Who But a Gardener

Who but a gardener would have the interest to see the garden ornaments I have or tchotchkes, as the man about the house calls them.  He took great glee in laughing at me as I carefully set up the shots.  So, I ask you, where else can I share all of this with any hope of interest? And I love each one and take great joy in sharing.  No visitor to my garden ever seems to notice, except the very few, who are interested in only one. Thank goodness for the blotanists and any interlopers. Just note that you can read my comments or simply enjoy the pictures, as you would at a gallery showing.

One of my favorites, the garden gargoyle. Is he thinking,drowsing? I believe he sees all behind his closed eyes. He's my greatest protector from bad spirits, as on the Gothic churches.

The next two are griffins, also from Gothic churches, with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. They are reputed guards of treasure, which is my garden, of course.They both have such character. The one clinging to the shelf is an eccentric characteur--I love it! And I place them carefully in the garden to take full advantage of their powers.

 

A few odds and ends to give you an idea of the variety of my non-plant additions.

 

 
  

 

 

 This representation of the Italian winds was a gift that has happily found a place in the large square garden, my first effort at gardening when I moved here.

 

My only conventional garden statue, St. Francis, near the bird feeders, since he talks to the birds. The Mayan calendar, below, is a little worse for wear since the squirrels decided to teeth on one side.

 

A sundial, above, that doesn't tell the correct time, alas. And my Genesa crystal, that is specially made from an old design to pull the air in and out rarefying it. There is a clear quartz in the center to bring more harmony into the garden. I do find my garden more peaceful since its arrival. They come in copper, too, but that's a good deal more expensive.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my little treasures. Hope I haven't overwhelmed you.
Perhaps you were inspired by some of them. 

They do that to me daily, which is why I have them.

I've looked back over this post and found it a bit long, but what can I leave out. I've just gone a little nuts over this blogging. The Man doesn't seem to mind that I've something I can obsess over. And I am just pouring my heart out.  Finally, a place where I can share about my crazy obsession with gardening and find companions to this lovely insanity.

Dog Days

I've just gotten out to water in hopes of saving some of the plants that were seriously wilted in the hot bed.  Hope they perk up.  The others will get a good watering in the dusk hours.  It was so hot here today that the heat came off the pavement in waves. They're predicting a few more days of this, so I will do my best to keep anyone in the garden from flagging.

I've really gotten into sedum of late.  I've used succulents other than cactus in the garden.  They don't mind the watering and survive the summer in great shape.  Sedum is another kind of succulent I'm very excited about.

This one is one of my favorites.  Besides being variegated, you can barely see the pink showing on it's branches.  And it is really growing in the heat. 

 

This one is also interesting, more in gray tones with leaves that look stickery, but are so soft to the touch.  Sedums are also really easy to root. I want to start making gifts for friends from the sedums and other succulents, arranged in small pots.  They're so easy to take care of.  This is one of my first tries.  I put a small statue in it that scares away bad spirits, as do the gargoyles on gothic churches.  I'll try some other such pots for friends.

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One other very interesting development for sedum is that they are being developed into what are called sedum mats to replace parts or all of the lawn.  LA Times has a nice blog about it with photos.  In our water-hungry land new ideas for saving water are au courant.