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Garden

Garden art?

May 27, 2009

Garden art or a tree stuck in the ground upside down? You make the call!

I’m a big fan of garden art, but not such a big fan of paying for it. Fortunately, I’m also a fan of driftwood, so I’m always on the lookout for interesting pieces. A couple years ago I found a driftwood tree (the whole thing) that had some interesting roots. So I grabbed the husband, a rope and a chainsaw and had him cut off the bottom chunk, and drag it up the beach. It’s been sitting around (and drying out, thankfully) for about 18 months now and the other day I was inspired enough to do something with it. So what does one do with a driftwood tree? Well … plant it upside down! So there it is, standing like a little soldier in my garden. It looks pretty stark now, but once some plants fill in around it, I think it could be pretty cool. I’ve also planted a clematis by it that I’m hoping to sort of wrap around it. We’ll see. It’s just an experiment, but it was free so how can you go wrong?

I have a few other pieces of driftwood “art” around the yard, including one that I always thought looked like a person diving. It now holds a house number plaque that my husband made out of carbon fiber. Just a tad ironic to have driftwood holding carbon fiber, don’t you think?

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
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Comments

  1. Helen says: May 27, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    I have an open mind about what constitutes garden art. So why not!

    Reply
  2. Erin Schanen says: May 28, 2009 at 12:53 am

    I guess I should consider it a good thing that at least three people have seen and not said, “You know you have an upside down tree growing in your garden, right?”

    Reply

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The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

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Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
These sister dahlias are big, beautiful girls. Pen These sister dahlias are big, beautiful girls. Penhill Watermelon (first picture) and Penhill Dark Monarch are the best two HUGE dahlias that I grow. They share slightly twisty petals (Watermelon more so) and, when you look closely, subtle striations that add a beautiful depth of color. Watermelon grows taller than Dark Monarch (7 feet tall or more sometimes) and they both need serious staking, but it’s worth it because they produce a lot of flowers for a large-flowering dahlia. 

I like them both but if I was forced to choose (and who would make me do that?) I’d give the edge to Dark Monarch because it’s a little easier to manage size-wise, produces more flowers and has a bigger variation in flower color so it’s always interesting. 

Which do you like better?
I don’t love tools that only do one thing. But w I don’t love tools that only do one thing. But when there’s only one tool that does that one thing really well, I’m here for it. This pottery/container knife from Sneeboer makes it possible to actually get plants out of pots without breaking or damaging the pot. It’s also really expensive. 😀
A little snippet of a bouquet from the weekend. Zi A little snippet of a bouquet from the weekend. Zinnias, pycnanthemum muticum and bronze fennel shown here.
My love for Nicotiana is not a secret. I love tryi My love for Nicotiana is not a secret. I love trying out new varieties and I feel like they just work so well in my garden from both a design standpoint and a cultural standpoint (they are happy here). Because I grow so many, the ones that self sow can be surprises. 

All of these self-sown Nicotiana are probably at least partly the children of the F1 hybrid Perfume series, which grow to be about 24” tall or so. Last year I grew purple, pink, white and lime versions and these are likely new variations on those. 

Picture 3 is, in my opinion, a good example of how these self sown second-year hybrids can go wrong. I’ll probably rip that one out. 😀

And the last photo is of my favorite colorway, lime, popping up amongst the Zinnias. I find these self-sown Nicotiana popping up all summer, so there’s always a fresh-blooming supply. 

Are you as enamored with Nicotinana as I am?
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