YARD ART AS SNOW GAUGE - february

Dec. 19th, 2013

Jan. 26th, 2014

Feb. 23rd, 2014

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YARD ART - introducing our fountain

From the time we moved in to our new home over a year and a half ago I had been thinking about a fountain and researching through numerous Pinterest posts the idea of building my own fountain.

Then I mentioned it to my husband who immediately fell in love with the idea and two weeks later we had a fountain. I like to gather lots of information before making a decision and he prefers to just get things done. This balance is one of the ways we complement each other, and let me tell you, I am very glad we have our fountain already rather than waiting to build one.  

(I can always build another later!)

Next year I will add plants around its base to give it a rounded appearance and to hide the square concrete base.

Suggestions for low-growing, zone 3, part-sun, deer & rabbit resistant, long-blooming, white perennials welcomed.

It was early September so we were eager to get it out for the limited frost-free nights ahead. We drove it in the back of our SUV onto the lawn after dark, placing it off-centre and closer to the rounded edges of the Moon Garden and our bench, rather than in the centre of the lawn. 

Our fabulous neighbour stopped by to toast our new addition. 

We love any reason to use the bench in the front and this new addition is a great one. Not only does it look great but it has a great sound: as the chamber in the base empties the sound of running water becomes higher pitched and more audible, a kind of musical 'tinkling' sound. 

I like asymmetry so this modern style was just up my alley, and it is plug & play: run an extension cord and fill the basin and you are good to go. 

As you can see it also adds winter interest which is a nice bonus.

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MACRO SANTA

I love Christmas and our house is quite decorated (and decorated early) but rather than a red Santa with a sack of toys I prefer something more along the lines of a Father Christmas, the more woodsy the better.

On our front step we have plaster Father Christmas that looks like it is actually carved from wood. I gave it to my husband for Christmas years ago and I think he has always found it a little creepy.

I never have thought so until taking this close up, or at least I can see what he means, though I still love it.

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Sharing with I Heart Macro & Macro Monday 2

YARD ART - location, location, location

We had a bench on our front porch in Toronto but have no porch to place it on in Winnipeg.

What to do, what to do? 

Under these circumstances I think of the bench as 'yard art'; putting it directly in the yard means it has to look as fashionable as it does functional.

 Before I plant plants I first place them where I think they will go (and generally always make adjustments). It was no different with this bench.
The first place I thought of was on the lawn outside the garden proper but after a few short weeks the lawn under the bench started to die back for lack of sun.

Next I plunked it down in the middle of the Bishop's Goutweed.

While it is not quite a field of poppies à la Wizard of Oz, I liked the sense of being completely surrounded this spot created. There was even already a rudimentary "path to nowhere" curving in that general direction.

My parents had some large paving stones they needed rid of and so a platform for the bench was quickly and inexpensively made to keep the Goutweed from completely engulfing the bench. 

According to Better Homes and Gardens "A curving walkway provides more visual interest than a straight path -- and accents the garden around it." Plus it minimizes how visible the concrete blocks used for stepping stones are; you can make a beeline from the house to the bench without having to stare at the functional concrete stones and then you get to travel through the garden and around the Peonies to get to it.

Next year there will be Peony growing on both sides, hiding the path even further.

Eventually we repainted a portion of our home's exterior and painted the bench the same colour with leftover paint. Love or hate the orangey-brown (we still flip-flop ourselves), it is a nice touch that they now coordinate.

It will be quite exciting to see the plants grow up and around the bench with it already in situ next spring.

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YARD ART AS SNOW GAUGE - december

These herons sure stand out in the snow more than they ever did during the summer - and I love it. 

In the summer they were quite discreet agasint a vibrant and lush backdrop but now that they stand out I will be using them to report on how much snow we have.  Consider this shot the benchmark and each month I will post another photo from the same spot for comparison.

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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - water lilies

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A NIGHT IN THE LIFE - busy bee

I dug out these yellow daylilies on Monday but then it got too dark and for once I did not feel like putting on my headlamp.  I felt tired. Actually tired of gardening. 

It was a strange feeling.

While we have done an absolutely enormous amount of work here this year this feeling still felt unfamiliar and it took me a minute to understand what it was.  

The daylilies sat above ground for days until this evening when we were able to come home earlier than expected, otherwise they were going to have to wait even further, until early next week. 

Dug up. 

Split.

Drying out.

 

Have you ever bitten off more than you can chew in the garden? 

This is not my first time.

Now you understand my motivation for taking advantage of today's unexpected window of opportunity.  Once in the yard I felt refreshed and glad to be outside, so much so that when it got dark I donned my headlamp and happily kept going for another hour.

I prefer to tease apart plants when dividing but this was one giant mass of roots and a flat-edged spade was definitely in order.  These taller yellows will join the shorter reds I divided in the spring.  There is no question that I am going to enjoy having them intermingled rather than in side-by-side clumps AND there are going to be plenty more of them since they had not been divided in a donkey's age.

The clump made 8 very decently sized smaller plants that are sure to thrive next year, daylilies being daylilies.

 

The cup in the photo was for slugs, which I detest, but at least there are fewer than there were in my Toronto shady gardens. 

Mint and Chives had to come out. One of the few times I have put plants straight into the compost; it felt terribly wasteful, another unfamiliar feeling.  I decided I am going to take them all out but will wait until I have the time to guerrilla garden them this fall.

The Hardy Geranium I divided the other week is coming in nicely. I do not think we will get another bloom but the plants are very healthy. Under the glow of my headlamp I transplanted Petunias from the Sun Garden since I had to make room for moving around the Rudbeckia I started from seed (which I hope will look the same as a gift I received for the Lakefront Garden earlier this year).

While this little fella I found stunted and hidden under a Petunia may look like the rest of those Rudbeckia, it may actually turn out to be a red one I direct sowed but had thought none had survived.

To be certain I just need to get a bloom before the frost comes.

Tick tock.

Good night!

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YARD ART - mother of all herons

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YARD ART - herons' new home

I found a new place for my herons. 

They appear to be walking out of the daylilies parallel to the front sidewalk into the rest of the garden, perhaps on the hunt for frogs?

It is hard to imagine that not that long ago they were up to their necks in snow!

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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - yard art

The Shady Lady

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YARD ART - The Shady Lady

We bought the Shady Lady a few years back at a going out of business sale at a garden centre - a good bargain since statuary can be expensive.

In Toronto we had her in the far back corner, so one really had to be out seated at the table to see her in all her glory.

The brown spots at her neck and near her hand are from a failed attempt at encouraging moss to cover her using a beer slurry.

But I have not given up yet.  

Once we find her a home in Tuxedo I will be back at it and try again, this time covering her with plastic and keeping her warm and damp indoors while the initial moss takes root.

While she will lose some of the finer details I definitely want to see her covered from head to toe

in fuzzy green.  Well, maybe I will leave her eyes uncovered so she can see...

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Sharing with Tuesday Garden Party, Garden Tuesday

YARD ART

A potential problem with garden art is that it can quickly become tacky.  

I don't mean to throw shade on other people's tastes but what is with the popularity of garden gnomes?  I understand they are cute, but they are also predictable and that is why I avoid them.

I prefer something along these lines:

 They are just stunning, I love their scale.  And what a great way to keep old shovel heads out of a landfill to boot!

These copper herons are what I ended up getting. I had wanted something that would look natural (e.g. no gnomes, no windmills) and something subdued, something that would not attract your attention too much but was worth looking at once you noticed it. 

And I think these fit the bill.

They were an excellent buy, $20 each at Giant Tiger, a Canadian discount retailer.  I don't go there often, but whenever I have, I have usually stumbled on something interesting.  I have seen similar birds for twice the price that I did not like as much at other retailers, so I feel good about the price.  So good in fact that I have brought them with me to Winnipeg so I can spend more time with them than the few weeks we will be at the Ontario cottage each year.

The stones in the grill work and pocks on their necks and faces warrant lingering.

Also sharing with weekend blog hop.