Friday, July 4, 2008

Happy Independence Day!

I hadn't planned to plant anything to commemorate Independence Day,
but it dawned on me this morning
that I did have a "little something" patriotic
out there!
Yep, IVG, impatiens! ;-)

And lobelia. It really is a nice combination.
And they look Very sweet under my sister's tree.
:-)

Now, for the doings of a few minutes ago,
Tah-dah!
More "birdbaths!"

My dad will inherit one, as his birthday is July 16.
Below is the step-by-step:

On a sheet of plastic, create a mound of sand.
Cover the mound with plastic wrap (the kind you use in your kitchen).
Lay your leaf (rhubarb, hosta, etc.) over the plastic-covered sand mound.
Then mix your concrete and smooth it over the leaf.Make it fairly thick, all the way to the edges.

Below, I've placed straight-sided flower pots on the back of the concrete.
Then, using handfuls of concrete, I create a "ring" around the pot.
This will be the "foot" or "stand" for the birdbath/garden art.

:-)
A close-up.
Last, but not least, cover the concrete well with plastic.
Then, I used old towels to cover the plastic.
I will let them rest for about 3 days.
By then they should be cured,
and you will see a picture of the finished product later.

Please be safe this weekend.
Enjoy times with your friends and family.

6 comments:

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Happy 4th Shady!
LOL, at least those are red impatiens and lobelia is always lovely if you can keep it watered enough (daily, two times, lol).

I love your birdbath process explanations! Please do another post on how it's progressing! I'll make Fernymoss read them so he can get ideas beyond making stepping stones. Trouble is, we don't have access to rhubarb or hosta leaves, lol. Maybe we should wait until we get a big ole castor leaf? What do you think?

Gail said...

Shady,

You're showing your crafty garden side! Love it. It would be fun to spend a weekend making these birdbaths with you! I have all kinds of glass and broken pottery from my mosaic projects! I would mosaicing all summer but the mosquitoes are horrible and they see me as a buffet to visit again and again.

Oh poor me!

Hope your Fourth was fun.

Gail

Shady Gardener said...

IVG, I've been told those big old Caster leaves would make a spectacular birdbath/garden art project! :-) I'll finish the project tomorrow (the 6th).

Gail, And I'd love to have you visit!! The mosquitoes/gnats, etc. have been pretty awful, but they seem to be subsiding somewhat. There's hope! :-) Personally, I believe it's always good to have more projects in mind to do than the time to do them. That way, something will appeal when the time allows. Happy 5th of July. We get to see fireworks and hear the SE Iowa Symphany (simultaneously) tonight in Burlington!!!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Thanks for the step-by-step. I have a few leaf candidates for this. I should give it a try.

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Shady,
Hope you enjoy the Symphony and Fireworks! Any chance they'll play the 1812 overture with cannons, etc.? LOL

We were talking about doing your birdbath thing tonight, but it will have to wait until the castors are big enough we can swipe a leaf or two, but we want to do it later this summer!

Shady Gardener said...

MMD, Let me know how you do!!!

IVG, I'm glad you're going to try it, too. YES, I'll be posting on "Odds and Ends." The entire evening was wonderful! You should go next year. It's free and it's always the first Saturday after July 4. :-)