Garden Objects

Found that missing mushroom head guy!

This lady keeps me company when I'm taking a break on this rocking bench. The pedastal was another flea market find and it weighs a ton.

I just knew there was another frog lurking around here somewhere.

I LOVE your thinker frog, Holly. And the purple chairs, Pam. And your lady's head planter, Stormy. Here's the see no evil frogs I told you about.

And the frog in a swing birdhouse. Not very practical for a birdhouse, though. The hole is too big.

Hart, I love those No see, hear and speak frogs!! What's particularly nice about them is they are not attached. That way you can group them together or string them along at intervals as a continuing story.

Now a frog on a swing, looking happy as can be. Do you think he's a tree frog??

Bec, I've got some Doves too. Right beside the Broom that I was telling you about. I have 2 of them that were supposed to be dwarfs at 3' tall. They each grew to over 6', flopped over and destroyed the dwarf conifers in front of them. I'll be ripping them out in another week or two.

Sticking with concrete items, I've got a lily pad that is covering up the access pipe to the sewar drainage system.

And here we have a little bouquet or is it a fruit arrangement?. The first winter that it was left outside, it toppled off of it's base. Now it's just kind of laying on the mulch.

Now here's a concrete bench where I often take a break while gardening. However this big rock has been sitting on it for two weeks. I'm trying to get inspired to find a spot in the beds to stand it on end. So far no inspiration has been forthcoming.

This is a far away picture, but here are some faries, mushrooms and Hope. It's what I see when I sit by the pond and relax.

Oops! Wrong picture!

This message was edited May 22, 2009 9:31 PM

Another

Chris, your angels are so sweet. It makes a very peaceful scene.

Stormy, that rock is so cool. It looks like a giant arrowhead.

Lady, I love your fairies. and mushroom. Fairies are so magical. I see you have been busy planting!!! What is that tall pink bloom in your first photo?

Yes, Hart. That's what the appeal is. Dug that sucker out of my side garage bed. That bed is like excavating Pompei.

Hi Stormy! Those tall pink flowers are columbines, they just reseed all over the place, have been reseeding longer then we owned the house, 37 years.

Hart, we need to think up a way for Stormy to use her arrow head. It needs to point to something ? A stick for the shaft and celosia for the feathers?

Stormy, thought you would recognize your plants, I have been busy planting and weeding for 3 days, was up and out at 6:30am today, had to go to work by 10:00am ( short day).

Busy Beaver, Lady!

I love that idea! Have to think about the feathers though. I could put it right in the middle of the Daylilies and break up all of that green. I just knew this was going to be a good thread!

Have you considered the possibility that once your land was inhabited by giant Native Americans? LOL

I'd have to figure a way to make a giant joke arrow through the head.

You are right Stormyla, this is an interesting thread.
Hey, do my rocks count????? Funny we just piled them up waiting for the pond and I get so many complements on them. If we never get the pond built I guess I'll just have an attractive rock pile. LOL

Yes Holly, They definitly count!! Rocks lend such beautiful accents to gardens. I'm saving some to create a sort of rock bed look in the area on the outside of my tree line along my roadside bed.

Hart, That would be one massive headache!!!

Holly, your rock pile makes mine look like a speck of crumbs.

Wow, If you even go one day without looking at this thread all kinds of lovlies pop up. Frog pond with froggies---love it. Holly your rocks have so much character! Hart, of course your wall is a destination in itself.

Stormyla, The chairs are plastic and we did spray with Valspar (good for anything that will sit still). Valspar was what the box store carried. Each chair took a can. I could have used a third can to get underneath parts that don't show. I think Krylon would be every bit as good. Just make sure it's a calm day, put paper or cardboard down on the driveway or garage floor, and don't paint close to the house or the dog--unless you want a purple house or purple dog.

Your rock is amazing. I know you'll find a place for it. It looks like a big arrow head. I have a rock that came in a truckload of mulch. It's considerably smaller than yours. I just use it as a stepping stone to get in the back of the bed, but I may consider standing it on end beside my arbor (if I ever get an arbor) as a monument. I had a stone monument, but it was one of the many items that never got delivered as part of our move from FL to VA. I'm still whining about it! Ooooh my fish fountain, ooooh my iron garden gate, ooooh, woe is meeeee!

I'm sitting on the front porch with my laptop. A half dozen purple martins just flew right up on the porch to raise a fuss with me. They must think I have the cat on my lap. Well, it's a glorious day and my garden chores are done. It's a very small garden. You know the old phrase, You're closer to God in a garden than anywhere else on earth? Well, I can sure feel it today! Have a safe and happy Memorial Day.

Keep those images coming.

I need a lap top so I can sit in my gazebo watch the hummers and DG all day long. LOL
My puter sits right beside my glass wall so I can sit here look at the birdbath pond and feeders. Can't see the hummer feeder from here though. I'm not moving very well today yet. Went to the gym yesterday and did quite a bit of work both here and then topped it off with a trip down to Joshes house. Ric really put in a day yesterday so I didn't expect him to be up and at it today, but he is going to town already this morning cutting me up some nice fresh pineapple for breakfast, fresh eggs from Jamie's chicks, mine are a bit small to lay yet.
Someone, I think Stormyla, asked about my sundial that sits on the ledge of my box pond. This pic from last year shows it pretty well. It was a gift from my friend Jane.

The other thing I have at my box pond is my glass balls. A pair of those Aqua globes you may have seen advertised on TV for watering plants. Well I bought a pair thinking that I could use them in a little different way and it worked pretty nicely. I just fill them part way with water and they will float with their long glass stems hanging down. Every so often I need to refill them to keep them hanging just right. Ric has noticed that they sit higher or lower in the water depending on how much sun they are getting.

While we are talking balls.....
These sit in the small bed by my gazebo I have six of them 3 on each side of the entrance. This a some red yarrow and they looked very nice with the red tulips.
Pic from last year.

Some times they get a bit burried as the plants grow taller. I had two of these tall ones, but one got broken last winter when the potting shed blew over. If anyone sees another of these tall ones please let me know.

You want rocks? My whole yard is a pile of rocks! LOL We do have some nice big rocks we got in the national forest for the pond. You can get a permit to collect I think up to 4 tons for $20.

Holly, I just love that fountain Ric made. I used to have one of those sundials. It was smaller and I think I got it at one of the Smithsonian gift shops, long time ago, though.

Your painted balls are so pretty, Holly. Cool idea with the glass watering doodads. I see the floating glass balls in the pond catalogs. I like the ones that have lights in them too.

Fun to read this creative non plant ideas- They add a lot to the garden. Holly--it's so neat that you figured out how to float the glass balls, and that they go up or down when they heat up in the sun or not.
Stormyla agreed that is a giant arrowhead and it should point to somthing. When I've tried to stand up rocks in the garden it ends up looking funny to me.
Chris- I looked at the first (wrong) pic and wondered if the fairy was named Hope...I do want to add some inspirational writing to my garden---remember when Chantell posted some garden sayings? OOH gotta get a paint pen and make one of claypas markers into a marker for the hosta he gave me. Wow, what if I drilled two holes inot some of the regular 1 by 3 labels he made, wrote a word, hung a bead on the end and hung them from a tree, like my red maple, at viewing height? (What if I stop dreaming up stuff and go do my housework?)
I came across a book in the library meant for kids, about making stone things , some American Indian way to point or mark a trail? Imagine two cubic rocks, then a longer rectangle on top, then a cubic one on top in the middle. Like a person? I wish I could remember what they called it. And wish I had prettier more regualr shaped rocks in my yard. Still choosing a spot for "Hollyrock"

Oh Sally you just reminded me I never did get to see the markers that Claypa made. Could you or someone post a pic of them? Ok one more ball.....or egg..... whichever. LOL
Water feature.

Sally, go back and look at my first picture, at the bottom left there is a rock with a saying on it. Funny no one has noticed it yet, or didn't want to say anything.
I like those blue and white ball too, Holly, so simple but elegant.

LOL what "happens" I did see that first time!

Had to run back in the house to get the camera, I did not bribe Mr. Frog with a fat juicy worm to pose for this photo.

I did get a toad to live in here one summer, it was in a different area and plants grew up around the house.

Lady, I saw your rock and thought it was cute. Do you remember the garden sign that Claypa posted that said "Grow d_mnit"? That gave me quite a chuckle.

Hart, you crack me up - Giant Natives indeed.

Holly that's a lovely gift from Jane, I enjoyed meeting her. Your men folk surely do take good care of you. That's a really neat idea with the glass watering balls. I saw your blue porcelain balls and thought they were really pretty. Do you remember where you got them? I'll keep my eyes peeled for one. I love your egg fountain.

Sally, I think that's a great idea to make hangings for your garden words. Hanging several from one tree with glass beads would be a fun whimsical touch. I saw some of the Native people rock figures up in Vancouver. The tribes that live in Igloos make them out of ice. They are easy to make out of flat rocks and quite nice. Thanks for the idea. Maybe I'll make one. There is also some sort of superstition that goes along with them. I'll have to look it up.

Pam, I can't imagine a time when my garden chores would be done!!! Thanks for the paint info. Sorry about your treasures.

This is by the steps going up on the deck, the golf panel is from a garden bench we had. It was smashed when our porch roof calapsed from ice falling off the eaves about 7 years ago. It now makes a perfect shoe scraper.
Grampa Gnome was one of my first garden statues.

Lady, That frog is too funny and I love the frog house. What is that ground cover around it?

Boot scrapers!! LOL, every time somebody posts something here it reminds me of something else that's out in the yard. We certainly have more stuff than we think. I know for certain that I am Gnomeless.

Closest thing to a Gnome is this sleeping Leprechaun?

This is my North Wind Garden seat. He weighs a ton. I often sit on him when I am planting a large pot. He is just the right height. DSO thought I was crazy buying him for a stool. BUT, he often will use him when he's working on my ever clogging chipper or the always troublesome edger.

This is my one surviving turtle. I had a small concrete one. I think that he followed my missing fairy to some secret land of enchantment.

These are my old cast iron bunnies, another flea market find. These bunnies stayed out all year this year. At Holloween they were hidden by the scarecrow and gourds. At Christmas they were behind all of the lighted figures.
See the bare patches in the grass? At christmas, the voles that live under the birch take up their winter vacation residence. My lighted figures create a solarium for them. Every year they eat their way through the grass under the ornaments.
Funny story about the bunnies. When I first brought them home DSO thought he would be nice and surprise me by painting them nice and shiny white!!! I guess my expression told him I was not pleased. The next day they were in the original condition, but treated with a clear protective glaze.
Once in a while I find a pile of bunny fur at the base of this tree.

This old piece of fence is still hanging around waiting for an inspiration.