Do you ever read about something in a magazine (or anywhere for that matter) and have it stay with you? Me too. I’ve been thinking about this article in May’s Domino — where Stephen Shubel used fake boxwood in his back garden. I’ve been wanting to make our long narrow porch a bit more protected from the noise of the street and a bit cooler (the sun beats down on it and that means that while I love to plant my containers we don’t spend as much time out there as I would like. I was thinking that maybe I could fill planters with faux boxwood and alternated them between my real containers. And, as an added bonus it would give some year round greenery to the porch. Has anyone tried this sort of thing in containers? I’m all ears! PS, I found the image via great blog with a great name, Nest Maker.

I’m thinking something like the image on the bottom right, from a UK firm.

One of my favorite spots in the world is the home of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gauden in Cornish, NH, which is a National Historic Site. The house is beautiful and so are the gardens and the grounds are free (I actually have to say I love the National Parks Service). I love the red wooden porch and built in benches — definitely going into my inspiration files for the day I have my own house with a real yard!

Did you see this slideshow in the Times?

This lovely shot from this month’s Gourmet is everything I want in my trip to Vermont next week.  Cool nights, lots of green and good food!

This image from Gourmet Magazine makes me want to throw a cheese party on a cool summery evening by the ocean, with lots of white wine. BTW, Gourmet is up to some good stuff these days — great photography and design.

My Tuesday is feeling like Monday.

I say yes to: decking like this and the chairs and the green, green trees.  Yes.

via Style Files 

It’s supposed to be a scorcher today in NYC, so we’re headed out to buy an air conditioner (we’ve put it off for a year and last night, as we disassembled the unit that came with our apartment, we realized that it was from 1989).  Talk about inefficient.  Wish me luck with the hordes at P.C. Richards.  (Image via desire to inspire whose endless creativity makes me so happy).

I want to be on this creaky, intimate back garden-porch right now! Lots more delicious garden images (and a funny post about a psychic) found at Please Sir.

I’m heading to Delaware to do some research at the Winterthur library tomorrow through the weekend. I’m planning on checking out some roadfood.com gems and some flea markets and hope to feel as relaxed as this woman looks by the end of it all. Image via Martha Stewart Living.

Blissful, right? These blue flowers stretched as far as the eye could see.

It is a beautiful beautiful day here in NYC — the sun is out, I’m blasting my favorite at home mix, the door to the porch is open. I love this image from Garden Rooms (a blog dedicated to, you guessed it, garden rooms).

It’s finally spring in the Nova/Wright household. The containers are in (and some of the plants from last year actually survived the winter and are blooming again, already!). Winter must truly be over.

See all the container gardens here.

ps the top left container is planted with blue salvia, ranunculus, achillea moonshine. The top right container is planted with red ranunculus and white snapdragons. The bottom container is red snapdragons, white and blue salvia sallyfun. We bought them at Buckley’s Flower Shop on Long Island (75 Montauk Hwy., East Hampton).

Theme of the week seems to be cottages, so I’m just going with it.

Here’s one more via Tinyk:

I’m clearly longing for a green, light filled get away… Happy Thursday.

via Garden Rooms, via Purple Area

I’m playing catch up from being so busy — doing laundry, making lists, finally mailing some Etsy orders. I’m also thinking about planting the terrace this weekend. How much would I love a real backyard like this? via fun new Australian interiors blog The House that A-M Built, found via ABT.