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Friday, April 2, 2010

Gardening Can Be Fun.....

That's only if you don't take it too seriously....For instance, if you have some acorn caps, short pieces sawed from a cape honeysuckle bush and a broom straw , you have an almost instant birdhouse. I simply found branches that would fit inside the caps, cut them about an inch long, drilled a large hole for the opening and a small hole to glue a broom straw into and I was done. I did paint the inside of the larger hole black so that it would have depth. That's all the finishing that I did.

OK. Back to the serious part....Seriously.....Not really.....


I filled one of the flats with lycopodium and some parts from plastic plants that I took apart. Not fancy, but filling.

The one that I like the best so far is Tessie's tree. Don't ask what the variety of fruit is. I have no idea. She won't tell me.

The basis for it was Nandina or Heavenly Bamboo seed branch. The "fruit" is the actual seed pod. Depending on when you take them off of the plant, they can range in color from bright red to dark brown. I collect these from my two plants each year and dry them for mini use. I liked the color of these. Again, I used a couple of different sizes of leaves and on this one I used two colors of green drawing paper to punch them.

I simply stuffed the planter with dry florist's foam, covered the top with ballast, and poked a hole to glue the branch into. All I had to do after that was cup the leaves and glue them on.


I was going to go for a tomato plant or two, but I didn't feel like getting the Fimo out. I already had all of the punched leaves and flowers scattered about.

I tend to punch lots of leaves and flower petals when I am bored. That way, when I go to make plants, they are already done and ready to go.

The Zinnias at the back are made from three layers of an 8 petal flower punch that I got at one of the craft stores. The leaves are from there also, in two sizes.

The tulips are done with six petals. I think that was a borrowed punch and the leaves for those were cut free hand and curled over scissors.

The periwinkles are simply moss with small five petal flowers scattered here and there.

Tessie is already gathering petals for potpourri. At least that's what she claims she is making. We shall see.....

I am going back to sort out and clean up the mess now..... Maybe when I finish that I will make the tomato. Maybe.....

See you tomorrow.

7 comments:

Jo Raines said...

What beautiful little plants and a pretty fruit tree! You make all of this genius creativity sound so easy! It's always inspiring and educational to visit you and Tessie!

Jody

Kathi said...

Great planting beds! Lots of good tips too! I really need to get back to making minis!!! I'm having withdrawal symptoms! LOL

Deni said...

You continue to blow me away with your creativity, Casey, and you ability to get things done, everyday, rather quickly!
The plants and flowers are wonderful,I especially like the fruit tree!

dalesdreams said...

Those bird houses are so cute. :)

I'm starting to get jealous of your witches Wednesdays... I wish I had a few witches near by to meet and do stuff with. :)

The roof top garden is going to be great.

Kim said...

Wow! I love the tree! I love the flowers! It looks so great already!

miniacollection said...

I love your bird houses, what a very good idea.
A lot of gardening has been done, I like the result.
geneviève

Sans! said...

Love that bird house! Having great material is 90% of the work .