Bat Garden Planter Topiary Basics : The Art of Shaping Plants in Gardens & Containers

How to Grow A Chair : The Art of Tree Trunk Topiary

Gardens of Obsession : Eccentric and Extravagant Visions

The Art of Faux : The Complete Sourcebook of Decorative Painted Finishes

How to Make Rustic Garden Furniture

The Mosaic Book : Ideas, Projects and Techniques

Stenciling on a Grand Scale : Using Simple Stencils to Create Visual Magic

Debbie Travis' Painted House: Stenciling Made Easy Pad: The Guide to Ultra-Living (My favorite decorating book)

Stained Glass For Beginners

Mosaics : Inspiration and Original Projects for Interiors and Exteriors

  tree in lawn moved to circular path

Several tiny tree sprouts braided together will grow into a "pleached" tree.

We spring for a few lilacs from Kmart

The front yard.  We have filled the front with plaster pillars from Michael's Craft store.  We hope they will decay artistically, giving the yard that funereal, Edward Gorey Touch.

We glop on a thin coating of fish tank algae mixed with yogurt and water, then leave nature to take it's course two months later, and aging is achieved!

June 2000: Mold and aging is even upon the plastic Urn!

In the front yard we made a mound out of leaves and dirt for a flower bed in front.   A small ducky from a dumpster lives in the bird bath at the center.

A clump of wild iris Chris moved from his forest. Tiny hummock with little tree and forest floor.

Fish wind sock and hanging planters from Value Village

Assorted thrift store pots are planters on the back stairs.

So the cats can get safe outdoor time too we make a temporary summer enclosure for them on the back stairs out of plastic net fencing and curtain rods from a dumpster.

We had a Yard sale in May and made $100, all of which has gone into the yard:

The Garden works in late July.  The paths have grown the wildflowers, sunflowers and tiny trees we put in to make our maze. Note the truck & trailer in our neighbors yard, giving the whole thing a trailer trash flair.  I wonder when we can afford solid board fencing?

June July     August

To get color early, we bought pansies and petunias from the Holm Town Nursery, then used their own Alaskan wildflower mix around the mature plants to bloom in July-August.   Sunflowers we put in to give us some shade on the Long Walk before the tiny trees have grown.

Garden Boy also kidnapped some raspberry bushes from his huge patch in his yard in North Pole, and moved them to our Back Walk, where they are doing well. Small hummocks of forest plants, including tiny trees, moss and wildflowers he transplanted from the woods in his yard.  They are thrilled to be where there is more light and water. Our Garden Boy also built a temporary barbecue next to the artificial hill.

Auntie Adddville has planted tomatoes in the vegetable triangle, but they are not as happy as in California.  She waters the yard each day using our Sprinkler system consisting of a cheap Rainbird sprinkler mounted on a wire sculpture plant stand she found dumpster diving in June.

The Mound in the front yard has gone nuts, as has a volunteer rhubarb plant (see to left of urn) we plan on planting more rhubarb next year, since it looks so pretty and healthy in a short time. 

We are also experimenting with packets of all the different seeds that can live as perennials in Alaska.  On the artificial hill we have planted a tiny patch of each seed type, which you can see are beginning to sprout.

A couple of taller trees (Canadian Cherry seen below) we also bought at the nursery and planted in the center of the yard. Trees this size are normally about $79 at nurseries here, we were fortunately able to get these at an unusual one-time deal because of an incorrect marking at the nursery. 

The Locally produced wildflower mix from the Holm Town Nursery costs more per bag than the mass produced mixes sent up from the Lower 48, but is the best bargain.  We bought 4 different groups of wild flower seed mixes at the beginning of summer and planted them in different places in the garden. Two of the Lower 48 mixes were only about 5% seed with 95% filler, and these didn't work here at all, even with regular watering and fertilizer.  A tube of straight seed from the lower 48 did a little sprouting and flowering, but it's performance was barely adequate for a small flower bed.  Almost the entire rear yard in contrast was done with the Holm Nursery bag, about a pound of solid seed, which has produced thousands of very healthy flowers.  The bargain effects our interior decor too, since the massive production of flowers allows us a large supply of cut flowers without putting a dent into the landscaping.

(September) Until we have big trees, we plant sunflowers to make a shaded path.

Surrealist gardening.  This old chair (and others) will be turned into a planter with turf seat and climbing ivy back.  When complete it will make a topiary chair set one can sit upon.

Planter made of dumpster find (waterbed headboard) set on it's side, painted, and decorated with foam "stone" house number holders sold very cheap in a clearance sale at Michael's. Urn made of dead lamp base with electrics removed, and inverted to make the wide base the urn mouth.

     At the end of summer we can buy big plastic "terra cotta" look urns on sale at K-mart, where seasonal items that haven't sold out by the end of the season are dumped at 1/2 price.

   Big hot house plants like these Geraniums and Begonias are sold dirt cheap at the end of summer ($1-$2) and can be revived next year using our cold frames, for early starting.

These thermal windows found in a dumpster will be used as cold frames next spring.

This planter covers the oil intake pipe at our front steps, preventing it getting covered by snow, or tripping the unwary.