KarensGardenTips.com » Hardscape and Garden Ornaments

How to Make an Easy Space Saving Fountain from a Garden Pot

Karen — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:32:58 +0000

Read 'How to Make an Easy Space Saving Fountain from a Garden Pot' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

My secret garden is a small area where my head gardener and I spend time relaxing in the evening after dark and I decided that a fountain would be a soothing addition and add immeasurably to the ambience. Space is at a premium in the secret garden and so I needed a fountain that was small and could fit in easily with the existing plants and garden ornaments. The fountain is very simple but still pretty and gives us that beautiful sound of water splashing in a pool. Because there is no catch basin, plants can be grown up close to it. The fountain can be made for under $40 plus the cost of the pot (the most expensive item.) I used a glazed container (that I found on sale) but you could use an inexpensive attractive flower pot. Here are the directions for creating this fountain.

Materials:
Pot:
-You will save yourself a lot of trouble if the pot has a hole in the bottom big enough to pass the plug of the pump’s electrical cord through..
-It should be large enough to hold at least 7 gallons of water.
-If hearing the water is most important buy one that is largest in the middle.
-If viewing the water is most important, buy one that is largest at the top.

Waterproof sealer: to coat the inside of the pot if it is NOT glazed. If you don’t seal a terra cotta or concrete pot it will sweat and slowly lose water.

Submersible pump: use the store’s guidelines to match the pump to the volume of your pot.

½” rigid tubing: a few inches shorter than the height of your pot.

Silicone waterproof sealer: enough to seal the hole in the bottom of the pot after the electrical cord of the pot is inserted through it.

Pea gravel, or other small stones: enough to fill the bottom of the pot about 3-5 inches. This will be your filter.

Duct tape: a couple of feet to hold the electrical cord to the bottom of the pot while the sealer dries

Three bricks: these will elevate the fountain so that the electrical cord can pass under it and up to the electrical outlet. If the pot is going to sit on the ground you could dig a shallow trench instead.

Directions:

1. Decide on the location of the pot taking into consideration:
-proximity to an electrical outlet
-levelness of the ground

2. If you have bought an unglazed pot, seal the pot by painting its inner surface with the waterproof sealer or, let it sweat.

3. If there is no hole in your pot, drill one using a bit for cement and terra-cotta. Make the hole large enough so that you can thread the electrical cord of the pump through it. (This is why you should buy a pot with a hole in the bottom!)

4. Place the pump in the pot and run its cord out the hole leaving enough in the pot so that the pump can be elevated 3-5 inches from the bottom.

5. Tape the electrical cord in place on the outside surface of the pot’s bottom.

6. Fill the hole with silicone waterproof sealant and let it dry for at least 24 hours.

7. Test the seal by putting a few inches of water in the pot and watching for leaks. If there are leaks, try resealing the hole with the sealant until it is without leaks.

8. Add 3-5 inches of pea gravel, depending on the size of you pot while holding the pump up above it. The pump should sit on the top of the gravel.

9. Attach the tubing to the pump outlet and cut off any excess. The top of the tube should be an inch or two below the rim of the pot.

10. If you want more than just a jet of water going up, you can get a tips that will create different effects.

11. Level your fountain.

12. Fill the fountain with water up to an inch of the rim.

13. Plug the pump into an electrical outlet.

14. Sit back and enjoy the lovely sight and sounds.

15. Tomorrow, invite your friends over to admire your handiwork.

Ornaments for the Garden

Karen — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:31:07 +0000

Read 'Ornaments for the Garden' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

brick wall with wisteria

Plants are a very important part of the garden but there are many other objects that go into creating a beautiful garden. These objects give structure, mood, and character to the environment and provide interest even during the winter when most plants are on vacation.

Walls, fences and hedges:
They can be brick, stone, wood, plastic, metal, wattle, stucco, adobe or some other natural or man made material. They can enclose your garden space creating a cozy, restful, private environment, provide a backdrop for beds and borders, or screen out an unpleasant sight. They can be formal (brick) or informal (stacked stone, white picket). Many provide a great opportunity for growing vines.

Brick path with lavender

Paths:
Paths provide a way for the visitor to pass through the garden. They also provide structure, help to integrate the various parts of the garden, and add to its over all character. Paths may be of dirt, pine needles, bark mulch, grass, gravel, brick, stone or rock. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and each will create different moods. The use of different kinds of materials for paths with different purposes will add variety and interest to the garden.

Simple stone edging

Edgings:
Keeping the distinction between the path and the garden bed can be done with style by using an edging. They can be made from terra cotta, brick, stone, metal, wood or plastic. They can be formal or informal, functional or purely decorative. They add structure as well as beauty to the garden and should be chosen to complement the style of other garden elements. Antique Victorian edgers have been especially popular and are now being copied. They are usually made of tile, wrought iron, or wire the latter being more decorative than functional.

Arbor tunnel with laburnum

Trellises, arbors and pergolas:
All of these structures offer great possibilities for growing vines and adding vertical elements to the garden. Wisteria, honeysuckle, morning glories, clematis, moonvine and ivy are just a few of the beautiful vines that will grow on them. And then, of course, there are climbing roses that make almost any setting romantic. You will find them in a variety of materials including wood, plastic, and metal. Arches are a fabulous way of focusing attention and providing a beautiful entrance to a garden room. Tuteur and obelisks makes a strong architectural statement with or without plants growing on them. Vine covered pergolas can serve as outdoor rooms providing shade and comfortable sitting.

Obelisk

White wood arbor

Pergola

Simple wood bench

Seating:
Benches offer a place to sit, rest, and enjoy your garden but they also add to the structure and character to the garden. They may provide a focal point or help set the mood. They can be made from a variety of materials including wood, concrete, stone, metal and can be formal or informal.

Metal sheep bench

Wooden bench

Lily pad and frog bench

Wall fountain

Water features:
Both the sight and sound of water is relaxing and soothing so having a pool or fountain in a garden adds to the over all pleasure. Pools with a small waterfall are especially attractive and can be stocked with fish. Fountains come in many styles and sizes and may be free standing, or mounted on or up against a wall. The only special requirement is a source of electricity nearby to run the pump that circulates the water.

Formal pool

Rustic pool

Hebe

The Crown Jewels
In this group, I place statuary, butterfly houses, birdhouses, birdbaths, sundials, gazing balls and any other decorative object not covered in the categories above. There is a statue for every garden; I have chickens, a rooster and pig in my vegetable garden, the goddess Hebe at the end of my crape myrtle allee, and various other animals like hedgehogs, possum, and rabbits living in my bosco. They are made of concrete and not fancy or expensive but they are a pleasure to encounter as I weed or mulch. Birdhouses can be functional or purely decorative and can provide color or be a focal point in a border. Birdbaths will attract birds and can be very decorative. They come in many different sizes and may be simple or very fancy. Sundials mounted on a rock or pedestal make a great focal point and recall a bygone era. The most easily available is the horizontal kind with a flat dial plate marked with hour lines, and a gnomon that is raised and casts a shadow on the dial plate. Equatorial sundials are larger and look like the skeleton of a globe. A gazing ball is another ornament that provides color to a garden and gives it a soothing atmosphere. Any of the brightly colored pots you see in most garden center can be effectively used to add color and interest to the garden with or without plantings in them. The biggest challenge is not finding beautiful jewels for the garden but rather finding places to display them all.

Birdhouse

Armillary sundidal

Blue urn

Buying from Beijing

Karen — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:39:01 +0000

Read 'Buying from Beijing' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

Beijing gazebo in Karen's North Carolina garden

A trip to large antique auction house in Atlanta whet our appetite for a carved stone gazebo but the price was way beyond our budget. We did what many Americans do, searched ebay and found importers and dealers of carved stone products that included gazebos. Then we went on line and found the source of supply for many of these dealers, a company in Beijing, China.

Beijing sandstone bench in Karen's North Carolina garden

The website of the Beijing company was extensive and the salesman read and wrote English well so negotiating with the company was fairly easy. The company produces a huge selection of goods including fireplace mantels, statuary, garden benches, and gazebos in a large variety of styles, and in three types or stone, limestone, sandstone and marble. The prices were a fraction of the cost as compared to those in the US and the shipping was unbelievably low. We placed an order for a sandstone garden bench, a marble gazebo, and a marble fireplace mantle and surround. The delivery date was set for 3 months hence to the port of Wilmington, North Carolina but we had to arrange for a customs agent and additional transportation from Wilmington to our home, a distance of about 200 miles. All went well until we unpacked the goods and found that the fireplace mantle and surround were shattered beyond repair and the top of the gazebo had a couple of breaks (but the bench was in perfect shape.) Repeated emails to the Beijing company and calls to the Chinese firm that handled the insurance were useless as they refused to return our emails or calls.

Fragment of Beijing fireplace surrounds on entrance to secret garden in North Carolina

In the end we got a beautiful gazebo, handsome garden bench, and some decorative slabs for the entrance to our secret garden, all for significantly less that the lowest price we found for the gazebo alone. The quality of all the items was excellent. We consider it a great purchase and interesting experience and would do it again. I guess the lesson to be learned is that when something sounds too good to be true it usually isn’t. That was certainly true in this case, but the bench and gazebo still turned out to be a bargain. We would like to order some statues but can’t figure out how we could ever get them here in one piece, based on our previous experience. Hopefully the Chinese companies that want to sell to Americans will figure out a better way of packing the items so that they will arrive safely.