Garden Angels - Not What You Think

I was given this garden plaque years ago. I didn't like it - first, I don't care for angels (Fairies - yes! Angels - nah). Second, I'm a stickler for grammar, and I couldn't figure the saying out. What did it even mean? That we HAVE garden angels? Or there ARE garden angels? I WANT garden angels? It made no sense. I didn't get rid of it because my Mommy in Law gave it to me, and she did mean well by it (don't tell her I didn't like it)! So it was hung in a hidden corner and languished there for a long time. 

Well, the other day I was looking around the yard, and decided to finally fix a hole at the top of our privacy fence right by the veggie garden, where the top of a slat had been broken off. Took some trial and error, but I finally remembered that plaque, which was the perfect size to disguise said hole! It fit perfectly, but now came the dilemma - it was now front and center in the garden, and I STILL didn't like it! So I got out the polymer clay and acrylic paints, stamped out a "Latin" garden phrase, and this is what it looks like now...  

I love it ! It's colorful, and nobody else has one like it! It's now a fun and treasured addition to the garden that I will be happy for any garden visitors to see.

The "Germinator"

It's seed starting season again! Especially looking forward to this batch THIS year because we've had a horrendous (for us) winter this time - actually, the snowiest (and coldest) in my life! I have had flowers coming up in my yard in mid February in the past, and definitely by mid March - but so far, nothing this year. It's been rough...

End of whining - for now. ..

So back on topic! My very favorite seed starting equipment I use are these trays - 

Where did I get these things? Well, at my job YEARS ago ( the days of typewriters, fax machines and answering machines that used full sized cassette tapes ), we ordered a bunch of tapes for our answering machines and they came attached to cards with these plastic rectangles! Me being one of the original "repurposing" queens, I kept them. I don't recall whether I just thought I could use them someday or if I knew right away what I was going to do with them, but I grabbed 'em. You can see that I've had some of these a LONG time by the way they're yellowing. Wish I could find more, but the cassette tape era has come and is long gone...

I can use these clear plastic rectangular trays to germinate seeds by nesting two together with a moist paper towel or tissue sandwiched between (I normally use coffee filters cut to size) and placed on a low heat source like the top of the water heater.

 

And in 24 hours, I have some already! This is the ideal time to get them in some soil. These tiny first roots (called radicles) are very brittle, plus they are covered in "hairs" that will attach to the paper - then you have to cut them out to plant them! They are easily broken, so I would rather not have to do that. You just want to know which ones are viable so you're not wasting time and space planting "dead" seed.

After they sprout and are planted in a normal cell pack, these trays can be used both as a pan underneath the pack AND as a little "greenhouse" on the top!

(Notice the printing still on it - "Quality leaderless tape fits most answering machines") LOL!

Stick 'em under fluorescent lights and they have a great start on life!

Miniature Mayhem - Tiny Umbrellas

Hello - finally!

 Well, after much too long, losing my job, major surgery, and almost a whole year being unemployed, I'm back! Don't feel sorry for me - the job was getting horribly stressful, the surgery was for a benign problem, and couldn't have gone any better than it did! I was able to concentrate on my art business, and last art fair season was the best I have ever had (I consider myself an artist, and not ENTIRELY jobless)! I've been spoiled being able to do what I want to do WHEN I want to do it.

In the meantime, I somehow got caught up in Miniature gardening (aka fairy gardens), since I already create Faery Doors. I was always fascinated with miniatures anyway, and it just took off! 

           One of my ornaments....I made the arbor and gazing globe :)

After creating several container gardens, even some ornament and globe gardens, I also have started a small plot in my gardens under a variegated Redbud tree that will become an outdoor Fairy Garden come Spring! 

Until then, I have to stick with the indoor projects. I have discovered only a couple shops near me that carry fairy garden items, but I hate to buy much of that. First of all, the items are pretty expensive, plus I never like to have things that everyone else has, and you also have to stick with the scale they're made in, and some aren't quite the size I need. So I make my accessories myself whenever possible.

Today I'm working on a tiny bottle that I want to create a little "beach" garden in. I also wanted an umbrella for the scene, one that would be fairly waterproof, since I'm a gardener and all my little gardens will have live plants in them (or will be outside), so I can't have anything made with paper or cloth. Here's what I did:

First, I found  a small piece of heavy duty aluminum foil.  

Next, take a round object close to the size you want the umbrella to be. I wanted this one to be a little larger than the coin, so I just drew (using a ball point pen) the curve a little larger. I'm good at just "eyeballing" things, but if you want, just find something that you can follow exactly.

I used some shears with a scalloped design to cut it with.

Open it up and use the pen to divide the circle into eighths. I put it on some thick paper so the lines would be deeper. Just be careful you don't poke through the foil!

Using the pen, I put a little more form to it. This step isn't necessary, but I think it looked better.

Cut a round toothpick to the length you want (making sure there's enough to stick into the "ground").

Glue the toothpick to the underside, then stick into a piece of styrofoam or whatever will hold it till it dries. I couldn't find my styrofoam, so I'm using the end of a stalk of celery! Hey, don't judge me - you wanna learn how to do this or not!? I know you're laughing at me behind my back...

In the meantime, I also wanted a beach blanket that again wouldn't absorb moisture. I used a rubber jar opener, since it had a texture that sort of looked like cloth, cut a small piece, painted it with white acrylic, and drew the pattern with permanent markers.

Anyway, when the glue dried, I painted the umbrellas with acrylic paint....

And decided to paint the undersides too, so you can't tell it's foil.

One last step - I thought it might be best to seal the paint since it will be in a moist environment. I had some with sparkles in it (of course!).

Here's the jar. This was just a cheap souvenir I found at Goodwill, it had "Hollywood Beach" printed on it (I made sure it could be easily scratched off), and it had sparkly white sand and some largish seashells in it. I broke up most of the shells to get them out and saved the sand. Actually, it is cut underneath the cord on the left (that's how they got the shells in!). I tried to see if it would come apart, but no luck, so I had to do it the hard way! 

The inside is difficult to see, but I'm doing this the "patient" way. Instead of trying to clean the sand off each plant, I'm just going to wait until the plants start to grow and push the sand off themselves. I'll show another photo of it in a few weeks.

Swap Rant

'Tis the season for the plant swaps to begin across the country! I look forward to them every year. But if you are participating in a swap this year, please remember: swap means "trade", not "show up with nothing and take free plants"! 

Getting my babies ready

This is how it works: We dig up our plants, scrounge up containers, pot the plants up in soil (which we may have purchased just for this), grow them on and nurture them for a few weeks, then make up name and care tags for each one (possibly doing some research if we forget the cultivar name!) and transport them to the swap site. Although it's a lot of work, we feel it's worth it to meet like-minded plant lovers and possibly find a treasure or two to take back home with us. 

Another plant swap suggestion - try to leave the critters at home! (no, sweetie, you have to stay here...)

But unfortunately, some swap coordinators let people just show up and take plants! I'm not against giving away plants - I have probably given away a few hundred in my life - it is just the principle and a pet peeve of mine, which is, if you come to a SWAP , bring something to SWAP. But, if there are leftover plants at the end of the swap, THEN those can be the giveaways. There! Thanks for letting me vent - see you at the swap!

Have A Wonderful Easter, Everyone!

Favorite Garden Tchotchkes Pt. 2

I've had this one for years - bought it at the local farmer's market before I ever was a vendor there. the only drawback is that it's steel, and if I don't put a sealer on it, it will rust, and I'm not a fan of rusty metal in the garden. Must be an after effect of my childhood, my house having a junkyard and car crushing machine just a few yards from the backyard! I can still smell all of those oily, rusty mountains of compacted vehicles disintegrating away while I played in the yard - no, don't want any rusted metal around me!

But I digress - I really like this piece, but I don't remember who the artisan was, hopefully I'll run across him again in the future!

Favorite Garden Tchotchkes Pt.1

My gardens are filled with "pretties" that I have found and collected from flea markets, craft shows and closeout stores.My only saving grace is that I have a large enough yard that IT doesn't look like a flea market! 

The Thesaurus tells me that "tchotchke" pretty much means "useless piece of crap" (which is exactly what the spousal unit calls it!), but I think my crap actually enhances the garden! We are still arguing over gazing balls ~ he thinks they are trailer park decor, and I love them, so I have to sneak one or two into hidden corners so he won't notice!

A disclaimer ~ some of my tchotchkes were actually purchased at art shows from hard working artists, so forgive me for lumping those into this category. :-)

This first in my "tchotchke series" is a nice little plaque I found at a garage sale. I love the quote on it, and I lightly painted it to put more depth into it. I'll post another a bit later!

Global Warming? ..Or Wishes Coming True?...

Today I'm using this blog as more of an actual journal. Why? Because, as a Northwest Ohioan all my life, I have to say this NOW, because I don't think I'll ever have this opportunity again - this 2011-2012 season, we have had NO Winter. At all. Yes, we have had a few half inch or so snowfalls, and two that were around maybe 4 inches, but the weather was so warm that it would melt in a day! A few cold nights (20 degrees F), but nothing that lasted for very long. I had to turn the pond deicer on for maybe a total of 14 days or so, if that. Completely incredible. Then, on top of that, the late Winter/early Spring has been extremely warm! Now, all of us Ohioans know that there can be snow as late as May at times, and my bragging might be a little early, but as of this writing, we have had temps in the 60s, 70s AND 80s for over two weeks, and there is no serious cooling off mentioned in the near future, so if we would get a Spring snowfall, even a BIG one, the ground has warmed up so much that it wouldn't last. There IS a very real possibility that a late cold snap could damage many of the plants breaking dormancy a month early, but that is for Mother Nature to decide.

magnolia and forsythia

redbud

I don't believe I have ever seen this happen before - but the Crocuses, Daffodils, Forsythia, Quince, Cherries, Dogwood, Redbud,and Magnolia are ALL blooming at the same time!  It's an incredible display, but if this warmth keeps up, all these blooms will shatter in just a few days and that will be it. Last year, in comparison, we only had a couple of warmish days in March and then an extended cool period, resulting in the flowers and flowering trees going on for a month or more. That would be the one and only reason I would still want a cool Spring!

spirea and oregon holly

guess you know what this is...

AND my toads, along with the ducks (a pair of Mallards that have been visiting the pond every Spring for the past several years) have showed up a full month early, too! 

tillies

My Tillandsias are already outside! They have NEVER been put outside before mid May before! (They ARE all on this chain together in case they have to be whisked inside in a hurry!)

Nonetheless, it's a wonderful thing, and I'll be really disappointed next year when there's snow on the ground in March! 

Winter? What Winter?

We're having an incredible winter this year - around 10 inches of snow total, most of that from just a dusting at a time, and warm temperatures! Well, warm being a relative term - most of the time in the 30s or 40s (1 to 7 C), when it is normally 10 or 15 degrees colder than that! But winter days that are warm and snow free are treasured around here, and we've been lucky to have a bunch of those unexpected treasures this year!

The plants sure take advantage of that fact. The Johnny Jump Ups can always find an excuse to bloom...

And mixed with some bright Heuchera leaves, they make a sweet little mid winter bouquet

 

 The Mole plants still look good - even though they survive winter, they normally get all flaccid (ha! that's a funny word) and shriveled up (still funny), but not this year.

Speaking of Heucheras (Coral Bells) {{above and below}}, I know I gush about them every single year, but it still fascinates me how perfect they look no matter what season it is.

Does this look like something that's been SNOWED on?

...or FROSTED on?

The Narcissus also look like they're ready to go

The Yuccas look good most winters. One of these days I'm going to plant just these and Heucheras in the front of the house, and it will look (almost) like summer all year long!



My "Blue Eyed Blonde" Campanula  looks great, too, even without the blossoms. 

...And my Palm Tree? It (and the Banana - not pictured) is tucked away until the threat of Winter is gone for good. They are both supposed to be "hardy" in our zone. I'm not that worried about the Palm - this is its third year, 

but the first winter for the Banana! We'll find out in a couple of months how well they fared. Anyway, if the Banana can't make it thru THIS year, it would never be able to take a "normal" winter, anyway!

Here is my sincere wish that you will all have a happy, peaceful, and worry free 2012!!!

To Christmas Or Not To Christmas?

I am not a big fan of Christmas anymore - besides my usual complaint ( that it arrives in the cold season, and I just can't be too excited over anything that happens in Winter), the holiday, for most of us, is full of rushing around, stress, and too much work! Most of the true meaning of Christmas has really been lost, but some of it is still around.... for the past few weeks, I hear the greetings exchanged between many types of people, in many different locations and jobs. "Merry Christmas!" "Happy Holidays!" "Season's Greetings!" - It's like everyone suddenly realizes that we should be a little kinder and a little more considerate towards one another - too bad it doesn't last!

Unfortunately, there's a very silly (IMHO) controversey going on in this country nowadays - some people are dropping the "Christmas" in greetings, claiming that it's referring to Jesus Christ, and that should not be forced on others who are not religious or who may not BELIEVE in the Christian faith. For me, it is just a pleasant, friendly greeting that has been around for decades - that's all. It is like saying, "God Bless You" when someone sneezes - when I say it, do I actually THINK that evil spirits are being expelled and I have to say ia phrase to keep them away? Seriously? Of course not! It has just been around so long it is considered a polite thing to say. Some of those people are even complaining about "Christmas" trees! I think they really need to find something else to concern themselves with! 

Is this my favorite holiday? No. Am I religious? Not at all. But do I have a "Holiday Tree"? Noooo...I have a Christmas tree! What do I do when someone tells me "Merry Christmas"?  Do I chase them down the street and tell them I'm insulted by the phrase? NO! I either say "Thank you! The same to you!" or "Merry Christmas!" back! All I know is that someone took the time to tell me something nice, and I really appreciate that.

I have and will say "Merry Christmas" to many more people, now and in the future. And if you are Muslim, or Jewish, or belong to the church of Scientology, please take it in the context it is given - I am just expressing a kind greeting to you, same as if I would say, "Have a wonderful day" and I hope you will reply in kind.    

Pieces Of The Past

I really think my Grandmother (my Dad's mother) was pretty cool. She had a great sense of humor, a unique fashion sense, and was very easy going. Now, actually, I can't prove much of that - she died many years before I was born.

How cute! You go, Grandma!

Grandma and Grandpa's wedding picture.

Unfortunately, I don't know the date or time frame for any of these photos. No one noted anything on any of them. I do know they both died very young - she at the age of 44, he at 54. What my father told me was that after she passed away, he was so heartbroken that he died a few short months later.

 Grandma was very petite -under 5 feet tall. Strangely, her three children were all enormous babies - the two boys were around 14 pounds, and my aunt Carol around 12 pounds! I always assumed that was the key as to why she didn't live very long.

I think it's great that she would actually smile in these photos - everyone else back then looked like their dog just died ( like the unidentified lady on the left) and always posed very stiff and uncomfortable - but not her! She's all relaxed and looks like a real human. Maybe she knew that a descendant of hers someday would need to imagine what she was really like without ever meeting her....

A painting of Grandmother by her son (and my father)....:-)