This will surely give you a case of cabin fever in January.

I've been looking through my old deck pictures. As I mentioned before, it's that time of year for me. Last year I did not use my old grill planter. Look how nice the petunias look spilling out of it.

I also did not use any of the wall planters. Maybe I will use them this year -- and maybe not. I do remember how great it was this fall not to have any containers to dump out and scrub clean. I only used the big guys that stay planted and stored as is all year.

Here's a bunch of the big guys, from a few years back. I missed the purple fountain grass last year.
You may recall that I did not buy any extra annuals to add to the big pots. I just used what was already planted. I saved at least a couple hundred dollars from previous years when I bought at least a dozen hanging baskets and many flats of annuals.

Here a collage of last year's deck with the vividly painted new furniture accents and the deck quilts.
I did not paint the bright accents until late August so I didn't really have much time to enjoy it. I can hardly wait to get it all back out--it's still 4 months away.

It seems like last fall I ordered some new bulb from Breck's that does not ship until spring. I can't remember what it was. I will have to go back and check my blog entries so I know what to expect. I hope it's something I really love!

Update: Oh, yeah, it was this pineapple lily:

I will be planting it in a pot on the deck so I can give it lots of tender loving care.