Pressed Poppies

A garden is a fantasy land for children, running and hiding amongst all the foliage and color, screaming and laughing, playing til exhaustion like any child should.  Another fun way to show and include them in the magic and creativity that can come from plants is something as simple as taking interesting seed heads that can be used as stamps. By taking a number of different dried flower heads for size, we used dried Poppy heads, specifically Papaver commutatum and P. sommniferum, and then mixed them with watercolors (used thickly).  The designs can be used for a number of things. Cards were made using a play on flower motifs, from garden, to cut bouquet, to vase which were soon sent off by mail to friends. An activity like this is one more way to engage children in the beauty of the garden. May induce fits of giggles….  – James

the stages of a bouquet

 

Stacking Wood

Storm knocked over a few trees in your garden? Have a ton of excess firewood and not sure where to store it? Once your wood pile is stacked to the brim, take a tip from these creative folks.  When visiting gardens in the Netherlands, I came across this beautifully built decorative fence made up of tree trunks.  I am not sure if this is the area where they stack the wood or if it is a semi-permanent decorative feature, how many seasons it would last. Either way it is a novel way to turn an unsightly woodpile into a eye pleasing decorative element. Just one more way to squeeze an extra use out of a beautiful tree before it is used to warm you up during the colder months.  -James