ideal to remove your plant from the pot. Decide what works best for you!
Regardless, remember to protect your work surface, and be sure to choose a color palette that you love! I enjoy purchasing small bottles of acrylic craft paint and mixing different colors until I have the perfect shade. It’s an affordable strategy, and it allows you to customize the hue for your space.
Below we see my former emerald green planter repainted a new shade of radiant aqua:
In today’s photos, it actually looks a bit more blue than it appears in real life. Picture the pot one shade greener, and you have the perfect tropical color!
Behind the plant are the metal bars of my trellis. I’ve draped some gray vinyl fabric in back of the bars, but soon I will be covering the entire back of the trellis in a coral/red-orange/terracotta shade to add more vibrancy to my outdoor space. I promise to post pics of the finished project in the coming weeks!
To match my hanging planter, I covered a small pot in the same shade of aqua, as shown below:
And I also updated a large, low round pot that will hold some beautiful tropical greenery once winter passes. This plant is in need of some TLC!
Don’t forget to clean up the mess when you’re finished! I put some old poster board on my table to protect it, and I always use aluminum foil as a surface for mixing paint. Super easy cleanup, folks!
If you peer through the jasmine, you can see the colorful planter. Do you see it?…
How about now?! Yes, spring is on the way!
I’ll be hosting an outdoor appetizer party this spring, and I’ll be posting all the photos right here on Decoist, including plenty of yard makeover pics from my upcoming string of DIY projects. Thanks for letting me share today. I hope your week is off to a great start!
