"How many kinds of sweet flowers grow,
In an English country garden?
We'll tell you now, of some that we know;
Those we miss you'll surely pardon.
Daffodils, heart's ease and phlox,
Meadowsweet and lady smocks,
Gentain, lupine and tall hollyhocks.
Roses,
Foxgloves, snowdrops, and blue forget-me-nots
In an English country garden."
I made gate posts to support the gate, on both sides from 1/2 inch square basswood, which were painted black. Finials were made of stacked beads, also painted black and glued to the tops. To keep them upright and stable, I drilled a hole into the bottom of each post and then drove a section of a toothpick up into the post and then "planted" the toothpick into the styrofoam base. It is not glued in so if I ever need to remove it, then it will just lift out without too much trouble.
The textured work on the front and back of the posts are the same metal strips that I used in my
"A Grater Love" tutorial. I needed some kind of ornamentation for the plain looking posts and tried them out. After I painted it, I referred to Brae at Otterine blog, for how to paint authentic looking iron. She used a black with a light dusting of gray for the iron grate in one of her wonderful dollhouses.
I lightly dry brushed the Slate Grey acrylic paint over the black, as she did, but then I also used Brown Iron Oxide and Hunter Green Transparent glaze to give the iron gate and fence, the appropriate age.
The fencing is the green plastic farm yard fencing that I cut in half to lower its profile. It was a good thing that I did that too, because not only did it make the flowers more viewable, but I was able to use the bottom sections to extend the fence further along the stone wall as I did not have enough of it otherwise.
AND
you should also see the Incredible yellow onions that she made for Janine and I.
Go to Minworks blog and have a look at not only the Fab yellow onions but also Janine's Fabulous French house and Garden.
It's high summer over there, so don't forget your sunscreen!
An English Country Garden
We'll tell you now, of some that we know;
Those we miss you'll surely pardon.
Daffodils, heart's ease and phlox,
Meadowsweet and lady smocks,
Gentain, lupine and tall hollyhocks.
Roses,
In an English Country Garden"
In an English country garden."
The textured work on the front and back of the posts are the same metal strips that I used in my
"A Grater Love" tutorial. I needed some kind of ornamentation for the plain looking posts and tried them out. After I painted it, I referred to Brae at Otterine blog, for how to paint authentic looking iron. She used a black with a light dusting of gray for the iron grate in one of her wonderful dollhouses.
I lightly dry brushed the Slate Grey acrylic paint over the black, as she did, but then I also used Brown Iron Oxide and Hunter Green Transparent glaze to give the iron gate and fence, the appropriate age.
The fencing is the green plastic farm yard fencing that I cut in half to lower its profile. It was a good thing that I did that too, because not only did it make the flowers more viewable, but I was able to use the bottom sections to extend the fence further along the stone wall as I did not have enough of it otherwise.
a close up of the post ornamentation and the hole in the wall |
Purple clematis grows in front of the gothic niche that was a recent gift from my dear friend Bettie Smith. I made the wooden cross that is inside it. |
And perched within the climbing rose, is a robin's nest with a couple of blue eggs inside |
on the front step is a pot of more succulents |
( Hello!, there is that rabbit again) "Leave those daisies alone you naughty bunny! " |
( He'd better not be thinking about eating my Daisies!) |
"That's right rabbit. I'm talking to YOU!" (now, where was I?) |
And I made a bee skep for the garden with honey bees crawling all over it. A healthy garden is a Happy Garden! |
The soft pink Clematis Montana is also in bloom and has pushed its way through the bars of the iron fencing, to cascade down the broken retaining wall. |
The Clematis Montana |
Here is a close up of the lilies and the pink peonies that I made, and below is what the lilies started life as |
Now I will show you the process for how I made the peonies |
I bought a stem of Cherry Blossoms from Michael's Craft store. I chose the smallest of the blossoms to remove and also some of the buds. |
So basically, I lopped off the head of one plant and replaced with another. |
This is a faux peony with the illegal stem. I pulled up some of the greenery to cover the underside of the flower head to disguise the join and then I painted the flower the color I wanted. |
I used these glass and tile water-based paints for the peonies. |
And here they are with the lilies |
( "I Say, is that rabbit back again!?") Shoo Shoo! |
The stem on the left represents the flower Sisyenichium Striatum that I saw featured in Penelope Hobhouse's "ON GARDENING" garden book. It breaks up some of the colors within the front bed |
From this perspective you can see the water in the bird bath and the true colors of the lilies and pink peonies by me and the WHITE PEONIES that FATIMA made for my Birthday last year! (Whoohoo!) :D |
you should also see the Incredible yellow onions that she made for Janine and I.
Go to Minworks blog and have a look at not only the Fab yellow onions but also Janine's Fabulous French house and Garden.
It's high summer over there, so don't forget your sunscreen!
An English Country Garden
"How many kinds of sweet flowers grow,
In an English country garden?We'll tell you now, of some that we know;
Those we miss you'll surely pardon.
Daffodils, heart's ease and phlox,
Meadowsweet and lady smocks,
Gentain, lupine and tall hollyhocks.
Roses,
Foxgloves, snowdrops, and blue forget-me-nots
In an English Country Garden
In an English Country Garden
There is joy in the spring
When the birds begin to sing
When the birds begin to sing
"Yes mister rabbit, ... you'd better run!!! " |
elizabeth