Baltimore - DC Spring Vibes!!

It's Spring in Baltimore!!

(Piper and I at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC)

Don't let me drown you guys with all the killer spring vibes, I just couldn't help sharing them with you. I love this time of year so I go a bit overboard with the floral shots, I even have an Instagram account that is ONLY devoted to floral photography. It's a big big love of mine, as most of you know I was a floral designer for darn near 15 years. It was the only job I have ever had that never felt like a day of work, kind of like being an influencer. It's absolutely true what they say about feeling passion for whatever you do, it's the key to success for sure. Ok I'll stop chatting your heads off, we will make this post a mostly image post and let the flower shots do the talking. After all flowers are plain just good for the soul! My favorite flower is the Stargazer Lily, hence my Instagram username @DanaStargazerTruitt, and my flower page @_StarsFlowers, check them out and tell me what you think. If you don't follow yet please do. I look forward to your input/comments on the flowers shots. I'm also running a HUGE GIVEAWAY on my flower page as well, 2 people will win $1000 cash. 

Above is Piper and I in Mt. Vernon Baltimore Maryland, just across the street from the Washington Monument, and surrounded by magnolias. Below is another Magnolia shot in Druid Hill Park by the Baltimore Zoo, just outside of the Rawlings Conservatory. Piper was definitely trying to eat a bee she saw fly bye. 

The shot above is the Patterson Park Pagoda, which is also in Baltimore. It too is completely framed by magnolias in the riches shades of pink and purple. Last but not least is one of my favorite pictures of Piper to date, I call it Piper prancing through the tulips, and this too is at the Rawlings Conservatory. They always have thee most amazing flowers on display all year round. Doesn't Piper look absolutely gorgeous? Of course I am a bit partial to Pip and those tulips are so colorful, it's especially special because they all match her harness. 

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Getting the yard ready for spring!

Welcome Spring!!

We started to beautify the yard for the summer, we decided to get as much color as possible to make it stand out. I love lots of pinks, yellows and purples. I also wanted to get plants that flower all summer. I have bought some that literally bloom once or twice then for the rest of the summer they’re just green leaves, which is very blah. So this time I did a little research (by asking the sales person 🤣) what will remain colorful and bloom the whole summer season. I planted about 25 hibiscus plants last summer, and even though it says they would come back they still haven’t. I have been watching them and still I see no signs of life which is disappointing. They are an amazing plant and they bloom huge beautiful flowers all summer. As annoyed as I am they didn’t come back, I will still be buying them again for the season, I was so impressed by their beauty and how easy they we’re to care for. I have a heavy deer population in my area and they destroy everything, it’s quite apparent that they love Hibiscus as much as I do.

So in my quest for flowers to put in the front and back yard I asked are there any that are colorful that they will not eat? Turns out there is really no flower they won’t eat, but there are some they don’t like that much. Marigold, Begonia and Zinnia are just a couple, they’re also pretty and full of color. I think being paired with some well rotated deer repellant that we should do much better this summer with keeping them at bay. Nothing is more heartbreaking than working your butt off all spring to nurture and grow gorgeous flowers, which in turn make your home look beautiful, then coming out one morning to see it all gone and destroyed by a dam deer. Last summer they hit all of the Hibiscus bushes by the patio and there was nothing left but broken branches almost to the root. They even ate the green on the walnut trees where they could reach, they literally destroyed all of our hard work. They’re a common problem that a lot of homeowners have to deal with, and mine is 10x worse since there is a deer reserve 6 blocks from my house.

Sometimes I feel like I should just give up, but then I realize I can’t. I am proud of my home so I want to make it beautiful by taking care of it and my yard. I’m pretty sure that I’m not alone in feeling this way. Now granted I was so mad when they ate everything last summer that for a couple days I did nothing but research ways to keep the deer away, I even thought about getting a privacy fence, but that would just close the yard in and ruin the open and free feel to it. I found out that there are companies you can pay that will come out once a week or every two weeks and spray a deer repellant, then the next time they switch it up a bit, so on and so on, it seems they get used to one spray, so they keep altering it to keep it effective. In combination with the flowers they don’t like, I think my yard will stand a chance. So that’s my game plan, I’ll definitely update you guys on how it goes, and how it looks once it’s all in and in full bloom


I can’t wait to post pics of the yard once she’s in full bloom and looking amazing, have a wonderful weekend and please feel free to comment with your opinions on he post, I always love hearing what you guys think,
💋💋

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