Back garden spring 2018 birthday birdbath

New Stuff in the Garden

Being of an age when dejunking and downsizing makes more sense than acquiring, I don’t often buy new things for the garden. My tools will likely outlast me. Plants come and go, but somehow the place is always full of them. Fashion isn’t an issue. Unless something wears out or breaks, there’s no incentive to buy non-consumables.

But this spring a few new items have turned up here.

concrete birthday bird bathThis birdbath was a birthday present in March. It’s a classic concrete model and looks right at home. The island in the middle is a rock. My garden is full of rocks picked up from various beaches. Birds have visited the bird bath. A few have actually taken baths.

 

Heuchera coral bells "Timeless Orange" and pot "Toga Bell Yama, olive black"I bought this plant of Heuchera (coral bells) “Timeless Orange” to replace a specimen called “Peach Melba” that unfortunately died over the winter. Then I thought it needed a suitable pot. Terra cotta wouldn’t work — too similar in colour to the plant and not frost-resistant. I thought this one, whose label said “Toga Bell Yama – Olive Black” looked pretty good. It was made in Malaysia. The one on its left was made in Vietnam. I didn’t realize garden pots are shipped across the Pacific from Asia.

pink watering canI needed a small watering can for use at the far end of the garden, all of 50 feet distant from where the two regular cans hang out. It had to be fillable by dipping in a rain barrel. This pink one is perfect, not to mention cute.

Hori-hori weeding knife

I added a new tool a couple of years ago — the fearsome Hori-Hori Knife. Death to weeds and handy for fast planting jobs. I’m not sure what people passing by my place think when they see a shabbily-clad middle aged woman armed with this item — “Uh-oh, one of those crazy gardeners. Let’s get out of here.”

24 comments

  4. I like your knife! I have a kirpi (weeder with a hooked end, both sides sharpened) and I know from experience that it intimidates people.😁

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  5. We have just been sitting in the garden watching the blakbird drink and bathe in ours which we inherited from the uncle who left his house and money to charity – none of his relatives got anything! We got goods and chattels so we shared garden stuff with his lovely neigbours. The bird bath looks like granite -it will certainly outlast us.

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  10. That is a wicked knife you have there! I am forbidden to have any knives in the garden, after slicing my hand open with a rose sickle knife.☹️ Love your new bird bath and funky pink watering can! Those glazed pots are beautiful, wish we could get those here.

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    1. I’m pretty careful with the hori-hori knife. It’s easy to inflict unintended injuries on plants, if not oneself. I’m hoping birds will visit the bath when local puddles dry up in the summer. The new pot looks great among all the black plastic ones I’ve repurposed, much more elegant. Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  11. Suffering from yard work right now. Rashes on arms and eyes puffy and swollen shut. No matter what precautions I take get hit hard and miserable like this from time to time. Plant and tree sap. Usually takes 10 days to clear up. Watering cans: I look for cheap even rusty metal ones all the time, fun to paint with farm scenes and animals.

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    1. Your allergies sound awful. If they’re caused by sap, they might be avoidable (in theory, anyway). I used to have pollen allergies that made spring miserable — sneezing, itchy, watery eyes, etc. But since I’ve grown older, they seem to have vanished. One of the benefits of age. I actually have an ancient galvanized watering can that could be painted; ought to do that!

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