Monday, May 20, 2013

Fun with concrete in the garden

About four years ago, my daughter made a couple stepping tiles for the garden. One was a father-daughter project that we did one summer afternoon. The other was a project she did while at pre-K.
Last year I bought the supplies to make a few more but never got around to it. Yesterday we did another batch of stepping tiles and they came out pretty good.
We also decided to try to make something new. I had this idea to cast bowls and other objects because I thought the forms would be interesting for the garden. I had a left-over light globe and my daughter taped glass tiles to the inside surface and then we filled it with concrete. I think we can perfect the process but it still looks pretty cool. It kind of reminds of a mini Death Star or that hovering ball from the movie Phantasm but I like it and we'll probably make some more.


We still have plenty of glass left and we haven't tried out the flower mold yet so I think we may be making more of these over Memorial Day weekend.
Elsewhere in the garden: the alium looks great and I am glad I planted it.
My small dollar-buy off the distressed plants bin at Lowe's, my doublefile viburnum, is doing pretty well also. It is almost three feet tall and should be a full-fledged tree next year.
The five varieties of hostas we have growing by the pergola are also doing well.
I got lazy with the border this year and threw down some perennial seeds last fall. I've since filled it in with some foxglove and bee balm from the front yard and I think it is going to look great this year.
Finally, after digging out all of the hops (a major chore), I found an amythist falls wisteria to climb up the pergola. It has grown over a foot since putting it in a week and a half ago. It also had a bud and should start flowering soon. I also added some seed and transplanted perennials at the border near the pergola. This area should fill in nicely also.

3 comments:

Eco Handyman said...

Those look great, I especially like the sphere. The aliums look great, I've been wanting to plant those in my garden for years but I always forget come planting time!

Sharon Kwilter said...

Those are so pretty!! It reminded me we made some stepping stones a few years ago and they're still packed somewhere in storage. One of these days we'll find them and get them out in the yard.

Laura said...

I walked by a house in Oak Park and noticed some concrete stepping stones on the strip between the sidewalk and the street. These had pinecones set into the concrete with the glass! Was that you? Or maybe a classmate? What a fun project!