Amaryllis Heart Wreath in bloom Amaryllis Heart Wreath
During the Christmas holidays, I spied a beautiful wreath planted with amaryllis bulbs. The price made me suck in my breath, so I thought up a way to make my own version at home. All you’ll need is amaryllis bulbs (I used two small ones), potting soil (water retentive variety), netting (I reused a produce bag), some burlap, floral wire and ribbon.
Follow the picture directions to make your own Amaryllis Heart Wreath. Mine is blooming just in time for Valentine’s Day !
All you’ll need is amaryllis bulbs, potting soil, netting, floral wire, burlap and a wreath amaryllis bulbs set in potting soil and wrapped in netting attach the burlap wrapped ball to the wreath with floral wire, then add a ribbon Amaryllis stalks starting to grow heart wreath Original article and pictures take ourfairfieldhomeandgarden.com site
This citrus all-purpose cleaner recipe is simple and made with natural ingredients so fresh you could eat it! It may make an interesting salad dressing ingredient, but I’m more inclined to use it to clean the kitchen.
Store-bought household cleaners are full of potentially harmful chemicals and ingredients that most of us can’t even pronounce, let alone know what they are. I feel much better cleaning my home with something that I know for a fact (because I made it!) is all natural and has no chance of causing harm to myself, my family, or the environment.
This recipe is part of our Citrus Celebration series here on Garden Therapy and is in great company with:
To make this recipe, add orange peels to a Mason jar and top up with distilled white vinegar. Add a few cinnamon sticks to spice it up. Let sit covered in a cool, dark place for two weeks and then strain into a spray bottle. If you would like a stronger spice smell when strained, add a few drops of cinnamon essential oil. It’s the perfect cleaning recipe for the winter months as it warms things up just a bit more.
Your homemade cleaner is all purpose and perfect for bathrooms, kitchens, and floors. The more citrus and spice you use, the less vinegar-y it will smell. Use within about 6 weeks and make smaller batches so that you always have some fresh cleaner on hand.
Original article and pictures take gardentherapy.ca site
Are you faced with a lot of shade in your garden? We have three big old maple trees shading a large portion of our yard. When we moved here, there was nothing but poorly growing grass under the trees. It looked messy and unfinished. So we set about creating a shade garden.
This is what we started with in the spring of 2012. You can see it really was barren with just a few scillas growing under the maple.
Shade Garden BEFORE
And here we are today. A garden filled with hosts, ferns and astilbe. It still has a long way to go before it’s “full”, but we’re on the way to getting it into something I think is wonderful.
Shade Garden AFTER
The weeping cypress and white sumac in the background were there when we moved in, but everything else is new to the garden. We started by extending the bed under the sumac to include hostas, lungwort, spiderwort and astilbe. This area actually gets a bit more sun than under the maples, so there was more flexibility to add the lungwort and spiderwort which do better with more light.
Tranquility Fountain
The centrepiece of the garden is the tranquility fountain. You can read about how we made and installed it here. You actually can’t see it in the “after” shot because it hasn’t been taken out of winter storage yet. So with that in place, we had something to build on. But I knew that plant choices were limited due to the light, so it had to be hosta and ferns. The biggest challenge was adding some light to this very dark area.
The best way to add some light to a shade garden is to use plants with a lot of variation in the leaves. Above are some of my favourites which have been used in our shade garden. In most cases, its the leaves of these plants that add interest and light. So I’ve added things like the golden heart bleeding heart for it’s chartreuse foliage. The ghost fern for its frothy foliage and deep red stems. And variegated hosta of all types add so much impact into the garden.
Ready for planting – Orange Marmalade & Linda Sue
Another way to add some light into a dark corner is to use items that reflect the light, such as this glass totem.
Or how about adding mirrors like this one from HGTV? Not only will this add light to a shady spot, but a breeze will add movement.
Mirror Garland – HGTV
So if you have a deep shady spot in your garden which is uninspiring, look for variegated foliage, white or light coloured flowers and light reflecting objects to add some light to your shade garden.
Original article and pictures take www.newhousenewhomenewlife.com site
Add Sparkle to the Garden With This Beautiful Beaded Wind Chime
Add some extra jingle and sparkle to your backyard this year with a handmade beaded wind chime! I’ll admit I’m a bit of a craft supply hoarder and have accumulated a massive amount of beautiful beads over the years but have barely used them. This project is the perfect excuse to get out my bead supply and make something I’ll enjoy seeing out my window every day.
Materials:
Bells (or anything that makes a pleasant sound when the wind blows)
Start by drilling holes in your piece of driftwood (or wooden dowel). I used a pen to mark where I wanted the holes to go. I chose to make 5 holes but you could make as many as you like.
Pour your beads, charms and bells into small bowls or teacups (I sorted mine by color). Then cut a length of nylon beading thread to approx. 22” in length. Tie a bell to one end leaving a few inches of excess thread at the end of the knot. Thread the needle onto the other end of the string.
Begin threading beads onto the nylon string. I chose to have each strand be a different color, to create a rainbow effect. I also mixed in wooden beads and metal charms.
Once you’ve finished beading your strand, unthread the needle. Then, making sure not to lose your beads, thread the needle onto the few inches of string you left at the bottom (from knotting the bell). Then insert the needle back up through two or three beads to hide the end of the thread. Snip off any excess string and carefully set the beaded strand aside and start the next one.
Continue to create beaded strands until you have enough for each hole that you made in the driftwood.
Once you’re done you can lay the finished strands out and make any adjustments you might want. I wanted my beaded wind chime to hang at different lengths so I removed a few beads from some strands and added beads to others until I achieved a look I liked.
Next, carefully pick up the first strand. Thread the needle and string it through the first hole in the driftwood. Thread a bead onto the top of the wood and carefully tie a secure knot around the bead. Thread the excess string back down through the driftwood and through a few beads, then snip any excess.
Repeat this process until all beaded strands are secured onto the wood.
Finally, make a hanger by wrapping twine around one end of the wood, securing with a knot. Then allow some slack for the beaded wind chime to hang from and wrap the string around the other end of the wood. Secure with a knot (I also covered the end of my string with some kraft glue to hold it down) and you’re done! Hang outside a window where you can enjoy its beauty and hear it chime in the wind.
Original article and pictures take gardentherapy.ca site
Today I’m taking you with me on a trip down memory lane to my former garden. Our brick split-level sat on a seventy-five by one hundred foot lot in a development established in the 1950s and looked pretty much like all the other homes around us. Over the course of thirteen years, using landscaping , paint and accents, we transformed this cookie-cutter house into a country cottage home.
Each year, I planned one or two big projects such as new flower beds, house painting, a block driveway or a Bluestone patio. We did whatever we had the skills and muscles for and hired a few of the jobs out. But mostly the change evolved from the landscaping and details. Both side yards were only ten feet wide, so a Garden Display ladder and stone foot path went on one side with an entrance to the garden. The other became a flower bed.
Garden rooms were established in the back yard by creating arbors, nooks and seating areas with plantings to complement them. Fencing and Arborvitae shrubs were put in to enclose the back garden. Winding flowerbeds were edged in river rock, and the grass paths were mulched to reduce mowing and watering. Accents and salvaged items were tucked in among the flowers to be discovered by visitors as they walked the garden. Many of those surprises and projects were created from items my husband and I found at yard sales and on neighborhood trash days!
When I ran out of space, vertical plantings of clematis, wisteria, kiwi vine, window boxes and ladders were used to make this little space appear larger. Vegetables and herbs were planted right along with the flowers and shrubs. Plant selections were made to include native plants and incorporated over four hundred flower, shrub and bulb varieties, documented when we became a certified Backyard Habitat Garden.
This tiny garden was a joy to me, open to our friends and neighbors and was even featured on several garden tours. But time marches on. All those steps inside and outside and the sloped front yard made this a home we realized we could not grow old in. Five years ago, we began making a new garden and an older ranch home our own.
But , once in a while, I have to look back and remember that lovely little garden which I’ll always carry in my heart.
After ~ what a difference some paint and plantings can make ! Before ~ after the first year when I made the front flower beds birdhouse ladder and iris in the back garden pocket garden by the sunporch shady nook with a bubbling vase Wheelbarrow planting by the arbor swing tiny side yard garden Rusty Tool Arbor in June wheelbarrow water garden The Garden Shed and Bluestone patio Garden display ladder and stone foot path faucet handle flowers Bluestone patio back fence garden and birdhouses Wisteria on the gazebo in spring Gazebo & back deck in summer Copper Garden Flowers Original article and pictures take ourfairfieldhomeandgarden.com site
According to Serenity Health and Decor, a tranquility fountain helps to balance energy and increase personal strength. Here’s how we came about having a tranquility fountain in our yard.
There’s a big old maple tree on the north side of our garden which shades most of that side of the yard. The grass was horrible underneath it as it is dark and dry under her limbs. Oh there was the wonderful surprise of scilla growing in the spring. But after that all we had was mud and now, dust. So I said you my darling (ever suffering) husband – “I think we need a new garden under there. Can you just add a yard of triple mix and turn whatever grass is growing there? I think I’ll build a shade garden”. He really is wonderful because he got right to it and before the weekend was through there was a new bed ready for planting.
I shared with you some of my favorites which were planted there here. The garden is off to a good start filled with some shade plants like these:
But the plan didn’t end there. I wanted something else in this particular garden to draw visitors to it. This was my inspiration – a big blue urn I saw on Pinterest. I thought we could turn it into a water feature somehow. A tranquility fountain actually….
So we googled “how to build a pot fountain” and came up with an awesome video tutorial from Fine Gardening which made it looks easy peasy. And you know what, it was! Once I found the basin for the pump and water to filter through, putting it together really only took a couple of hours. Okay, my husband put it together. I stood back in awe.
We inserted a pipe through the bottom of the pot and attached it with some flexible tubing to the submersible pump (all this is available at a garden centre where they sell pond supplies). We cut the pipe just so that it was level with the top of the pot and kept the water pressure low so that the water just slides down the sides of the pot. That way there’s no splashing of water and that means no loss of water. It just hits the rocks below and trickles back down into the reservoir basin which is sunk into the ground.
I love how soft and gentle the movement of the water is. And how the dappled sunlight reflects on the water and the wet pot. The birds love it too because it’s becoming a favourite watering spot already. It really is tranquil.
Around the base of the pot, we placed some small rocks which were already on the property. These are a good transition between the pot and the soil in the garden. Plus you need something to cover the grate which sits on top of the reservoir basin and supports the pot. We could have gone with a true river rock. But I believe in using what’s on hand if you have it. The finishing touch is the ghost fern which adds some silvery light to the base of the pot and softens the edges.
All in all an easy, but not necessarily inexpensive project to add an interesting feature to a small shaded garden. With a backdrop of hydrangeas, some chartreuse foliage and raspberry coloured heucheras, this once drab spot is now a focal point in our backyard.
All I need is a Muskoka chair and a glass of chardonnay and I’m good for an hour or two……or more.
Original article and pictures take www.newhousenewhomenewlife.com site
