We all have our own taste regarding what we want to surround ourselves with. My husband and I have mixed traditional furniture along with a few antiques. We decided to incorporate antiques into our home because it is over a hundred years old. We have used soft colors on the walls in the various rooms of our home. We both work in offices that have all white walls so we decided to use color on the walls at home.

My girl friend and her husband have very modern tastes. They have their living room and guess bath room done in black and white. She wants to create a similar effect in their yard. She bought black pots and was going to fill them with white flowers. She knows that I like to garden so she asked me to visit the nursery with her to help pick out the white flowers. I personally thought this sounded like a boring idea. Their home is white with black trim. The white flowers would blend into the background of the house and would not be noticeable. My friend insisted that this is what she wanted. We picked out several long lasting annuals that do well in containers. She bought petunias, salvias, star flowers, geraniums and begonias. The white flowers were pretty, but I felt they needed color. I did talk her into buying some greens to plant in the pots with the white flowers.

We brought the flowers to her house and I helped her transplant the small plants into the containers. This was in the spring of the year. We live about eighty miles apart so we do not get to each other’s home very often. We usually meet mid way between our homes when we get together. I asked her often how the planters were coming along. Her answer was always that they were growing. In mid July I stopped to see my friend at her house. I could not believe it when I walked up to her door step. The white flowers were beautiful and were growing very well. In the middle of each pot the white geraniums were replaced with a vibrant red one. The combination was great. My friend had an additional surprise for me in the house. She had bought red accent pillows for the living room as well as some red glass pieces. In the bathroom she decorated with red towels and rugs. The splash of color made the rooms appear warmer and more welcoming. My friend said that the white flowers helped her make the decision to add some color. The flowers were beautiful, but no one noticed them because they blended in to their background. The red color caught people’s attention, and then the entire pot was admired.