The Variegated Thumb

I’m not quite sure what sparked this project, but on Friday evening when I got home from dinner I was feeling creative, so I made good use of some sticks in our yard.

My homemade orchid basket

First I broke sticks by hand into similar lengths. Then I used a pair of pliers to snip the ends so they were a little more regular. I searched the garage for a while until I came across an old roll of wire. This was perfect because the wire was rusted and blended in with the wood even better – one of the advantages of living in an old family house!  After just about 30 minutes of work I had made a hanging basket for an orchid.

Edge of the orchid basket, where you can see the wiring a little better.

I think it turned out pretty nice for my first one and that I’ll make some more soon.  The orchid that’s in the basket in the picture above is Stanhopea wardii.  Stanhopeas are ideal for hanging baskets because they produce blooms that hang below the plants.  Other orchids actually produce their bloom stems from the roots, hanging down, which makes the open slats in the basket perfect (assuming the plant is directly in the basket, without a pot).  I really only have one or two orchids that require (or appreciate) a hanging basket like this but we have a lot of limbs and sticks in the backyard and I would like to hone my skills.  I think I can make the next one sturdier than the first model.  Maybe someone in the orchid society will want one…

Over the last couple weeks I put in about 10 hours of work to build a little path from our back patio around the greenhouse to the gate on the side of the house.  The work mostly consisted of digging out the area for the bricks, dumping the dirt in various low areas of our yard, cleaning the bricks of mortar (since these are repurposed bricks) and then the fun part: laying the bricks.

Our new brick path, wrapping around the greenhouse.

I think the project turned out really nice.  This area is very shady as soon as our huge Sycamore tree leafs out, so the grass has been gone for years.  This path was laid just before the Spring rains come, so we’ll be able to walk around the house without trudging into mud.

Our new brick path, leading to the side gate.

Building this path also gave us the opportunity to use some of our gardening budget and spiff up this part of our yard.  We purchased some little Pieris bushes (Pieris japonica ‘Valley Rose’) from Lowe’s that have the 1 year warranty.  That way if they aren’t able to handle the heat of our Oklahoma Summers, we can get our money back.  Lowe’s often offers some things that I haven’t seen before and I have to be a little skeptical.  Either they haven’t been tested in our climate or they have and they’re not going to make it.  I am kind of familiar with the name Pieris, though, and have read enough online now that I am fairly confident that these plants will be happy here.

Pieris japonica 'Valley Rose' and decorative hedgehog

The Pieris bushes have really nice, dusty rose colored blooms that droop like a fountain of little bells.  When the blooms have finished the foliage is still interesting, having a shape similar to a Schefflera.

I have wanted a Forsythia for a while, seeing them light up every Spring, and I know that it will do well in our climate.  Like our Quince, it won’t require any special care and should establish itself well in this location.  Also, I know that the Blue Star Junipers will do well in our climate.  We have some nice Green Mound Junipers in our front yard around the waterfall that look great.  They have slowly spread over time and just look better every year.

Forsythia and Blue Star Juniper

We would like to lay some shade grass sod around our path and in the most barren part of our yard near our porch now.  It will look much nicer and keep our house cleaner from the pups’ trips in and out this Spring.

I built a potting bench this summer from supplies and directions given to me for Christmas last year.  I wanted to protect the wood from weathering and rot, so I bought some stain and sealer and got it on before the cold, wet weather set in.  I have been very interested in the stains with color pigments in them, so I decided to try it out on this project.

Potting bench after being stained green

I really like the green pigment in this semi-transparent stain.  It allows the wood grains to show through, but the wood is protected and – it’s green!  What do you think?

Wood grains showing through the stain

A while back I posted pictures of a large piece of bark that I had come upon and mentioned that I wanted to do something creative with it.  I finally got around to doing something with it.

The bark has been outside, weathering the storms and all, so parts had broken away, but there was still a pretty good size piece holding together.  I found a piece of wood about the same length and fastened the bark to the plank in several locations along the length.

Rear view of my bark totem, showing the support board and hanging wire.

Then I used some heavy gauge wire to hang the bark from my rod in the greenhouse.

My bark totem hanging in the greenhouse

I’m working on building a bench that will sit just below my bark wall where I can place more of my pots.  My plan is to allow my Rhaphidophora tetrasperma to climb up the bark wall.  I have leaned the growing stems up against the lower portion and will let the adventitious roots attach.

What do you think of my bark wall?

Last year for Christmas my parents-in-law gave me an unusual gift: a mixing bowl.  I feigned gratitude until I opened my next gift: a box of bolts.  My mother-in-law was snickering, telling me that they went together.  Okay…

Next gift? Directions for building a potting bench!  Ah, now it makes sense.  My father-in-law told me he had bought the lumber and would deliver it to my house shortly.  They explained that the mixing bowl was for mixing my various soil ingredients and that I could cut a hole in the table top (if I wished) to hold the bowl recessed from the surface.

Completed potting bench

So, for the last 6 months or so I’ve had some really nice lumber piled up on the side of the house, and our picnic table has been covered in my plants so Christie hasn’t been able to enjoy her lunch breaks outside like she likes to do.  I had a free weekend a couple of weeks ago, so I pulled out the circular saw and went to work.  Just a couple of hours into it, I had something resembling the components of a bunk bed.  Another day of work and I had a very nice looking potting bench!

Top shelf of the potting bench

It fits very nicely along the wall of my greenhouse, right next to the door.  It also fits nicely under the eave of the house, where it gets a little more protection from the elements.

Now I have it loaded down with plants, leaving just enough room for repotting a plant or two on the work surface.  The lower shelf holds my bags of potting soil and extra pots.

I plan to stain it soon to protect the wood from long-term weathering.

What do you think!?!