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My gardens are just a beautiful place
to sit and be inspired. So very peaceful, surrounded by
natures beauty. You too can obtain this serenity in
you own back yard. Not only will you be creating your own
special space, but also raise the value of your home
in doing so. |
To start, make a garden journal. It is best to jot down your ideas on paper
and later use your drawings as a reference to where you plant what so you know
where everything is. It's best to measure your space and
map it to scale. Don't let yourself be overwhelmed. Start out with a small space and then
add on after that. Sculpting the earth along the way. You want to keep in mind along with
your plantings have some sort of structure or element to enhance this space. A focal point ~ Something to stop the
eye Weather it be a simple raised bed, a
trellis for vines, a sculpture, bird bath or feeder, wind chimes or a simple water feature
for soothing sounds and the attraction of wild life. One of the most important gardens
should be your Entry way to your home for a
grand welcoming. Simple ~ Sweet ~ Inviting curb appeal. Potted plants, hanging baskets and window boxes are a quick solution to
enhance your home itself. |
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My gardens consist of "Garden
Rooms" ~ Different sections used for different purposes. Some of the rooms I've created are, My court yard ~ teahouse ~ moon garden
~ herb garden ~ forest garden ~ a fairy garden where my
granddaughter loves to sit and play : ) and my water garden, filled with beautiful Japanese koi,
frogs, snails, and 2 waterfalls. |
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A Celebration of Summers End
It all began when I placed a teeny tiny door I made, with a teeny tiny
stone walkway leading up to it in my Granddaughter, Madison's fairy garden.
A garden I gave her to call her own. Where she could sit and play, plant
flowers, read stories, decorate with her own garden art and let her
imagination run wild. Well, Madison was certain that fairies were afoot inside that teeny tiny
door. Knocking at it every time she came for a visit, asking the fairies to
please come out and play. Leaving letters, drawings and gifts for them, as
they also returned the favor :) I told her, "They can't come out just
yet. They were very busy preparing for the fairy festival". "Fairy
Festival? What's that?" she asked. I explained the fun that was to be had with the fairies at the end of
summer. So each time she came to visit me, I kept her idle hands busy, as we
planned and crafted decorations and games to play for Our Celebration of
Summer End, Our Fairy Festival.
We had such a Beautiful sunny day for the affair.I decorated the trees
with ribbons as they waved in the breeze and decorated her fairy garden with
tulle and a jeweled wind chime tree. I placed flower cards inside the draped
tulle, each with a special game for us to play.
We all put on our
fairy wings and journeyed into the garden. Oh the fun we had! We played
games, won prizes, sang songs, played music, went on a fairy treasure hunt,
had a sidewalk chalk contest, read "Flower Fairies Stories from the
Garden" by Frederick Warne and ended it with a grand tea party.
We were served teeny
tiny sandwiches, scrumptious cakes, jelly rolls, brownies, fruits and
loganberry tea, all courtesy of "Those busy little fairies that live at
Grandmama's house in Madison's Fairy Garden" :)
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Children In The Garden
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This
Spring introduce your children to the wonderful and rewarding art of
gardening ~
Get them outdoors and enjoying nature ~ Help
them to create their own special space to experiment with plants and garden art.
This can be a fun and simple project to do over a weekend. Keeping them busy
every year tending and adding to it. Bringing them hours of enjoyment and
accomplishment. My children had gardens growing up and had so
much fun creating them along the years and were very proud of them. Showing
them off by giving garden tours to everyone who visited. They filled them
with not only plants and love, but garden art and crafts they created. 20 years later their gardens are still there.
A bit overgrown and sadly forgotten. But ready to embrace a new generation of
caretakers, "Their Children". How fun that will be to do all over
again when they come to visit Grandmama! My son's garden was a collection of plants
found right on our land. A woodland garden. Full of elderberry bushes, moss,
ferns, wild daffodils, rocks and
fossils he'd collected from our all of our travels. He used wild strawberries
he found for the ground cover. He picked these every year and ate them with
his cherrios :) My daughter's was a fairy garden. Early
spring it exploded with crocus, tulips and daffodils. Our cat loved to hide
in them and popped out to scare her quite often :) Followed by double
daylilies in the summer with gorgeous primrose for the ground cover. She made
little paths of tiny pebbles that lead in all directions in her garden. Tiny
fairy statues adorned the paths with Fairy houses made of mud and moss. I smile every time I pass by them. A simple garden journal is a good way to
start. Map out their garden ideas on paper as to
what they envision their garden to become. Keep a garden chore chart along
with the journal. With stickers to mark when garden chores are done. When to
water, weed, flick those flower eating bugs into a can, dead head the old blossoms
and mulching. This reinforces their organizational skills and a sense of
responsibility. Help them work and fertilize the soil to get
them going. Maybe encourage them with their own set of children's garden
tools. Then its off to your local nursery or an
adventure on your property to gather some plants and watch the fun grow! |
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All
Contributed Content Copyright Julie DeGroot Copyright
c 2006 - 2012 Julie DeGroot |