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Showing posts with label repurposing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label repurposing. Show all posts

Sunday, June 21, 2020

Way back in January...

In the 1950s I remember my mother and her friends making little potted gardens in terracotta bowl-shaped pots. These gardens featured succulents and little hand-painted stones provided splashes of colour. And years later these little novelty gardens are still very popular. Pinterest is full of ideas! 
Late last year when I was wondering what I could do to help in the parish Christmas craft market, I had a lightbulb moment...potted gardens!! I figured that I could use succulents that I’d potted up from cuttings. Pots I found in The Reject Shop and I bought some ‘accessories’ on EBay for a reasonable price. So despite having little time due to going to the hospital 6 days a week to sit with Carrie, I was able to contribute to the fundraising. 


I was on a roll and made a fairy garden for my neighbour’s Christmas gift 😄
I added white pebbles before I handed it over...


Now I was really on a roll! When the frame on my wheelbarrow rusted through, DH had bought me a whole new barrow. Ah hah! A perfect excuse to make a fairy garden in the old barrow for the granddaughters. And so it was in late January on a day that we were minding Miss Anthea that I put my plans into action with the help of DH and Anthea. 


Anthea and I with the ornaments I’d found at stores like Reject Shop and Bunnings. 



Anthea made a path from the fairy houses using big white pebbles. 


Ta dah! All done! 


A few days later Holly enjoyed playing with the garden...


A week or so later a bush turkey came along and dug up the garden. ( I’m pretty sure it was a turkey even if I didn’t catch one in the act!) Luckily I saw the damage before the little girls, put it all back together and then covered it with mesh. So then the plants could grow without disruption. 
And I took this photo this morning...


The little girls have had so much fun with the garden. We are seeing most of our granddaughters at least once a week now that restrictions are easing a little bit. 💕

Monday, August 14, 2017

Quirky with a capital Q!!!

Over the years, I've noticed on gardening shows and in magazines, articles on repurposing everyday items as planters. These days, Pinterest has lots of recycling items and planting them up with plants...like this little selection.

Here are some of my very modest efforts at using everyday items as planters...
Unused latte mugs...

Op shop and garage sale buys turned into planters...

And hidden by all that undergrowth is a set of old concrete wash tubs that I planted with bromeliads...


But in April when we went on a day trip to Litchfield National Park, I saw some recycling on a grand scale; which was delightful and quirky. The bus made a stop   at the Bunyan Caravan Park Kiosk on the journey to the park. It was rather rustic 😉

This is a banyan tree after which the caravan park is named...

Many of the passengers ordered food for breakfast, but I wandered the grounds. Beside the path that led to the restroom block were these...

A closer look at Miss Snow White and her little friends...

But out the front was this!!

Yep! An old car planted with a variety of colored foliage plants...

And reclining  in a deckchair...

Lots of fun!