Back in July I noticed a curious plant that I initially thought was a sunflower plant. It had begun to bloom these lovely falls and I would love some help from My Fairy Folks to identify this species. I am surprised with how heafty and healthy this plant is and wouldn't mind adding more to my garden. It has grown so tall, I had my granddaughter pose next to it to show it's full height by propping it up a bit. It's so heavy that I had to tie it to the fence!
Chelsea tries to prop up the plant to show it's full height.
Here is the beginning stage of what will soon be a large, heavy frond.
The weight of the flowers cause the plant to droop.
This photo was taken in the middle of October. I'm very surprised with how long it has stayed lovely and full. It would be a great plant to help block my view of my neighbor's yard.
If you have any guess of what this plant species could be, please leave me a comment on this blog post or send me an email. I'd really appreciate the help of my Fairy community.
Hazel the witch was invited to the fairy community for the Halloween festivities. She positioned herself outside the haunted house and waited for happy trick-or-treaters to come visit.
Hazel patiently waits in front of the haunted house for the horde of children that would gleefully ask for candy. She has a big smile on her face and is happy to have been invited.
Hazel had so much fun (and so did all the children) and hopes to return next year. The children enjoyed dressing up and eating candy.
My Previous Update of the backyard area was last month but I wanted to show you this month's look since it ties in with our most recent class.
Tiered gardens are not only a nice piece as a whole, they also have the ability to be spread throughout an area and become their own individual pieces.
I've expanded the seating area to include a cozy chair and some accent plants.
Photo credit: CertainlyCaroline, YouTube (please visit her page for a tutorial for this polymer clay beauty)
Pictured above is Pumpkin, one of the fairies in our community. Her favorite season is Fall and this week she invited three of her closest friends to a lovely dinner party. She served many Autumn delights but the one which received the most praise was her Pumpkin Soup. I was able to get a picture of the dinner table set up, which I found so interesting - bowls made of acorn tops and soup served in a small pumpkin. It was a lovely event.
This month I'm going to show you how to make a tiered container garden. Tiered gardens allow you to be more creative, not only with a theme, but also with plants. For this particular garden I chose to do a Halloween theme and stuck with succulents as my natural feature. Just like with any other container garden you'll need to start with creating drainage holes on the bottom of each container that will be housing living plants. In order to make the floating tiered illusion, you'll need some small terra cotta pots and saucers.
Plan your design next. In a tiered garden, you'll want to make sure the highest tier is in the back so it doesn't block any other features. Once mental planning is done, you'll need to place the terra cotta pots upside down to begin your tiers. It's important that these pots are stabilized in the bottom of the large container. If your pots are not different heights (important for a tiered effect), an easy fix is to stack two terra cotta pots together, giving it a little more height.
Next, fill the large container with wood chips (not mandatory, just a suggestion to save on the amount of soil used) and potting soil, fixed around the terra cotta pots. Place your saucers in their designated spots so you can make sure the spacing and height works. This is the time to make stress-less alterations.
Once everything looks like it is fitting nicely, it's time to work on your saucers. The great thing about tiered gardens is the mobility; you can take off a level and move it to another area of your garden or replant on an individual level. As always, the theme and layout is up to you, so let your creativity run wild.
Once you have planned out each saucer (drainage, wood chips, soil, decor), you can begin to plant in the large container. The succulents I used were clippings that had a few days to scab over (dry out at the clipped area) which helps a succulent to lay down it's roots. I planted them in areas that would still be visible once the saucers were placed. Afterward, I used moss to cover up any exposed soil.
Once the planting is done, place each tier in it's place and make alterations as needed. I decided that Pumpkin, the fairy seated on a pumpkin, looked better on the top tier surrounded by other gourds. I also placed a few other large potted plants on either side of the large container to add to the atmosphere.
I'm making progress with the backyard area. Since my previous update on this area, the flowers have filled out, the area is covered in wood chips and there is a comfy seating area. There's still more to do, but I just thought I'd share with My Fairy Folks a little update.
(L to R) Ivy, Julip, Simone and Bridget enjoy the beachside campfire of this Ensenada-inspired container garden.
Ensenada is a popular tourist destination, often via cruise line, but this inspired scene for me represents my time in this city with my family in my early 20s. My father was a dirt bike enthusiast and would haul his family and his bike down to Ensenada to race. He would rent two trailers for the week and we'd settle in on top of a cliff near the beach, he and my mother in one trailer which allowed my sister and I to share the second. We would walk down the cliff to get to the beach and practically had the place to ourselves, listening to the waves crashing. I remember strolling through town checking out the little shops, enjoying the authentic food (which my sister refused to eat - my father would joke that it made our trips less expensive) for a lovely family vacation.
I eventually settled down and got married, starting a family of my own, all while my father continued to race well into his 60s. Unfortunately, after a broken arm during a race, his health declined and within a month took his last breath. It's good to know that he was able to do what he loved for so long.
If you have memories of Ensenada, feel free to share them in the comments below.
