It confuses people at my various interests, I have been told by so many to narrow it down, and how it confuses some. I refuse to limit myself for anyone, I love making anything and everything. Simple as that. On my website I sell jewelry and copper, which I make all winter. In the spring and summer, I garden, sell everything I made that winter at art shows, make wedding flowers, and most importantly, a mother who wants to spend my time with my kids and husband. I float with the seasons.
The weather on Friday and Saturday in Wisconsin was beautiful, which activated my gardening love. I find that I always spend a fortune on hanging baskets, which as my daughter says,- kills my soul. I have had these two hanging baskets for ten years made of moss and willow branches. They were beautiful, and then were well used and started to deteriorate. I have a hard time throwing things away when they can be repurposed. So that became a goal for the day, make them usable. Here is the process I took to rebuild them.
The moss has disintegrated leaving large holes throughout the baskets and the liners are long gone.
I have a collection of old silk flowers with wires intact. I decided to use them, and weave through the existing metal frame structure. Doing that filled all the holes, and helped stabilize the frame.
Once the frame was stable again, I figured why not use all the flowers and make the basket look prettier, I refuse to say whimsical about anything I make- but that may be the best descriptive word unfortunately.
Once I did the first basket, the second one was much quicker. I could care less if they matched, just wanted to use only what I had available. The second one had white flowers added. The exterior worked, so I had to add new liners.
I accidentally bought a 20 pack of these hanging planter bags with pre-cut slits in them, been collecting dust- this was their time to shine. The bag worked great with the pre-cut holes, which enables proper drainage for the plants. I cut them and then attached to the inside of the pot
.
Trimmed down to size, and then added a few knife holes in the bottom, because it was a corner of the bag and the last thing you want is water collecting on the bottom with no where to go.
t
This is what the finished piece was, just had to fill with plants.
I added four, 3.5" plants. Two petunias, lobelia, and a compact daisy. Three will trail and one will stay compact and add color on the top.
I hung them on a Shepard hook that my husband made for me- and clearly needs to be straightened. I watered them well, and happily watched as the water seeped out the bottom of the plants at a good speed, they will be able to hold a lot of water, and expel what they don't need.
Now I just have to wait another month to leave them outside at night, still a little too cold here. I happily will babysit them, move them outside during the day, and put them in the shed at night until they can be safely outdoors for the summer.
No need to replace all your pots every year, use what you have, refashion it. If you have any questions about reusing or repurposing garden items- please feel free to ask. I love to find new life for what some people would call garbage!! My degree in industrial design taught me how to redesign, and build from scratch using an array of materials.
Pretty soon, my sad gardens that just have mulch will look like my happy jungle again.
Also pictured is my dog Teak- he isn't the best gardening helper, but he does love dropping his ball on top of whatever I am working on.