Show off your Garden Decor

Thats so grimm.
I use GOOP silicone glue and sealer.
Its a contact glue and it holds this ceramic house number on a steel plate.

Our sardonic Pirlie is at it again.

I am very excited because soon I'll have some lovely stained glass pieces to hang in my garden... thanks to the wonderful enabling of Zuzu! I think it's a good thing I don't live closer to California, as a shopping spree with Zuzu in person would probably result in me taking out a second mortgage on the house and renting a U-Haul to bring it all home!!! I'll be sure to post pics once they are in the garden, but here's a catalog photo one of the pieces I ordered last night in my wild spree:

Here's another conversion piece in my garden. I found this frog long before you could buy the "spitters" at garden center. All it took was a piece of tubing fed through the bottom and secured with caulk to turn it into one. He serenades the goldfish all day long.

The stained glass is wonderful but not as wonderful as our Zuzu.

I totally agree, Pirl. =)

Nice find on the frog and the glass work is a very nice touch

How well does the stained glass do outdoors? I have a big piece but feel it would bake in the sun and the frame would warp in the rain.

Pirl, Zuzu could answer this better, but she's got pieces in her garden that have been there for 15+ years at least. She told me she only brings it in during winter because of wind.

I used to have a very large antique piece hanging outside at our previous home. It did well there in filtered light, but when we moved here I couldn't hang it in the full sun due to the lead (it gets a bit too pliable when super-heated by the sun). I have that piece hanging in a window upstairs now, where it still gets quite warm, but not as bad as when it was outdoors in the sun. The pieces I just ordered have copper rather than lead, so I think they will perform better outdoors due to a higher heat tolerance. I'll let you know once they're hung!

Thanks for the reply. I've seen pieces in outdoor buildings that get the western sun and they hold up for years. I'll be on the lookout for copper rather than lead.

Pirl, if an antique piece has a good window frame on it, it should be able to hang outside even with the lead. Afterall, they are old windows from the days before air conditioning, so they must have endured heat and weather from the get-go! My larger lead piece didn't have sufficient framing to hold up in the heat, but a smaller piece should perform well, I think.

Then the question becomes where to put it. Actually it's silly because I've had it in the attic for 18 years so even if I just got a few years out of it outside at least I'd enjoy it.

I agree with Blissful...look how many bldgs. (churches in particular) that have stained glass that get's exposed to weather. I say go for it and display it.

There must be varying qualities of stained glass however...I wouldn't know. It isn't doing you any good sitting up in your attic, so why not show it off ?

As for that poor duck...well....who on earth would send you such a thing?

Some depraved soul, no doubt!

I resemble that remark ! LOL

You bet your bippie!

Well, first of all, I also have to agree that I'm wonderful beyond compare, of course.

Pirl, the only stained glass I bring inside for the winter is the piece in the photo Sue posted here yesterday:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=6914057

As Evey said, I bring it inside only because I'm always afraid a strong winter wind will knock it right off the hooks, and also because it has a wooden frame, which can't be expected to stand up to rain for long. Everything else stays outside all year.

Evey and I went shopping together by d-mail last night. I'm buying three more pieces.

I love that frog, Evey. I'll have to take a picture of my pond fountain today. It has a bear in it that JoAnn will like. He doesn't spit, though.

I have decided how to incorporate the stained glass with the accent fence we are placing in the front garden. Here's my idea... I'll use a different design of stained glass in each section of the fence.

Please share your favorite stained glass shopping places with us.

This is the site that led to last night's buying frenzy:

http://www.homedecoratorsoutlet.com/search.php?search=stained+glass&x=15&y=6

They have nice lamps too. The regular Home Decorators' site is good in itself, but this outlet section of the site has prices slashed virtually to nothing.

What a disaster! Just as I was finalizing my order, I noticed they won't ship them to California. Of all the nerve!

But... I thought you had purchased from them before? Why won't they ship to California now?!

I have no idea. They offered me a chance at a live chat, but no one ever appeared to answer my question. The stained glass on the regular site, lamps and panels, won't ship to California either. Maybe Arnold passed some strict laws against lead.

But their description says their art glass is done with copper, not lead. That's just so frustrating!

It's everywhere. I googled for "stained glass shipping California unavailable" and got a zillion hits. Maybe California has a strong stained-glass lobby that keeps out-of-state pieces out of state. I can't imagine what the actual reason might be.

Oh, well. Sometimes fate conspires to keep me relatively debt-free. Time to walk the dog instead of shopping.

You have a dog???

Only for an hour a day. Stella, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, belongs to neighbors who are away from home all day at work. I've been walking her in the afternoon for almost 10 years now. I get all the pleasure of having a part-time dog without upsetting the cats and without the pesky food and vet bills a dog usually entails.

Ahh, I almost clicked on that tempting link but now won't so I won't be as disappointed as Zuzu.

Give a pat to Stella for me!

Beautiful stained glass pieces on that site.

IF there is some sort of lead issue with the stained glass being shipped to California, that's insane. Every structure built in this state pre 1950 has lead in it...be it in the plumbing, paint, or whatever...

This is clearly some sort of a conspiracy...LOL

Yep, definitely a conspiracy! =P

If you search for "stained glass california" you get tons of places that advertise they ship more stained glass than any other artisan... and they're all located IN California. So, yep, there's plenty of stained glass already there. That's just so bizarre.

Now I hesitate to post pics of the accent fence idea I'm working on, since Zuzu is who showed me the site in the first place and now she can't order. It'd be like rubbing salt in the wound... =(

not to worry...Zuzu's a tough cookie ! (pun intended...she'll explain it...)

Ahhh, eagerly awaiting explanation!
Alrighty, on the fence, I want to use a progression of short fence sections like the one I posted above, with a different piece of stained glass for each set of three sections. The fence will be about 30" high with a 6" base between the bottom running board and the dirtline of the garden. It will go straight across the front, flanking each side of the central walkway, with a 3' garden between the fence and the sidewalk, and a 3' garden behind the fence. One of the panels is posted above. Here are the others I think might work well...

Next section...

Another...

And another...

When the garden is mature, and plants partially block the view of these panes, do you think it will look attractive or too gawdy? They each measure 24" high x 18" wide.

I say go for it.

I have no idea what JD's talking about, but feel free to proceed with the salt-rubbing. I have my ways of getting around these annoying laws.

Evey, I love all of those, but the peacock is far and away my favorite. Where did you find that one?

I've never found the addition of plants to make anything gaudy. I think plants always look like they belong wherever they are.

Zuzu, the peacock is on the regular site, but if you purchase more than one from the regular selections, they're currently offering 20% off the total purchase. So, I bought two from there. The peacock is by far my favorite too. I am hopeful that over time, they'll offer more designs in the same sizes and I can trade out panels in the fence. I'm going to install the glass panels from the back with bumper boards that are screwed on rather than nailed, so I can take out the glass to clean it thoroughly every now and then, can replace anything if it gets broken, and can trade out panels if/when I find some I like better. I figured you would find a way around the frustration! The "no shipping to California" is ridiculous and deserves to be greeted with civil disobedience. Let's stage a glass in!

I didn't think the plants would be too much... I was worried that perhaps that many glass panels would be overwhelming. But, I like them. I'm going with it! =)