The Lazy Cuban Girl's Guide To Gardening

My first disclaimer is that if you happen to know any Cuban girls, you know for a fact that we don't tend to be lazy in any meaningful way.  Second disclaimer - this post is about my own personal gardening choices and no one else's.

Now that we've established that I'm the only Lazy Cuban Girl here, let's continue, shall we? 

I love color in my garden. I love looking out my kitchen window into my back yard and seeing color. 

But where our house is situated on a hill here in So Cal, our ground is hard as bedrock. My roses tend to do pretty well for a while, but then they need lots of TLC and fresh soil every spring. My gardening mantra for the roses is "whatever works." (That's also my philosophy on parenting, but that's not important right now.)

But my back yard... sigh. I have and am grateful for a lot of space back there. It's awesome, particularly in the summertime, because we entertain a lot and have a fabulous Outdoor Movie Theater set up.

But planting flowers in this space, especially because of the hard ground is challenging. 

So, I don't. Here's where my Cuban Lazy Girl side happens. I have old wooden garden furniture and benches that I just arrange plants on. Straight from the nursery. I know. Lazy. Shut up.

I got this idea from Disneyland, actually. They always have the most beautiful gardens. I finally asked about how they manage to keep all their plants thriving and one of the cast members let me in on their secret - they switch out the pots. 

If a plant is starting to droop, they take that pot out and switch out a healthy, happy one overnight. No one is the wiser.

So I decided that if it's good enough for Disneyland, it's good enough for Casa De La Loma. And it became a game of switching out pots and planters so that I have color all the time. Do you see the genius in this type of "laziness?"

I love the charm of the distressed wood being the backdrop for these gorgeous blooms.

I even have a little red wagon with a bottom that was rusting out, working hard now as a container for color. 

Admit it. It's all super cute. 

The containers themselves don't even need to be anything special. It's the pop of color that makes everything look so magical.

So, I'm embracing my laziness and my garden is making me super happy right now. Because I realized that (even at Disneyland) it's not the perfection of the gardens that appeals to me. It's the color. 

And I know it's kind of lazy. Or maybe it's kind of smart?

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