A Living Plant Roof On Our Shed

Two years ago we recycled three doors for this gorgeous wedding backdrop for our grand daughter. Insanely Creative Christy made the huge poster board flowers 

and I grew the white flowers in the urns. 

THEN, we built this little garden shed out of the original three exterior doors and

 one more door from the local Restore. We built it in place and put a roof on it.

 It is the perfect size for our gardening tools and supplies.

The inside of the shed is lined with plywood for stability and strength. 

We wanted to be sure that our little shed was strong enough

 to hold the weight of the heavy roof.

I knew I wanted to put a living green roof with trailing plants and succulents on this little shed. 

Today it finally got done!

The Welding Man used cedar fence boards for the eaves and end caps.

Our grand sons finished the roof prep by stapling waterproof pond liner fabric in place

 and then helped to plant the roof! 

Oooh aaah! 

I like it alot!

I did extensive online research on this project and even got this library book...
Small Green Roofs by Dunnet, Gedge and Little. It is extremely informative!

Here is a photo of the pond liner stapled up and over the edge of the cedar boards.

 We did not pull the liner tight. We left a bit of slack inside 

the planting area for the soil and roots to fill in.

We recycled two layers of dormant grass turf so that we had 5" of 

planting depth within the pond liners and added potting soil to cover the turf.

 I've been saving lots of shallow rooted plants like creeping jenny, different sedums and succulents and miniature viola vines. I added the clumps of Japanese blood grass for contrast and also as a thickly growing soil binder.

A small clump of scarlet dianthus is up there along with some pink and white bamboo grass.

I love how the red tips of the Japanese blood grass picks up

 the reds of the sedum and dianthus.

Now I will prime and paint this pretty little shed soft white after The Welding Man finishes the trim pieces.

For the roof I will sow handfuls of wildflower seeds on the roof and water them in with a sprinkler installed on a short hose. The plants I chose do well with less water and the succulents even like things a bit dry.

I will also get some summer annuals like lobelia and alyssum to trail over the eaves. 

I like it alot!

Here it is with a fresh coat of primer. I like the white on this little shed!

 I really like the hippieish Hobbitish look of this green roof.

The total cost, so far, on this little garden shed is $40 for the four doors at the Restore.

We paid $4 for a box of door and gate hinges at the same store.

Framing lumber and particle board are scraps we had on hand.

The cedar fence boards are left from our back yard fence.

I will use the leftover primer and paint from the wedding prep two years ago.

By far the most expensive item was the pond liner at $45 for a 5' x 12' piece. 

Screws, nails, staples, misc. hardware add $5.

The plants are starts from my own yard and planters I've been growing for two years.

So for less than $95 we've built a nice little garden shed that is perfect for that corner of our yard.

I will do another blog post once it has all the trim, is painted and has

 loads of flowering summer plants on the roof.

I'm really looking forward to that!

Front Deck Flower Planters

Last year, soon after we moved here and while I was still undergoing radiation therapy, my son and grandson built us a new front deck. Here's what it looked like last July.....

Molly Brown, our chocolate lab, started enjoying it right away. I didn't have many flowers last year but I knew I'd hit on a winning color combo with the hot pink petunias and turquoise blue railings. So this year I went all out/completely crazy.

THIS year I've got a few more flowers, lol! Everything is in roomy planters so I can move them around as each pot fills in with colorful blooms.

I've redone that wreath at least 4 times and I really like this fresh green look. The glass marble balls are sitting on a candelabra built by the Welding Man. The corner plant stand is also one of his designs. On the top shelf is another marble covered ball in the perfect turquoise color.

More petunias in box planters, with creeping jenny and sweet potato vines. Needlepoint ivy on trellis towers built by the Welding Man. More planters with petunias, alyssum, dianthus, snapdragons, coreopsis and impatiens. And, of course, more blue glass marbled garden balls!

I love the golden lime green contrast of the creeping jenny against the hot pink flowers. Lavender, petunias, miniature roses, coreopsis, ivy, coleus and succulents are in these pots along with more balls and garden art. The green glass globe in the bottom planter is a "crackled glass" ivy bowl disguising a solar light.

I made the tall pillar for the blue garden globe out of a two foot length of PVC pipe. I glued on the glass marbles and other glass bits with Silicone II adhesive. The smaller blue glass pieces are Christmas ornaments which I've repurposed for the garden. The fleur de lis trellis tower is also the Welding Man's design.

Weed cloth and a layer of gravel keep grass and weeds in check around the groups of planters. I like the contrast of the exuberant plants with the zen look of the pebbles. This photo shows dwarf nandina, alyssum, succulents, "bamboo" grass, creeping jenny, dianthus, salvia, petunias, vinca and ivy on another tower.

I love how the cool cobalt blue glass cools down the hot colors of the pink and purple petunias. Can't have too many blue glass garden accents OR hot pink flowers!

This dining room chair had seen better days, so I dry brushed it white, popped the cushion off and found a planter to fit into the hole. Golden creeping jenny and dark green vinca spill over the sides and a pink snapdragon adds contrast. The Green Man planter is filled with ferns.

This blue ball is made from a bowling ball! The same Silicone II adhesive holds the marbles and sea glass in place. I am always on the lookout for different size balls to use in the garden, with and without glued on marbles. I've used different sized Christmas balls, styrofoam balls, light globes and ivy bowls. Anything spherical will work!

So pretty! Many of the plants I've used will return next year and the petunias are easily replaced each spring. The creeping jenny and ivy are so prolific that I'll be dividing them into even more containers next year. And of course, the blue garden balls will look good all year long.

Between a HUGE amount of family activities, my continuing treatment, my Etsy shop and this front yard project, my time has disappeared in great chunks. But as you can see, I have something to show for the time spent outside.

AND, this year we've planted all our vegetables in big planter pots in another part of the yard. Gardening in planter pots works so well for me, next year I plan to use even more. Because with beautiful plants and flowers, more is better, right? I'll let you know when I reach my limit!

No Spray Paint for this Chair Planter

I wanted to make this worn out dining room chair into a garden chair planter, but I knew it needed some help. I thought maybe I would spray paint it bright blue since I'm nuts about that color, but I did NOT want to sand all the nooks and crannies and curvy bits on this chair. What to do? Dry brushing to the rescue!



Here's a shot of the original chair. Curvy and sweet but the peeling varnish makes it unsuitable for a smooth coat of spray paint. So I sanded it just a little to knock the loose flakes off and loaded up my brush with exterior white paint then blotted most of the paint out of it. When it was almost dry I started painting the chair.....




Sweet! Look how it made this old chair look shabby chic and country style and downright vintage. LOVE it!


Here she is (funny that now she's painted she's a female. Whassup with that?)

;O)

I popped the cushion off with a screw driver and now have a perfect receptacle for a planter.


Ooh aah. The lime green trailers and the vinca and the mint and the blue glass balls are perfect together. Even my little gnomey guy is smiling.


And here's another angle. I love how this chair turned out with the wash of white paint! Much less work than sanding and spray painting, and as it weathers in the coming seasons it will just look more shabby and chic. I call that a win win!

Aaand....it goes with my drybrushed kiwi crate table and my whitewashed ladder with the drybrushed baskets. Is nothing safe from my new favorite painting technique?

I'll be linking up to White Wednesday in my sidebar. Come check it out, it is always loads of fun with lots of beautiful ideas using white.