Friday Fantasy #fairy #fairies #garden

If you've seen my garden outside, you would already know that I have a penchant for gnomes and fairies. I had some fairy things that I couldn't put outside, so I cleared room in my sunroom for them.

Wordless Wednesday at #AtlantaBotanicalGarden #Fantasy

EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival #topiaries #garden #WDW

Topiaries were everywhere at EPCOT. I'm sure I missed a few, but there are the ones I did get.  OK, so one isn't technically a topiary, it's a bonsai.  It was still cool.

EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival #WDW #garden #butterflies

After the 10K, I found I could actually remain mobile, so I headed to EPCOT. As always, the flowers were gorgeous. The butterflies were wonderful to see as well.

Landscape updates #teenboys #alotofwork #garden

I got my son and his friend to give me a big hand this past weekend. There was a pile of mulch left in two places after having the trees cut and stumps ground down. I got them to relocate the mulch. Husband had them "pave" the path through the island. They did a lot of ivy pulling first, then mulch moving. I think the path looks great. Now I need new wood for the bench (or a new bench).

I actually used some of the mulch around the potted plant garden (gnome/fairy garden) first. When the boys finished their mulch move, I had them install a bird feeder pole where the trees had been. Ultimately, I want to move 3 of my roses to that area. Two of my roses are overtaking the front walk, the 3rd just isn't thriving where it is. So, come fall when they're not blooming, I'll see about moving them.

What does your garden grow? #gardening #gnomes #bees

It's gardening time! I've been slow to get things going, but I did a bit of filling in over the weekend.  This is one of my little "fairy" type gardens.

I had some little red potatoes that were growing in the bag, so I decided to see what would happen if I planted them. They've actually started growing!

This is the rest of it.  I have Asiatic lilies, Tiger lilies, daisies, and other flowers growing.  I've decided to pass on most of the edible plants this year.  Either the squirrels were enjoying them more than we were, or they were going to waste.  Most of what I've planted is meant to make bees happy.  I do have one baby pool full of bulb flowers which haven't sprouted yet but is supposedly liked by hummingbirds.  We'll see.

Seattle's Japanese Garden #Japan #garden

Seattle's Japanese Garden is a much more formal garden than what we toured with the Kubota Garden.  Still very pretty, but much smaller.  It is also not free entry, though entry was not too bad.  You could also feed the koi in the pond if you wanted.

Making butterflies for the garden #maker #pinterest

I saw this one come across my pinterest feed some time ago.  As a result, I made it one of those things that when I had the time, I'd see if I could do it.  I didn't reload their directions, I just improvised as I went.  The fan blades came from my local ReStore.  The big block of wood was something leftover from a different project.  I started by painting everything.  Two blades pink, two blades blue, and the post purple.  A single screw for each pair of blades holds them onto the post.

I then painted what design suited my fancy onto the blades.

This is the finished product hanging in the garden.  I used a zip tie through the top two holes of the top two blades to be the hanger.  I also added two screws to the top as antennae on a whim.

Photos from National Train Day #VinesGardenRailroad #Gwinnett

We love visiting the gardens, but it's a lot more fun to catch it when the trains are running as well.  Thomas and his friend Percy were there, as well as several other trains.

Starting May 31st, the trains will be out every other Sunday.  You can find more information here.

Updates from the garden - Doors are appearing #fairydoors #gardening #ladybugs

Recent developments from my garden include doors!  Seems I have new residents that are moving in.

I spent part of my mother's day working to make the garden more attractive to my new residents. I put down mulch and added a hanging plant.  I had previously painted a pot with ladybugs and finally got around to filling it with ladybug friendly plants.  Now I just need the ladybugs.

Maker Monday - more from the growing Fairy garden #maker #garden #fairy

The water wheel turns due to the solar pump.  The frog is holding the solar panel that provides the power.  The plants are slowly spreading, so the bare spots shouldn't be bare for too long.

Pike Nurseries Ladybug Weekend @PikeNurseries @BravePrAtl #PikeLadybugs #PikeLadybugLaunch

I was invited to attend an event at the Pike Nurseries in Toco Hills.  It was a wonderful informative session all about ladybugs.  Part of it was what plants/flowers attract ladybugs (and other beneficial insects) to your garden.  These include Red Geranium, Coleus, White Cosmos, Purple fountain grass, Sunflowers, Dill, Fennel, Purple Basil and many others.  These were a couple of planters that incorporated some of these plants that are premade at Pike.

They are also selling packs of ladybugs for you to release into your garden.  Best time to release them is at dusk.  You can keep them in your refrigerator until you're ready to release.  They slow down and "hibernate" when it's cool, making it easier to keep them.  At dusk, they start getting ready for night and settle in.  When released, they will likely be thirsty, so water the plants around the area you plan to release them slightly.  Then, release them at dusk around the bases of your plants.  You can leave the container out to make sure all ladybugs are out.

We did a release of ladybugs into the Pike flowers.  This is opening the container which had hundreds of little ladybugs.

I had ladybugs on my hands, so this is my attempt at getting them into the plant base.

Pike Nurseries is having a ladybug weekend this Saturday and Sunday (April 23 & 24).  The garden center is giving away a free 150-count packet of ladybugs per purchase, while supplies last.  You can find informational sheets on creating a ladybug friendly garden, coloring sheets, and cool ladybug facts on the Pike Nurseries web site.  You can also get information on how to win a $100 Pike gift card.

Maker Monday My daughter's fairy garden #gardening #maker

This is the garden my daughter has put together.  It's center is a small dragon guarding his treasure.

Maker Monday Updating Fairy Gardens #gardening #maker #gnome

This one is a small garden I put together out of an old bird bath when my parents moved.  I change it around every so often depending on how the plants are doing.

My daughter is putting her own garden together, I'll show it off next week.  Together she and I are doing one big one.  It's still very much under construction, so it'll have to wait a while longer.

I re-purposed a fish tank into a Fairy garden #pretty #garden #miniplants #maker

When we visited the Monastery a while back, I shopped the garden area.  I brought home the house, sign and 3 small plants (front left, potted by house, rear right).  The rest of the plants are babies from some of the plants I already had.  The crystals are some we found when we went gem mining in Dahlonega last year.  I put it all in a small fish tank that had been sitting and gathering dust at the house.  There is a lid on the tank as the cats would otherwise play in the dirt too.

Friday's five step Fairy Garden #fairy #Tinkerbell #garden #howto #diy

I've had a fairy garden for a while, but I decided to expand it out a bit. The lower level is an old bird bath. The upper is the bottom of a pot (water tray). It still needs more work, but I added the house as well as the upper level this time. I rearranged somewhat as well.

The upper level has a basil "tree", gazing globe, bird feeder and Tinkerbell.  The lower level has the house, bird bath, bird house, gnome, and a small bonsai.  There is a moss "fall" joining the two.  The moon/fairy above is a stake that is separate from the others. I found that at a local festival last year.

If you're wanting to create one of your own, here are the steps I used to get started.

1.  Find a suitable container (in my case an old bird bath)
2. Place a layer of pebbles on the bottom for drainage
3. Add a layer of potting soil
4. Add moss (I just went out into my yard and pulled up sections of moss. I got some from different areas so it left my yard looking like squirrels had been there more than I had been pulling up moss.)
5. Add decorations.  This is only limited by your imagination and purse.  The basil came from my garden.  Tink came from a bird bath that broke, we saved her.  The gnome/bird bath/bird house/gazing globe came from Hobby Lobby's sale/clearance area.  The bonsai from Wal-Mart.  The house is a decorative bird house I bought at a yard sale.  Since I just added the upper area, I'm going to wait until the moss is established before adding more plants.  There are mini plants you can purchase to add detail to your scene.

Once created, enjoy! 

Garden Update

No thanks to all the rain, my garden veggies are starting to make progress.  No sign yet from the eggplant.  The squirrels helped themselves to my strawberries before they were ripe.  Everything is looking good, though, so I'm happy.

Cucumber

Peppers (bell)

Cherry tomatoes

Watermelon

Container Gardening (easy peasy)

The best area in my yard for gardening, is unfortunately not suitable for gardening. There are a lot of tree roots and not a lot of soil. So, I work around that using mostly recycled containers for my plants.

This is actually my small "pond". It was originally a kid's toy bucket, but since they outgrew it it was sitting in the attic. I wanted to drain my small pond in the back as the dogs were having a bit too much fun with it; however, it had tadpoles in it that I couldn't just abandon. So I filled this container up with water and the plants from my "pond" and then rescued as many tadpoles as I could.

These are my plant containers. Recycled cat litter boxes, kids' paddle pools, etc.  I have peppers growing in the closest paddle pool.  Onions are in the pink, lettuce in the far paddle pool.  Smaller containers have tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, beans, lavender, lemon balm, bee balm, miniature pomegranate, and more.   Most of my plants are heritage seed or from local growers (local master gardeners had a sale as did the local college). To use the containers, I punched holes in the bottoms to make sure the water could drain before putting the soil in.  If I wanted to get fancy, I could have painted the cat litter boxes, but I didn't bother.

Fairy Garden

I turned an old bird bath into a fairy garden. I actually did this last year, but have changed it slightly this year.  Underneath the moss is a layer of pebbles with a layer of soil on top.  The garden, as it exists currently, has Tinkerbell sitting by the word "Bloom", a small globe, bird house, bird feeder, gnome tending the moss, and a basil plant.  Over head is a metal cut-out of a fairy on the moon.  I want to find some more miniature plants to put in, but haven't really located any close to me.  I'll eventually add a house as well, but I'll have to change the layout first.