Mandevilla Project

Our dear friends from Germany gifted us with their gorgeous mandevilla when they left San Diego to move back to Ulm last year.

The plant held up well and by Spring was flowering like crazy and growing long vines.

So we thought how nice it would look on the back patio, wrapped around a post and climbing up and over the trellis that provides shade in our backyard.

But the post and trellis were showing wear and tear so it didn't seem fair to pair the gorgeous plant with chipped and fading woodwork.

So we scraped and sanded from up above:

And from below:

Until all the old paint was off and holes were puttied.

Then we used rollers and brushes to apply coats of primer and exterior paint, in between huge and unexpected summer rain storms.

Once the woodwork was glossy and shiny and new, the plastic pot seemed dirty and old.

So off to the nursery we went to pick up a ceramic container that seemed worthy. 

And then we repotted the plant using well-draining cactus soil so that it would continue to grow and live happily in the new pot.

Perched just so….

….the vines reaching for the sun.

For some reason, most of our great ideas start out with a simple premise and quickly evolve into a multi-step, many weeks (or months) worth of work, multiple trips to the store, increased expense major project ----- does this happen to you?

When you decide to move a plant from one location to another.