Garden Goodies for the Girlies

In a world where schedules have gotten overloaded, headlines are horrifying, technology is wildly overstimulating, and anxiety is abundant, I find it increasingly important to spend time in the backyard with my family. The garden is where I go to clear my mind, gain a sense of accomplishment, and create beauty— it’s where I ground myself, planting in the ground. My little boys love it too, picking fresh strawberries, tomatoes, flowers, heck—even weeds, or just a simple day of making “mud soup;” they are always their best selves on the days we get them outside playing in the plants and digging in the dirt.

I often try to convince my friends of these benefits of gardening, and I’m met with the standard rebuttal, “there’s no time,” or “I don’t have a green thumb.” They’re not wrong, gardening does take a lot of time and it can be incredibly difficult and frustrating at times, but I deeply believe taking even a small sample approach to the hobby has extreme benefits. Recently, I’ve been writing my notes from this season with the intention of sharing a “cheat-sheet” for beginner gardeners that explains which flowers are the least time-consuming to grow, offer the greatest bounty of blooms, and which to perhaps avoid all-together (here’s lookin’ at you, roses). I also plan on including an easy seed-ordering reference calendar, because for me, the hardest part of gardening isn’t the growing season itself, but the organization in the off-season as I try to remember which bulbs, tubers, and seeds to order and when— as a mom of two boys, I’m too frantic trying to create Christmas magic to remember to order dahlias in December!

I hope to share that more extensive blog post with you shortly, but in the meantime— maybe I’m overthinking my pitch to plant. If there’s one thing I learned from 12 years of slinging stocks… the easiest pitch is usually the best pitch. What has drawn me to new hobbies in my life? I think back to my entire childhood dedicated to tennis… of course, it was the adorable skirts and accessories that got me initially interested.

So girls, get your goodies and join me in the garden…

The headers are links to a few of my favorite garden goodies or you can find my entire garden collection at shopmy:

Floral Dresses: Gardening doesn’t have to mean cargos or cutoffs. I love to wear Smith & Quinn dresses while gardening as they offer the combination of practical athleisure with built in shorts and they come in a variety of pretty floral patterns and flattering silhouettes. Outside of the garden, these dresses hold-up in the mom arena too— I get to maintain a feeling of being put-together and pretty without any outfit planning and the sticky popsicles, spit-up, and sweat of the day don’t stain.

Stool & Tools: I’m an old lady at heart, and physically too. Two very large baby boys have destroyed my back and C-sections have robbed me of any core strength, but rather than getting back to the gym, instead I just sit on this cute stool while I labor in the garden.

Wagon: Transportation for your tools and tulips, but make it soft blue snd chic.

Watering Can: One of my favorite Mother’s Day gifts. I often joked to my husband that my old ugly watering can was ruining all the photography of my garden (who can remember to move the watering can before snapping a photo?) so he surprised me with this cute can. It’s just the right size and weight and when I leave it empty and abandoned in the beds and it inevitably sneaks into my snaps, it still looks beautiful.

Shoes: I never thought I’d be wearing clogs, but a few years in the suburbs and here I stand, in my green Mucks. If you stand opposed, I get it— I’ll take the opportunity instead to share my favorite sandals from the summer here. These jellies bring me back to the fun and glittery days of my youth and they’re incredibly comfortable.

Hat: I have a very small head and this is one of the only garden hat brands that I have ever found that fits me properly. I discovered it in a small shop while on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, one of those finds that just feels like fate and leaves you wishing you had bought a second as a backup!

Belt: I should dedicate an entire blog post to Erin Benzakein and what she’s done for the world of gardening and for me personally, but I’ll save that story for another day and instead just sell you her belt! It fits great and doesn’t have too many compartments to tempt you to overload it and make it heavy— it’s just right for the essentials. I often wear it while working on my DIY projects outside of the garden too. Make sure you check out her content on the Magnolia Network, her many incredible books, and her Instagram @floretflower, she’s truly inspiring.

Sunscreen: The Instagram algorithm is always peppering me with that meme showing 90s memorabilia (I think there are even jellie shoes on it…) that says something to the effect of, “if you remember these it’s time for a night cream.” So I slop on some goop and hope for the best. One of my favorite aspects of goop play sunscreen is that it’s not at all greasy, so you don’t have to commit to a shower within hours of applying it. That proves especially helpful on the days when I have to pack up my planting sooner than expected to run for carpool, or when I put it on my kids for a day at the pool just to have a meltdown mere minutes into the excursion and need to completely change course for a nap. On the (rare) days when I wear makeup, the goop glow looks great as a base under my powder mineral makeup too.

Scissors: I don’t yet have these flower sheers but I’m pretty confident I have dropped enough hints to my husband that they will end up in my Christmas stocking this year.

Pots: Even if your plants don’t grow, the empty pots can still be pretty! The ruffle on these ceramic pots is so simple and charming and they also come in hanging pots as well.

Garden Gifts: This is my go-to garden gift this season, great for any hostess or special occasion. I fill it with flowers from my garden, a few packets of seeds in the tool pockets and it’s a unique and thoughtful present. And, the best two for last— the harvest basket and rattan flower vase, courtesy of me to you. I love to use my picnic basket as an elevated gift bag. The cost of disposable gift bags always shocks me, so in creating my harvest basket I wanted to create something beautiful and reusable that allows you to gift a bottle of wine or goodies from your garden without breaking the budget. The flower vase makes for a great gift as well— or just treat yourself and start filling it with your own beauties as you build out your beginner garden.