Tag Archives: hobby

Miniature Gardens As Centerpieces…

tiny cloche...

tiny cloche…

In a few short weeks Mountain Brook’s  Little Garden Club, a charter member of the Garden Club of America, will host a regional zone meeting and flower show. It will take place April, 2014, and a lot of folks are involved in planning this important event. Members of GCA clubs will be attending from the surrounding states, so there will be a lot of visitors!

Miniature Garden

 

 

 

 

Miniature Garden

I’ll be assisting with a number of others in the “passing” of the horticultural exhibits – clearing them for entry into the flower show to be judged. I was very flattered to be asked and happy to help with this event, which has been two years in the planning.

Miniature GardenWhat does all this have to do with miniature gardens, you ask? Well, these tiny gardens have been very  popular the past number of years, and the garden club organizers decided it would be a fun thing to have on some of the tables for one of their meetings. And they turned to Oak Street Garden Shop for help.

The containers we chose are metal, and they will be wrapped with aspidistra leaves to make a “Ribbon of Green”, the theme of this year’s meeting.

These pictures show how some turned out. The miniature gardens are designed to continue living as a true garden, so plant material is chosen accordingly, with only minor exceptions.

imageBecause these take a great deal of time to make, I finally gave up on waiting for new miniature garden accessories I’d ordered since my deadline to have them completed was looming…but I still had plenty of fun things to play with. If you’ve ever made one of these gardens in miniature, you’re well aware how detailed and time consuming they are.

For some of the centerpieces I chose succulents, including haworthias and sedums, which work well for tiny plantings. Pilea ‘Aquamarine’ is a low grower with a great color; it just needs clipping regularly to keep it from overrunning its neighbors.

Miniature GardenTiny pots of ordinary houseplants also work in these gardens. Little parlor palms, ferns, polka dot plants and baby podocarpus make good companions, and selaginella is a pretty groundcover.

It’s nice to have different sizes of pebbles to create paths and larger stones to create “boulders”. Can you see the turtle sitting on one?

There’s still more tweaking to do (Just like a real garden that is never “done”!), and one more not even started yet…but that story is for another post. If you’re in the Birmingham area, stop in and take a look. They’re even more fun in person!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Garden Up! These Vertical Gardens Are Easy To Make!

These vertical gardens are fun to make!

These vertical gardens are fun to make!

Vertical gardening is hot! We have been searching for a user friendly vertical garden system for our customers to try, and think we may have found it!

These are sturdy frames with a coco liner insert. The liner has openings cut so insertion of plants is easy peasy…there are nine openings along the front and three on each side and, of course, the top is plantable as well. You can even put more than one together to make a larger vertical garden. We have the frames available for you to purchase and plants like those shown here if you’d like to give it a try! (Or, buy the frame now and save it for planting in the spring.)   We’re going to try a succulent version next – we’ll keep you posted!

Small, Smaller, Smallest – Miniature Gardens!

A sampling of our miniature gardening accessories

A sampling of our miniature gardening accessories

Kids love them and so do adults! Miniature gardens capture the kid in all of us, and maybe that’s why they’re so popular. Really, how can you resist the magic of these tiny worlds? From the smallest birdbaths and ponds (every garden should have some water, after all) to the perfect path leading to a miniature bench (yes, that’s a kitty sunning itself there..) we think they’re magical.

A child’s miniature garden

We created one special garden for a little 7 year old – it was a Christmas gift from her grandmother. Imagine that little girl’s face when she caught sight of her very own little garden! From that child’s delight to a landscape used as a centerpiece on a luncheon table, all of the gardens we create are meant to last – just let us know where you’d like to use them, inside or outside, and what type of light they’ll be in and we’ll take it from there – we promise you’ll be delighted!

A bird's eye view of a miniature garden landscape

A bird’s eye view of a miniature garden landscape

 

 

Another tiny garden we created is a bird’s eye view of plants designed to live in a sunny location – we used plenty of succulents and other small plants that can take some heat!

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Miniature garden with greenery and rocks

Maintenance involves keeping plants trimmed and watered as necessary…no aching back tending these gardens! How great is that? We’ll be posting more photos of our miniature gardens and accessories so check in often!

Need Your Terrarium Planted? We Can Help!

Reindeer moss and small rocks enhance this miniature landscape in glass ~

Reindeer moss and small rocks enhance this miniature landscape in glass ~

Terrariums, gardens in glass, are everywhere these days. We’ve noticed many of our customers have them, either given to them as a gift, or purchased on a whim because they thought it would be a fun project. So…do you have one and not know what  to do with the darn thing? Well, that’s just the sort of thing we can help with!

Of course, a terrarium can be any glass container with a lid, or open at the top like the one shown here. A customer brought one in the other day that had been used as the centerpiece at her wedding in 1974 – she was thrilled to let us do the planting honors for the first time in 19 years! You want to plant one yourself you say? We can give you tips and advice to help you create a beautiful ecosystem to enjoy for years.

The terrariums shown here have a layer of pebbles mixed with aquarium charcoal, (The charcoal keeps bacteria from forming in the moist environment.) a layer of potting soil, and plants with decorative rocks and moss added for the final touch. Isn’t the 2 tier terrarium fun? What a wonderful focal point it would make in an office setting or home! Most terrariums need water rarely – if enclosed, the environment stays quite moist. Those with open tops will need water more often, but be careful not to overwater since there’s obviously no drainage. Ferns, fittonias, creeping fig, nephytis and selaginella are just some of the plants that thrive here. .

A double tier terrarium - twice the fun!

A double tier terrarium – twice the fun!

Terrariums in all shapes and sizes...

Terrariums in all shapes and sizes…

Pine Straw and Perennials

What a gloomy week it looks like we’re in store for – but, on the bright side, temperatures will be warming up, making it a good time to get outside between rain showers. A lot of you have been putting down fresh pine straw since all the leaves are off the trees. Our rolls of pine straw are pretty – and remember we deliver too.

Screen Shot 2013-01-14 at 3.30.09 PMNow is the time also to cut back dead foliage from perennials and get on top of any winter weeds in your garden beds that may be coming up between pansys. Resolve to take a walk through your landscape once a week to do this – it’s good exercise! While you’re out, do take time to enjoy the little things – a new bloom on a pansy, the swelling buds of spring blooming shrubs, the foliage of an emerging daffodil – we promise you’ll feel better after a “tour” around the yard if you stop to enjoy it once in a while too!

Another “Best Of” poll is out…this one in  Village Living.  If you think we’re “Best” for your hobby, vote for us or perhaps write us in for friendliest service – Thanks!!!  (And by the way, we think you’re the best!)