Ideas I Am So Stealing!

This darling little garden in a box was seen on Lancaster Street. The owner called it her “touching garden” and enjoys having children rearrange the scene. It is furnished with little benches, tiles and tiny succulents in equally tiny pots and even a miniature arbor with a tiny plant growing up its sides. I am most definitely stealing this idea.

As a matter of fact, the Sweet Granddaughter and I have begun a tiny version here. I am now on the lookout for a tiny arbor and some patio furniture. We're hoping to move up to a larger garden when we find more things to use in decorating.
These post top pots were great and I am also stealing this idea very soon. I’m not sure what style of pot I will find/use but I think there are a gazillion possibilities here.

I know some gardeners in certain areas think of wax begonias the way I do gazanias or impatiens, finding them overused and boring, but I happen to like the reliable color they bring to my garden. And although they die back pretty pathetically in the winter they come back up every spring, making them perfect container plants in that they can be hidden when they are at that awkward stage. This garden had several strawberry pots that provided me with one of those “why haven’t I ever thought of that” moments. Impatiens here, but begonias in other strawberry pots, were nestled about.

It Wasn't Just About The Plants

One of the constraints of a small garden is that you can’t grow all of the plants you’d like to grow. As if being held back by soil type and climate limitations (not to mention those of a financial nature) wasn’t  enough, when one has limited space one must constantly edit one’s desires simply due to lack of exposed soil surface. When I was in Buffalo last weekend for the third annual gathering of garden bloggers I found myself drawn to one piece of garden art after the other. And that's when another unhappy truth occurred to me...you can't have all the garden art you like either when your space is small. Not unless you'd like the neighbors to think you're having a yard sale or cleaning the garage.

Most gardeners like to accessorize their gardens with art and Buffalo gardeners are really good at it. Colorful pots, fountains, statuary, bird houses, even tea cups were among the items that caught my eye and have me wanting to get home and take a fresh look at what lives in my own garden.

Some gardeners did have what might be considered an overabundance of decorative items but it pretty much all worked...and was great food for thought.

I'm on vacation, or as Carol from May Dreams Gardens calls it, at summer camp. In Buffalo for the 3rd annual gathering of garden bloggers I am closing in on vegetative overload. Who knew that was even possible? I'll be explaining about that in future posts but before I arrived here (along with about 70 other bloggers from around the nation and Canada) I kicked off my personal garden tour schedule with my first ever visit to the garden of a blogger I follow. Kim, known to many as Blackswamp Girl, writes about her garden at A Study In Contrast. Kim was so gracious to allow us to visit (I took along my Aunt Elaine who lives quite close to Kim) and I had an absolutely wonderful time seeing in first person a garden I have visited virtually many times. I can't encourage other gardeners enough to get out there and make similar visits. To actually see so many of the plantings and the design that Kim has been working on was amazing fun...we see so many vignettes when we read blogs but to see the garden as a whole is an entirely different thing. Kim was afraid we would see only what needed to be done, but what she has going on was so impressive she shouldn't have even been concerned.  I had to hold back and not photograph things I knew she would want to talk about herself but I saw a thing or two first, before she wrote about them...I'm just saying!
I would love to be able to return the favor...so Kim, you have an open invitation to my garden...just name the date!

Color And Exuberance-Buffa10 Style

The Buffa10 tour of Buffalo's Cottage District seemed a virtual explosion of color and exuberance: flowers, foliage, garden art, architecture and umbrellas. Yes, we got rained upon. No, I didn't mind one bit. Meandering through lovely gardens in a gentle rain is just not a problem. Holding an umbrella and trying to take photos requires a bit of a learning curve but it was all so very worth it.

The rain softened the look of many of the gardens and tempered the heat of Thursday. This California girl has lost her childhood ability to deal with humid heat. Thank you Buffalo for turning the heat down a bit!

Garden bloggers from around the country and even a few from Canada have descended upon Buffalo and we are having an absolutely wonderful time visiting gardens, garden centers, test gardens and more. And equally exciting is getting to meet personally with bloggers whose blogs we read and to sit and discuss blogging, climate, garden shoes and a plethora of topics...enough so that we were referred to as the noisiest group one of our host has yet had visit, as well as one of the nicest!

This little sweet fairy wasn't fazed by the rain and is just one example of the garden art by which I've  been inspired.

I'll leave you with just one last peek at some of the color we've seen...I'm guessing there will be a spike in painting at a few gardens around the country in the next few weeks!