This summer - as most of you have already read in my prior blogs - was a scorcher here in Big Lake, Alaska - and many of our feathered and flying friends needed a little help to get through it!
This area near the "brown shed" as we call it, has been bugging me for about two years but I had not had time to do anything about it until this year. Fortunately for me it is in an area that is mostly shady throughout the heat of the day. I just needed something to make it a little neater and seem a little more welcoming space as it is one of the first areas you see when you drive in.
The eave on the shed is perfect for hanging baskets of wave petunia in my favorite purple and lobelia and miniature asters in the round planter fill in the space around without making it look crowded there and without shading the plants around it.
I had started with the bench from Pinterest that I featured in another blog. The pictures were taken before I had given the bench the re-vamp! I planted the Caesars Brother iris next to the bricks and of course surrounded it with plastic underlay and stones on top to keep the weeds down. I left a rather large hole in the plastic here so the iris can expand when it is ready. Caesars Brother is a beautiful blue-purple iris that almost seems like if you touch it that it would feel like touching satin. The leaves are more grass like and thinner than his blue flag brothers and Caesar might not be as hardy but it is awfully close - lives in Big Lake without too many problems. I have another one in a full sun area and it does not do as well as the one in the shadier area - Ill keep you posted on that on the "Thriving on the Farm" page.
The terra cotta pot bottom is the waterer for bees and butterflies! It is shallow and with some added colored stones and pebbles in it is the perfect resting oasis for those smaller bees, butterflies, and even some of the birds for whom the deep birdbaths dont work! Its only drawback was that it had to be filled about three times a day when it was really hot out - but the trade off was that I got to see more of the visitors to the space by making trips over there throughout the day!
The "gazing globe" that you see is in reality a bowling ball that I got for $5.00 at the Salvation Army store! ALways check the sports bin - I have seen a number of various colored bowling balls there - I have a blue one in another location on the farm. I have never been able to keep a real gazing globe alive - they always get hit with something - other balls, rocks, dog tails or hockey pucks - even a go kart once - so the sturdy bowling ball saves the day and no one can really tell that it isnt glass.
The shed still needs a good coat of paint - on the list for next year but now that I have the bench revamped and this corner done - this will be a space that gets enjoyed all spring, summer, and fall!
Even your most raggedy spaces can become beautiful oasis areas for you and for the wild visitors who come through! Find your oasis - if you build it they will come!
No comments:
Post a Comment