Pigs will fly

When the Cubs won the World Series, I had a premonition about the election. Sadly, my fears came true. I don't remember ever bursting into tears over election results before. My one consolation is voter turnout was low, so we are not so much a nation full of hate but one of apathy and/or frustration. Let's hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

To distract ourselves last Tuesday, my SO and I took a road trip to the Toledo area. At the recommendation of a friend, we stopped at Grand Rapids OH along the way. Despite the Trump signs, we enjoyed our visit there. We ate pie at Miss Lily's Restaurant, made some fiber and decor purchases at the Natural Fiber and Yarn Co., and strolled along the Maumee River.

There we found a small but interesting river/water theme garden. Besides the fish planters and red hand pump, a spigot serves as a perch for the birdhouse on the left. (I assume any avian residents of that house are sparrows. Tired of housing sparrows, I donated my bluebird boxes to a local nature preserve group - maybe they will have better luck attracting bluebirds than I did.)

These red, white, and blue samples of garden art caught my eye, as they look like alliums.

Closer inspection revealed that they are made of balled up CHICKEN WIRE mounted on plastic covered rebar! I've been wanting to add a splash of color to my hosta bed, and these may be just the ticket. Even with my limited skills set, I should be able to wad up poultry netting and spray paint it.

My SO identified the gingko trees that line the main drag of Grand Rapids. I know a few things about gingkos - they adapt well to urban environments but the fruit produced by female plants is stinky. I did not know that they are so pretty in fall, tolerate clay soil and some shade, and are known as "living fossils".

I would consider them for my yard, but they are not native and appear to provide no habitat for wildlife here in the states.

I can still enjoy them elsewhere.

Art in my garden

On the Garden Bloggers Tour, I saw a lot of garden art, but cannot envision much of it working in my yard. While cleaning out the garage, I almost threw out a wire sculpture my daughter made in high school, of a ballerina. Why not hang that in the garden?

Unfortunately, she looks too much like something hung in effigy. I plan to reposition her arms and find a better location than the bird feeding station. Hopefully, she will withstand the elements, at least during the summer.

"It's easy!"

So said Wouterina Riana DeRaad when I swooned over her garden sculpture park. "When you start, you won't want to stop!" That latter I'm sure was meant to be encouraging, but for someone like me, it also serves as a warning: DANGER! DANGER! NEW HOBBY AHEAD!

This stop on the Garden Bloggers Fling was the epitome of garden art and creativity. While I would love to take a workshop, a little voice in my head carps that this is not my art form. The artist learned to work with stucco when she and her former husband purchased a fixer-upper, the themes in these functional yet whimsical pieces reflect her personal history and upbringing, and living in the country, she can put pretty much anything she damn well pleases in her yard and on her house (including the red flying Pegasus from a Mobil oil ad, which I neglected to photograph).

I have some garden art in my yard, all purchased or gifted. If I wanted to create my own, what would my media be? What would be the theme? I'll have to ponder that a bit.

Other examples of creativity abounded on the garden tour, from the use of natural materials to the repurposing of a variety of objects.

Deconstructed weather vane hides chicken wire fence

Saw bowling balls in several gardens - is this a thing?

Sticks...

...more sticks...

... another stick.

Tea kettles to planters

Bird cage?

Shovel birds

Something or other as plant holder

One lump or two?

It's a garden party!

Stone bird bath

Painted lumber

One of the more intriguing DYI projects we came across were these concrete planters. They are not actually concrete but styrofoam containers treated to resemble concrete.

We were first fooled, then amazed. But now that I Googled for some instructions, I see that they are not such a secret to the Internet.

After seeing so much creativity everywhere we went, I came home wanting to somehow duplicate everything. But do I really want a bowling ball in my garden? Where would I put faux concrete planters and what would I put in them? Where would I find enough straight sticks to make a trellis, big or small? And then there is the underlying talent, which I seem to lack - my stuff ends up looking "homemade" instead of "handmade".

But I bet I could put together a door mat from bottle caps.

Art in the garden

My SO and I recently spent a few days in New York City. Among the sites and sights was the Highline. I didn't take photos of the plants - those may be viewed at their web site - but I did snap a few of the sculptures.

There was some "found art" in view as well.

I'm interested in introducing more art and hardscape, maybe even a water feature beyond my little fountain, to my yard and garden. This kind of display gives me ideas.

Perfect weather, sort of

We have been having some gorgeous weather from the human comfort standpoint - cool, dry, partially overcast so no sun baking one's brains, etc. Some of the garden plants, especially the sad looking sweet potatoes, wish it were warmer, and they all could use a good soaking rain. But us two-leggeds cannot complain. Some hot days are coming, then hopefully a storm and more of these reasonable temps. We'll see - weather is so fickle.

Here's what's happening in the yard these days:

First up, garlic!

The pic above is 'Music' which is supposed to be the newest fave of backyard garlic growers. I purchased it from Burpee, who sells it by the ounce, not the bulb, so I had no idea how much I was getting. Turns out a LOT, enough to experiment with. Pickled garlic, anyone? (The variety below is either Bogatyr, German Extra Hardy, or Georgia Fire, all of which I grew from my own stock.)

I think the fountain never made it out of the shed at all last year. Now that I am home ALL THE TIME, it is back on the back porch where I can enjoy its burbling while simultaneously enjoying this great weather. (Notice Meyer lemon in the back. It is much recovered and doing great - knock on wood!)

Next to the back porch, where I can keep an eye on it, is some swamp milkweed, which is relatively new to the yard.

Not so new to the yard is common milkweed, all volunteers. Milkweed spreads easily but is also easy to discourage, either purposely or not. Given the plight of the monarch population, I am going to deliberately encourage these guys.

New garden art!

Last year, I added the cat below. This year, when I passed the same vendor at the Three Rivers Festival, I eyeballed the sampling but nothing (that was within my price range) caught my eye. My SO, however, returned the next day and bought me the above heron. It is standing in the rhubarb patch, but I am thinking it would look great by a pond. Agree?

Here's is the Japanese fern I mentioned before, a gift from my (now former) co-workers. It's still alive, and now I am interested in maybe adding a few tall ferns to the back of the hosta bed. Maybe. We'll see how this one does.

Another gift from those co-workers, a Supertunia. I'm not much of a petunia person, but I am curious to see what a super version of one does.

And, finally, daylilies.

My daylilies bloom every year, and every year I am so taken with their luscious colors that I photograph them, and the photos look remarkably similar to the photos from previous years.

Yesterday I picked my first tomatoes of the season, some cherry-sized ones. I planted two varieties of cherry tomatoes and the plants have become so HUGE and intertwined that I am not sure which plant these came from. I'm guessing the Matt's Wild Cherry, simply because the black cherry should be darker, right? I've not grown either before, so I'm not sure what to expect, except great taste. Yum!