When I was told I was going to grow up and have a pool in my backyard, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. But now it does. We enjoy it and will continue to love it. I never dreamed of actually having a pool to sit in, but having friends with pools certainly made it fun. I think floating in the pool is the best summer fun. When it’s hot and sticky, there’s nothing more fun than going to the backyard and cooling off in the pool. So, one year on and wanted to report how we are enjoying the pool. We are surrounded by lakes, but now that we have a pool in our backyard, I don’t think we will be in the lakes much. We have our own paradise in our backyard. Well then, welcome to paradise.
Let’s start with plants. I planted them in these planters before we left on our cruise in April and they are doing well. We’ve had so much rain that we don’t even need to water this auto-watering planter. My calla has died so far, so I probably won’t plant it again, but the rest are fine.
These are the White Wedding Hydrangea from the Southern Living Plant collection you sent me a few years ago. It was really nice to be able to dig it up and plant it in the planter until the pool was over. The rest of the flowers didn’t bloom much this year, but they are growing well this year. This year doesn’t seem to be a hit year for hydrangeas, so I’m looking forward to next year.
I have a few impatiens in my planter and have always loved them.
Found at a Birmingham yard sale, this iron hummingbird has been with me for years. I am very happy to bring all the outdoor rabbits into the garden as well.
Let’s take another look at the planter.
I have to share another hydrangea in the spotlight. It’s the 4th year, but this year it’s blooming beautifully. Beautiful flowers bloom from these plants.
I’m sure it will be cut and brought indoors to dry. Drying limelight hydrangea is very easy.
In good weather you can find us by the pool or by the pool. We really enjoy floating in the pool. Last year I couldn’t use the heater until the gas pipe was updated, so this summer it really made the summer fun. It makes a big difference for me! It’s been raining a lot this year, and the days can be short outside, but it’s nice to be able to spend the day without a shower. There was such a day yesterday, too, and I turned on the outside lights and stayed outside all day until evening.
If you missed my post on backyard lighting at night, be sure to check it out. Nights here are magical!
Everything looks pretty much the same here. I still cover my cushions and tuck them inside when the weather is inclement. I always stack sofa cushions under it, but there have been several thunderstorms with strong winds that have forced me to take down the umbrella.
We love sitting in these chairs, they are so comfortable. A few summers ago we unveiled our backyard and shared where we sourced all the furniture. Working with Dalton furniture was a lot of fun. This partnership really completed our backyard and we still love all of this furniture. I protect the cushions as best I can and store them all in the basement during the winter. We have covers for these chairs. For those new to it, click on that post to see where the backyard started. This was also before the pool was built last year, showing how this backyard has evolved since its inception. It’s been 6 years since we’ve been here and it’s been a lot of work and projects to get to where we are today. It didn’t happen overnight!
There are ferns growing on the hills next to the hydrangeas here. Due to the extremely cold weather in December last year, the blue hydrangeas germinated late this year, and I had to cut back about half of them, but they are growing well, so I’m sure they will be fine. By next year they will recover and grow again and flower again. I didn’t see those beautiful blue flowers this year!
We love it here and spend a lot of time in this backyard. All you need is a good book. that’s ok. And my computer and phone.
We get together here regularly, but our house isn’t that big, so this is the only place where we can entertain a lot of people.
Normally it’s just Mark and me and Daisy, but that’s fine with us too.
It’s a very cozy place. There is no better place to be than here!
I still spend a lot of time on that swing. Mark gave me a swing bed for Christmas a few years ago and certainly did a good job. I’ve never loved anything like that swing. Daisy also loves this place and often sleeps with her.
Beautiful views can be seen from every angle of the garden. Not a very big garden, but certainly useful for us.
The addition of the pool was great!
we love it! Having a pool is definitely more work and most of that work falls on the mark. He has done a great job keeping everything clean here. It has a pool and is the worst part when the leaves fall off in the fall and winter. When the leaves start to fall from the forest behind, it is very difficult to prevent them from falling. I bought a net to cover the pool, but it will be a mess for about 2 months after the fallen leaves fall. But when it’s done and most of the spring mess stops raining, it will be great.
We love our backyard so much! Small but mighty. I don’t use the top deck much anymore. I still have furniture upstairs, but I’d rather go downstairs where it’s cooler.
I am so grateful for our backyard and where we are a year from now.
A beautiful place to hang out every day.
I love that it’s sunny all day. I don’t have many days like that these days, so I definitely make use of it and spend it here. Staycation now takes on a whole new meaning.
Daisy is also having fun here.she still has to wear it harness ball (affiliate link) Because she can slide right off the black fence without them.
Added a device to lick deer outside the fence. It’s really fun to watch the deer come up and use it. Of course, Daisy barks a lot when she barks, but Daisy doesn’t seem too scared.
It is our backyard sanctuary and we are forever grateful to have it. Thank you for visiting us. If you want to see all the pool posts, go here to see them all. This is the finale of last year’s pool. All pool posts can be found here.
Our favorite floats (affiliate link):
In case you missed my “backyard lighting” post a few weeks ago, here’s what I used for the lights and where I got them. Upstairs deck lights are from Christmas tree lights. This is normal incandescent outdoor lighting. I replaced the string lights on my patio with: port cargo LED light. Don’t miss the backyard at night, check it out. The nights here are truly magical. In fact we were there last night and couldn’t help but take some more night photos and one guy (Mark) decided to take a night float so he’s in the picture too. It should be really warm water at night.
And when the sun goes down the magic happens. Lights on, blue sky and pool.
We love outdoor lighting and all the lighting on the ground is solar powered. Affiliate link below.
I still love this starburst fireworks light. It’s really fun at night!
I only have 4 of them, but they are impressive.
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And a night pool tour! Hope you enjoyed it! As you can see, we really like our backyard and are very grateful to have it. It’s our very own paradise!
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