A Collection of inspiring and beautiful Treasures that has grown over the years. It was time after all these years of collecting to share it with al of you. I hope you'll love it as much as I do.
Gardening is wonderful therapy for me. Some may find my garden to be a mess, with hundreds of plants all tucked in together with limited structure and order while others will stop on the sidewalk to tell me that they enjoy walking by daily to see what’s new. That’s what I like about it: the mishmash of trees, shrubs, perennials, vegetables, herbs, garden art and bird feeders make the garden a joy to walk through. I revel in each new volunteer that joins the fun while I keep up with the old favorites and recent additions.
I was happy to find the artists at To Make You Smile had donated whimsical birdhouses to gardens for healing purposes. According to Teresia Hazen, registered horticultural therapist, and coordinator, Therapeutic Gardens and Horticultural Therapy, “Watching birds gives patients, their families, and staff members a window on the world of nature. And enjoying the beauty of the winged creatures while walking in the garden brings healthful pleasure.” I particularly enjoyed the installation at the Legacy Emanuel Children’s Hospital and can imagine how delighted the children would be to see the birds bringing nesting materials and then food for the hatchlings, the wee peeps of tiny occupants and watching the first flights.
I love the use of color, height, and recycled materials used to make these inspirational birdhouses. I know I’ll be setting up a few come next spring and if I can get to one of To Make You Smile’s shows I’ll have much to choose from. For more information on how to get one of these lovelies, contact info@tomakeyousmile.com. I’m sure these colorful creations will bring some added therapy to your garden.
A birdhouse is just one way to encourage birds to visit your garden. Try making this DIY Wild Bird Suet Feeder or this Flowerpot Bird Feeder, and don’t forget to get to know your feathered visitors by reading up on these 12 Fun Facts About Backyard Birds.
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Many women desire to have long hair. A lot people are saying that long hair is a blessing for women who have it. If you have long and beautiful hair you have to take care about it every day. There is one rule for long hair- love your hair and always will be beautiful. We now have created for you a collection of beautiful female long hairstyles. We have chosen the most simple hairstyles for long hair that are in trend at this time of year. Also we have chosen examples with trendy hairstyles easy-to-do and still to look gorgeous. With small movements step by step, you will make a wonderful hairstyle. We are sure that you will choose the most suitable hairstyle for you and will look nice and fancy in every occasion.
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Check out more of our TOP 10 Hair tutorials lists here
Bet you can’t Pin just one!
This pumpkin Toadstool picture did not make the list last Monday but I gasped when I saw it…. so it’s going in here.
These little stools would be perfect in a woodland garden.
I snapped a picture of these mushrooms at the Vandusen Gardens this Christmas, made out of wire mesh and lights.
I’m going try making these concrete mushrooms this summer.
I can’t get enough of these topiary mushrooms, so cute.
These are fantastic too.
This picture was taken over at Frank Crane Arena in Nanaimo, BC. I love this color combo, don’t you?
A mushroom collection isn’t complete without one for the Fairy Folk. People agreed on Facebook..it’s the antenna that makes this so gosh darn cute.
The one that received the most LIKES was this picture here…and it’s pretty obvious why. Now go dig out all them glass bowls.
*** Update!***
The person who created the above glass mushrooms contacted me! Her name is Tommi and she’s very pleased everyone loves her creative idea. Please keep sharing Tommi, I’d love to see the other great idea’s you come up with!
To see more crafts and garden idea’s
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At a time of the year when trees are bare and temperatures chilly, they welcome us with pure white and green tinged petals that bob in the breeze. One of the best public places to view them on the Isle of Man is Milntown, just outside of Ramsey. I visited this week and was able to ask head gardener Juan Quane for some tips on growing them at home.
Juan has been gardening at Milntown for seven years and during that time he’s seen Snowdrops migrated from the front lawn to various places in the woodland garden. Watch the interview and hear more Snowdrop growing tips. His tips on growing and situating clumps of these lovely springtime flowers include:
I met Juan Wednesday afternoon and we had a chatty walk around the Milntown garden and woods. Though it’s late winter, there were early Camelias in bloom and I was also shown some surprisingly tender plants that can survive our mild winters without much damage. Scented Geraniums and even Aloe Vera, a succulent from the desert, were flourishing in the February cold; they apparently even have Bananas overwintering outdoors.
Soon we were in the woodland garden and walking among the scatterings of tiny white flowers that emerge this time of the year. Snowdrops – both delicate and hardy, they are an early source of nectar for bees and a delight for everyone wanting a little cheer in otherwise wet and dormant gardens.
Snowdrops love growing in the same types of places as bluebells and wild garlic so if you have either growing in your garden then you’ll know you have the right habitat. Saying that, a lawn can be an ideal place. Snowdrops grow well in both of these places at Milntown but also have spread of their own accord into areas of the walled garden where they find warmth and protection. We even spotted a cheeky clump of them growing at the base of a fig tree in the kitchen garden!
Usually planted in clumps, Snowdrops will over time create carpets of blooms that can easily be dug up and resituated in other places in the garden. It’s best to dig them when they’re ‘in the green’, meaning that they still have leaves, and then planted as individuals or in smaller clumps. These flowers also come in various types with some of them having larger white flower heads or ruffled layers of petals. Milntown have just discovered a new variety growing in their garden in the past couple of years. It could be a unique hybrid but they suspect that it might be ‘Galanthus flore pleno’, a known variety that can be found in garden centres.
The oldest planting of Snowdrops at Milntown is a circular Faery Ring on the front lawn. Though a previous garden designer at the gardens decided that they weren’t quite right there and had them dug up and moved, the circle is still there. That’s because even if a single bulb is left, it can regrow and repopulate the same area over just a few years.
The circle appears nearly complete now and the bulbs that were there before have been scattered in relatively new plantings throughout the woodland garden. You can best see them popping up through the leaf litter in late February.
The Milntown Gardens are open six days a week (closed on Tuesdays) from 10am to 5pm. The last admission is at 4.30pm and free mobility scooters are available for the less abled. For more information on Milntown, visit www.milntown.org.
Watch the interview with Juan Quane to learn more Snowdrop growing tips
PS – the house at Milntown is also available for tours…though it’s reported to be haunted! I featured it as one of the Spookiest places to visit on the Isle of Man just last year. I’m sure the spooks will be courteous enough to stay away for a daytime visit though.
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First, let’s look at some birdcage planter ideas. Then, I’ll give you my best tips for successful planting.
This one was created by Susan StLouis who shared it on a tour of her garden. See the entire creative garden container gallery here.
Stephanie of Garden Therapy shares how she planted this new, decorative birdcage with succulents.
Barb added a bird’s nest plus moss and ivy for a low-maintenance option.
You can often find these newer birdcages at thrift shops and yard sales. Pam planted hers with flowering annuals.
Where can I find a birdcage?
If you want to repurpose / upcycle an old one, look at:
Where can I buy a new, decorative birdcage?
I see a lot of options on sites like Amazon and Etsy.
You can see various style and sizes here on Amazon.
Buying Tips
Make it Your Own
There are several options depending on the look you want. No matter what you choose, you want to form some sort of planting area that holds soil about 3-5 inches deep.
For container plants, always use soilless container mix intended for the specific plants.
Want to combine them? Keep the plants in plastic pots with their preferred container mix and sit the pots in the cage. Conceal them with coir liner or burlap or show them off.
Birdcage planters look fabulous with trailing plants spilling out of the cage.
Choose your plants based on the light conditions where you will hang it (sun, part sun, shade).
If you can’t find the plants you want in pots, you can always buy a ready-made hanging basket and transplant everything to the birdcage.
Look for trailing succulents
or flowering annuals including:
Like any plant containers or hanging baskets, you need to keep on top of watering so they never dry out. You can find helpful tips for keeping container plants happy here. Also, keep your plant tags for specific instructions on feeding (fertilizing) and deadheading (removing old blooms to encourage new ones).
 | Container Gardening Complete If you want a good, thorough reference book to answer all of your container growing questions, this is it. |
Plant a birdcage! Free a bird!
~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛
