I needed to add colored gravel to my fairy garden's "lake" the other mostly washed away. I got this- no where near enough( got all they had) and now not so sure I like the shade of blue. What do you think? Should I top off with a darker blue? Also Notice the fence? I will be planting morning glory and moon vines on it when warm enough- but Bleach did not "clean" the fence and my son gave up after an hour scrubbing on it. Should a rent a power washer or just let it be? Thanks for the input.
I would like to begin by saying that your garden is very lovely. It's off to a great start. While I love the deep blue color of the gravel, it doesn't go well with the other blues in the photo. The disharmony is most obvious in the 2nd photo, where both colors are lovely but do not work well together to produce an harmonious effect. You need to look for gravel in a shade of blue that matches the color of those 3 pots back near the fence - or is in the same color family, at least. That's more of a greenish blue. That's what you need.
The easiest way to match colors is to take a 'sample' with you. Since you can't take the pots to the store, I would suggest you put the 2nd photo on a smart phone, tablet, or even a laptop, and take that to the store with you to look for the gravel color to match it or look for a color which compliments that blue-green pot color. The color can be darker or lighter but just needs to be in the same family (like those paint strips). If you put the gravel up against the photo of those pots and it looks good, you have a good match.
As for the fence, the answer depends on what it's made of. If it's some kind of vinyl of plastic, you might try a chemical cleaner or even just a (very) diluted bleach and water for cleaning it, since the discoloration looks like mostly mold/mildew. If it's wood, that's another story. If you try to pressure clean it, you may end up etching it or even stripping the paint off entirely. My pressure washer will take my old grayish fence boards all the way back to new wood.
If the fence is made of wood, you might want to consider 1st washing it well and then applying a stain made specifically for wood fencing. Such stains come not only in lovely wood hues but also in a myriad of colors including even white, and unlike paint the stains don't peel and don't need to be redone every year or so. I applied a white stain to my wooden privacy fence more than a decade ago, and it still looks the same today as the day I did it. Good stuff.
At any rate, I love your garden and look forward to seeing more photos as it progresses. Good luck with it.
This message was edited Mar 30, 2015 4:14 AM
Thanks Dream, I never even thought of the blue green pots. I will take a picture and take it shopping with me. I ordered the other online . WHY??!!! I ask myself. I had a glass mix color I loved but after 5 years it's mostly gone. Don't remember where I bought it.
The fence is plastic and has been sprayed with 1/3rd bleach, 2/3 water twice now and my son tried to scrub it off. Can't afflord a power washer or trust it . The darn fence has already had 2 sections fall off on the other side. As soon as it is warm enough I'm planting Morning glories on the fence and Moon vine on the arch.I'm using netting- I hope it works.
Yep, don't have to paint if it's covered in flowers! LOL
Yep, I'd either paint it or throw trellises up against it. Even a trellis without something climbing over it would distract from the discoloration.
I think this is the first pic of your fairy garden that I've seen from far enough away to get the context - I love it! How cute.
