Home & Garden

Louisiana summers bring sweltering heat, high humidity, and persistent pests like mosquitoes and flies. Selecting the right plants can transform your outdoor space into a lush, pest-fighting sanctuary. This guide focuses on plants that thrive in the heat, improve your outdoor living, and help keep bugs at bay. Lavender Lavender is a fragrant beauty that loves full sun and heat, making it an ideal summer plant. Its essential oils naturally repel mosquitoes, flies, and moths. Place pots near seating areas or entryways for both beauty and a subtle bug barrier. Note: Lavender is toxic to pets, so be cautious if you have animals that like to chew on plants. Marigolds Marigolds are heat and drought resistant, adding bright pops of orange and yellow while releasing a scent mosquit...

Landscaping is an essential aspect of creating a beautiful and inviting outdoor space. It not only adds value to your home, but it also enhances the overall appearance of your property. However, the misconception that landscaping is a costly and time-consuming task often deters homeowners from taking up this project. But what if I told you that you can have a lush and beautiful landscape without breaking the bank? It’s true! With a little creativity and careful planning, you can achieve an attractive and inviting outdoor space on a dime. In this article, we will discuss easy and affordable ways to get lush and beautiful landscaping on a budget. 1. Start with the Plan The first step in creating a beautiful landscape on a budget is to have a plan. It is essential to have a clear visio...

Summer is often the perfect time to start looking for that perfect place to call your new home. It is often a task that can feel overwhelming and stressful. Whether you are searching for an apartment or a house, the process can be time-consuming and filled with endless choices. However, with the right approach and a positive mindset, the search for your dream home can be an enjoyable and exciting experience. In this article, we will discuss some easy tips to help you find the perfect place for your lifestyle without the stress. 1. Define Your Needs and Wants The first step in finding the right home is to determine your needs and wants. Take some time to sit down and make a list of the essential features that your ideal home must have, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, lo...

First, I must confess I used to call myself a “herbicidal maniac”. A green thumb I did not have, but thankfully I’ve found some beautiful, low-maintenance house plants I can handle. They have made all the difference in the beauty, comfort, and overall good feeling in my home. House plants are an easy (if you choose wisely), inexpensive way to add style, comfort, and surprising health benefits to your home. Let’s explore some reasons house plants are a must for our homes. ADD TEXTURE and INTEREST to your Décor Think about the photos you’ve seen in your favorite style or decorator publications. Most of those photos include a plant or two in each vignette. It may be a small succulent on a bedside table or an indoor tree nestled in a corner. The reason? Plants add interest! There are no...

Winter containers have to be the easiest, most beautiful, most convenient, and dare I say most rewarding gardens a busy woman can grow. They overflow with edible goodness and abundance of color, and are like dynamite: big impact, small packaging. If you’re anything like me, that is exactly what you’re looking for this time of year. A Winter porch garden could be exactly what you need. My very first edible porch planter came from me breaking the cardinal rule of Wild Child gardening: I went to the nursery on a whim, without a plan. I came home with more than I had room for, so I stuffed lettuce in my window boxes, chard in the pots where my mums once were, and cilantro everywhere. The result was shocking: a gorgeous Winter porch garden. Now, several years later, I have mastered the a...

The color wheel is one of the most important tools for understanding and using color in design. It is a visual representation of how colors relate to each other and the effects of combining them. It can be used as a guide to choose the perfect colors for your home decor, and is an invaluable tool to help create a harmonious and aesthetically pleasing space. The color wheel is circular and is divided into 12 sections. These sections represent the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. The primary colors are red, blue, and yellow, which can’t be made by mixing other colors. The secondary colors are green, orange, and purple, which are created by mixing two primary colors, while the tertiary colors are made up of a primary color and a secondary color. The color wheel is also divided int...

With fall just around the corner, now is the time to start preparing the soil for planting season in Louisiana. Fall is the best time of the year to get your garden off to a great start, so taking the time to properly prepare your soil will ensure a bountiful harvest. The first step to preparing your soil for Louisiana’s fall planting season is to test the soil’s pH level. Louisiana has a naturally acidic soil, so having a balanced pH level is key for healthy growth. To test the soil’s pH level, you can buy a soil test kit from any garden center or home improvement store. The kit will provide you with instructions on how to properly test the soil. If the soil pH is too low (below 6.5), you’ll want to add lime or wood ash to bring the pH level up. If the pH is too high (above 7.5), you’l...

As summer quickly approaches in Louisiana, gardeners must prepare for the extreme heat and humidity that is expected to hit the state this summer. According to news reports, Louisiana is expecting to experience record high temperatures, with some areas of the state expecting to reach temperatures well over 100°F. While this may make it difficult to be outside for extended periods of time, it is still possible to have a successful gardening season in the summer of 2023 with a few helpful tips and tricks. One of the most important aspects of gardening in the hot summer months is to keep your plants well hydrated. This is especially important in Louisiana, where humidity levels tend to be higher than other states. To ensure your plants are getting enough water, be sure to water them deeply...

Louisiana is known for its lush and vibrant landscapes, and it is a great place to cultivate flowers, vegetables, and other plants. For those of us living in the state, spring is the perfect time of year to start thinking about gardening and getting ready to start planting. With the right tools and preparation, people in Louisiana can have a beautiful garden that will provide plenty of nutrients and aesthetic value. The spring season offers the perfect temperature for gardening and planting in Louisiana. Throughout the spring months, temperatures range from 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity is generally relatively low. This allows plants to receive the right amount of sunlight and warmth to grow. It is also important to note that the soil in Louisiana is generally humus-rich, which ...

Don’t like the typical rows of garden plants? Well, take heart because foodscaping can save not only your organic food dreams, but also your landscaping. Differing from conventional vegetable gardening, where fruits and vegetables are typically grown in separate, enclosed areas, foodscaping incorporates edible plants as a major element of a pre-existing landscaping space. You can incorporate various kinds of vegetables, fruit trees, berry bushes, edible flowers, and herbs, along with purely ornamental species that already exist in your yard. A motivator behind gardening is the desire to grow, cook, and consume foods that are organic and of high nutritious content. However, many people find it impossible to place or maintain a large traditional garden. That’s why foodscaping is becoming ...

With so much extra time on our hands we thought how fun it would be to work on a garden journal or planner. Sounds boring but think again! This provides a fun way of jotting down all of those projects for your gardens that you keep dreaming about. There are so many cute free printouts online that will help you fill up your planner and give you extra ideas to spice up your projects. Two of our favorites are Green in Real Life and Gingham Gardens.* They each provide, step by step, how to create your own garden journal & planner. ** Green in Real Life doesn’t require an email to download and the pages are all provided in different colors! Some of the reasons to keep a garden journal and planner is to not only organize, but also keep track from year to year what works best and what do...

Using Rust-oleum Painters Touch 2x Heirloom white (or any color) spray paint and Rust-oleum Transformations Decorative Glaze we created these beautiful frames from an old set of we bought at a thrift store for four dollars. (Using these techniques you can apply it to limitless amount of home DIY projects). Clean surface of frame. Follow directions on can of spray paint. After paint dries, apply glaze liberally, making sure to fill in all creases and cracks. Wait a few minutes and take a cloth, wipe glaze off as much or as little as you want until you reach your desired effect. It’s simple and can be used over most any color! As seen in Modern Grace Magazine