|
I feel there is more to gardening than fruits, vegetables and flowers. As an artist and a frugal one at that simply because there are occasions when sales are down and I become one of the many “Starving” artists on this planet that I think about things to brighten up, enhance or make my gardens different from other gardener’s gardens.
Also as the resident artist for our stained glass school in Kentucky I have access to lots of good stuff that are left over from the fused glass and stained glass workshops to say nothing of being one of the world’s greatest scrounges.
With that in mind I want to tell you about some of the fun garden things Carl and I have made over the years to put in the gardens that we have created.
Sheets of copper is something I had access to several years ago and Carl made a 5 foot tall spinning helix that was tapered at the top, widening at the middle and tapering back to the bottom. Besides being a great welder, Carl knows physics so he designed this wonderful copper helix to spin on a bearing when ever the wind blows. It is has been a great addition to our gardens during all seasons and we simply take it with us when we move. He has made some hanging ones that do the same thing in the wind.
The “Wind Dancers” are something he created out of surplus stained glass and again design and physics entered into it and he has them spinning around all over the place.
Do you have some old tables or benches, chairs, flower pots that need perking up? Then consider mosaics as they add a great deal of interest to garden design. Of course we have lots of scrap around here, but we also have lots of broken crockery over the years that make fine mosaic when broken up. The color pieces perk up the gardens when the blossoms have gone and they are always a great conversation piece with excellent stories behind the pieces. These types of thing can be done inexpensively by virtually anyone and no talent is needed.
Recently we uncovered about 2 or 3 big shopping bags of wonderful hand painted pottery and all we have are lids. Large ones, small ones, medium size ones, oval ones, round ones and they must have been some heck of a bargain or I would not have bought them about 6 years ago when I was on a factory tour. So this season I will build a retaining wall out of them in one area of one of my gardens.
About 9 years ago we had a big walk making and patio making project going on here and we wound up with about 50 bags of cement that escaped our mind for two years. So I took so old re-bar and had Carl cut it into 18 inch pieces, drove them into the ground and took the old bags of cement and “plopped” them down over the re-bar, staggering them in like huge bricks for 3 layers. After two or three rains they became hard as rocks and after being in the weather for a winter the bag paper disintegrated and I was able to put off whatever was left and now I have a nice retaining wall about 20 feet long for a flower bed. I took the remaining 9 or 10 bags left and I just laid them in an oval until the last bag met the first bag, filled it with dirt and planted rose bushes. The bags hardened and by spring the paper was coming off and now to this day I have a good oval ring that keeps the riding mower out of my rose patch.
Since Carl and I are lovers of wine we save all our corks and ask our friends to do the same and I make birdhouses out of them by cutting out foam board the size I want for walls and roofs, hot gluing them together remembering to cut out an entry for the decorative bird I am going to put in the opening, and then hot gluing the wine corks on. I usually make it 3 corks wide on all 4 sides or 4 corks wide or even front and back 3 or 4 corks wide with the sides either 4 or 3 corks wide. Once I have it done, I may add colored glass or wine bottle bottoms Carl has cut off for me with his tile cutter and hot glue them on to the roof. I have a base I hot glue this all onto. I add small flower bunches that I have scrounged or saved over the years for “landscaping” and I might put on some wooden shutters or whatever to make it spiffy and then I have a decorative birdhouse that I usually put some place out of the weather. It is a great conversation piece.
I have found big old bowls that have been discarded for whatever reason, had Carl cut holes in them towards the rim with a glass grinder and created charming frog and toad houses once they are placed in the garden rim side to the soil. Some times I even paint the words Toad House or whatever.
One of the most interesting things we have coming into our place is the fence line of almost 800 feet or so and every post has some sort of colorful bird house on it that either Glynis or I have made. I cannot remember all the people who commented on that. There are almost 100 birdhouses.
We have some big cement horses at the entrance to this driveway and two years ago I bought some good white cement paint, painted them and then painted flowers all over them. Now we have “painted ponies” to welcome you as you enter the driveway.
|
Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site.”
Didn't really find what you were looking for?
|
|
|
| |
|
|
![[Valid RSS feed]](images/rss.gif "Subscribe to our XML Feed for RSS")
(Read 500+ times)
