For those of us who love to make use of our gardens all year round, the following fragrant flowers are a great addition. Winter Daphne (Daphne ordora) is excellent for milder winter areas. This will create a strong aroma in late winter and early spring. For a great perfume during mid summer through early fall, plant the Regal Lily. The flowers are trumpet shaped, and purple so they also bring you colour.
With all of this fragrance saturating the air of your garden, you will have one more reason to be the sociable neighbours. In the Summer and Spring you can sip on delicious wines, in fact it is the perfect spot for a wine and cheese tasting club to gather. This is such a good idea, I know because I do it.
Then, in the Fall and Winter, you can have hot chocolate and smores parties around a contemporary fire pit. There are probably enough variations of hot cocoa to support the creation of a club entirely based upon this tasty treat. Keep your hands warm with the hot mug, and your nose filled with the accented air. I love this idea too, and will plan to organize this next year for my neighbourhood.
If you have a garden pond, you may not know it but you have a wonderful surface to decorate. If you have not yet seen them, then listen up. You can introduce colour to your pond in a way other than stocking it with fish or growing lilies in it. Instead bring the colour to your pond with a few hand-blown glass floats.
The ones I just purchased came in a pack of three orbs and they are presently bobbing on the waters surface in my own fish pond. Each has multiple coloured layers one on top of the other. For example, the predominantly green one is sea foam green, with lime green peeping through and lastly flecks of gold. Come to think of it they would probably look fabulous dancing around the surface of a pool also. To say they enhance the space they are placed into would be an understatement. And not to brag that they cost under one hundred pounds would be ludicrous.
Many of us forget that we have all the supplies necessary to create glorious, personalized wreaths in our garden. What could be more perfect as a garden decoration, than a garden wreath of coordinating vines and flowers. Plus, it is entirely up to you as to how easy or difficult a project this becomes.
If you are looking for a casual, loosely woven wreath, then you can expect the preparation of the wreath to be amazingly simple. Just collect 2 vines, 3 to 10 feet in length, and the greater portion of the task is done. Loosely coil the first vine three times, then weave the remaining portion through the coil. Finish by tucking the tail end in, and start weaving the second vine from a different section of the wreath and tuck the tail end in at another point. The amount of detail, and time spent from this point on will be determined by the articles you work into the wreath.
Now, if you are looking to make something more formal, the first difference is in the way you coil and weave. You should coil and weave tighter. Then, you should repeat the coil and weave process 3 to four times, instead of just two. Then, add ribbons, flowers, ornaments, pinecones, pinwheels, well you get the idea.
In sum, as you can see, a basic wreath can be simple and free to make. Children love this project, and enjoy seeing their creation hanging proudly in the garden. Enjoy!
One of the most interesting things I have recently heard of for gardeners is plant-by-number. Surely, we all remember the good old childrens paint books that guided you on what colour paint to place where on the picture. They were usually given to us right after we had grasped the art of colouring within the lines.
Anyway, the same approach has been applied to gardening. Now, I do recognize that for some gardeners this is close to blasphemy. But let me gently remind you of your early days in the garden. While you may not care to admit it, or you may have banished all memories of it from your pretty little head, there is a near certainty that you had some trials and tribulations at some point.
So, this plant-by-number idea should be valued for what it is worth. It is a tool to assist the inexperienced in making good choices. This, as we all recognize, will do wonders for the productivity and self-esteem of those just venturing into the world of gardening.
While building your own garden pond can bring you much joy, there are of course downsides. For many attracting wildlife, such as greenfinches, blackbirds and frogs, is a great bonus. However, it can also bring creatures that you may not want visiting.
For example, at night there can be badgers and foxes that stop in for a visit. Then, there is the often unwanted heron or neighbourhood cats. These can put your resident fish, and frogs, at risk. You can take some precautionary measures to limit your losses, for instance extra stones lining the pool edge, and within it, give adult frogs nice places to hide from predators.
Quite often new gardeners make the mistake of stock piling their gardens all at once. Usually only planting what they have seen in bloom on their neighbours property, or at the local nursery at the time of their intitial purchase. This leaves the garden ready to flourish in one season, but lacking in others.
A better, more balanced approach is to use the one third method. Segment the garden, and plant for different seasons. This will give you colour at every time available within your climate. This does not mean using the garden centre, or neighbour as a guide is wrong. It just means that you need to visit, or observe, in each season you wish to have blossoms, and plant accordingly.