"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands........" 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Monday, October 28, 2013

I have only to look outside my door for help

in garden design and inspiration.
I found this true while in the process of making a path for my garden.
Early in the spring, I dug up young sproutings of Lantana( circled in the photo above)  from my mother's yard, carried them home and transplanted them in the garden I am designing. I had 6 plants and I planted 3 on each side of a space that I reserved for my garden path.
 
The Lantana has grown and is still in bloom...........even though it is almost November.
 
Through the weeks and the previous posts, I have shown you the rocks I am creating by using cement with  leaf and pine cone impressions.
 
I also created cement stones and decorated some with rocks and left some plain.
 
From my local lumber company.......out back in the mesquite woods...........
I was able to find  nice size mesquite branches and pine cones from the pine trees.
 
I smoothed out the path................
 
I then placed the stones ................
 
I then filled in the gaps with small gravel............from out in my back pasture...........
 
and added the pine cones and mesquite branches.
 
Now my path looks like this............(click onto photo for better view) I love it! 
 If you remember in the last post, I showed you a wonderful old gingerbread archway? I will be placing that at the front of this path! I am still in the process of stripping it.
 
Also, I gave a broken shovel a new life by making it into a garden sign.
I will keep working and adding to this garden throughout the chilly season. Hopefully by next spring, the young Lantana will be bigger and more filled out and there will be a large garden of Zinnias and other blossoming flowers.
How about you?
What object have you found to decorate your gardens with?
I would love to hear!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 






15 comments:

Faith said...

what clever craftiness you create such coolness. ! I really like the rocks with the imprints. The Lantana looks beautiful, and how wonderful, from you mom's garden. Thank you for stopping over, and having a croissant or three LOL with me, we had a nice visit didn't we? Come by again when your near my farmstead....:)

Bev C said...

Hello Kathleen,

Great re-use of plants and found items. Love that shovel sticking out of the ground. Lantana plants are so tough, I think they are not available for sale here anymore, they have been declared a pest. Spreading into National Parks etc.
Happy gardening.
Bev.

Debbie said...

Sorry I have no information to trade you Kathleen. But I absolutely love your yard! How on earth do you make those pinecone impressions on your stones? I would really like to know. I've barely been out in my yard in the last month except to scoop. :D
You have material for another book. Bringing beauty to the plains by simply using and re-arranging natural things. Wish I had a creative gene like you!

Debbie

Sherri Farley said...

I love this little path. Very creative. Even the little tiny stones are a beautiful color.

magnoliasntea said...

You've been busy making a lovely path in your garden. The stones look great, and I love your local lumber supply company. Homegrown is always best! You could have bought a better sign either. Can't wait to see the archway.

Patty H. said...

Very nice! You are so creative.

Nancy J said...

What a great use for the shovel, remodelled, painted, and there for all to see, and Lantana, takes me back to childhood when my Mum had some planted at the farm, loved the smell when the leaves are crushed. Super stepping stones. Cheers, Jean.

Betty Lou said...

The designer just keeps coming out in all areas of your life. This will be beautiful in spring when Mother Nature brings the cold ground into budding life.

lil red hen said...

More signs of your wonderful creative abilities! Maybe I should try lantana in some of my beds. I added the top section of an old tree lamp, minus the shades, in one of my beds. It needs a little work done and then it would be a nice place for a bird bath or flower pots.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Unfortunately, Kathleen, we have not decorated our gardens anywhere near yours, in fact, not at all. We do have an overabundance of pine cones, but these are the ones that are prickly so most likely they will end up as compost.

Anonymous said...

Oh how I wish you were my neighbor. I could use a friend like you to help make my garden prettier.

Blessings!

Sue

Connie said...

I love your path, Kathleen. You are so creative and have such a wonderful way of using nature in your designs. Your yard and gardens are like a magical world all their own.

Hill Top Post said...

Every garden needs a path, and I think yours should get a great big TEN! I really like the mix of branches and pine cones with the stone.

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

It looks like you are having a lot of fun. We are still leveling the back yard and adding trenches and pea gravel for drainage. Fun stuff!

Wonky Girl said...

Gosh, I sure enjoy watching your garden grow. To decorate around my yard I place broken dishes and mugs under the trees and plants.