Pictured above is my new miniature garden. It is still under construction, but I’ve got the plants all planted. I still need to add a border all around it to set it off from the patio and add some small crushed stone for the path to the centerpiece. (The nursery owner where I bought the plants said she would give me a bag of crushed oyster shells to use for this.) And, I need to change the centerpiece to something better than the clay saucer with rocks that I have there now. I am more or less using it to mark where “something better” will be added later. The strip without mulch is where the path will be. I also added a few miniature garden ornaments I had purchased a long time ago, but probably won’t keep those there for long, as I’m not sure I like the looks of them, and I think there are too many of them for this small space.
The rocks on the right are supposed to be marking off a corner of the garden that I raised up a little to give it a some more interest. I made this rock “wall” using various rocks I had run across while digging around in the garden. As I dug the rocks up over the years, I tossed them in a pile by my compost bin figuring I’d find a good use for them eventually, and I did.
The garden measures 5 feet across and 3 feet deep.
Because the owners of the nursery were so helpful in finding me the best pots of little hostas they had, I was able to divide up the 5 hostas I purchased into 14 plants. I planted:
– Hosta ‘Pandora’s Box’
– Hosta ‘Baby Bunting’
– Hosta ‘Bitsy Gold’
– Hosta ‘Moonstruck’
– Hosta gracillima
I also included 3 Heuchera ‘Petite Pearl Fancy’ (Coral Bells) and 1 Thalictrum kiusianum (Kyusbu Meadow Rue).
Remember, the idea for this came from a quick visit to a daylily and hosta nursery on Saturday. I guess it just isn’t safe for me (or most gardeners) to go to a nursery or garden center, “just to look”. There is no “just looking”! With every trip to anyplace where plants are sold, there is a chance of opening up your own Pandora’s Box!
I am now looking for some ideas of what to use for a miniature border, and what to do with the centepiece.
Overall, I’m very happy with how this is turning out so far and how much fun it is to plant!
It doesn’t matter what the hobby is, whether it is gardening or, for me, quilting, it is never safe to just “go look” at a store. The miniature garden looks very nice. Want to put one in my yard?
Kathy
This is a very interesting project. Please keep us updated. What size is the area you are working with?
I have the perfect place for a miniature garden — the box between the pond and the deck where we used to let the turtle run! Remind me of this next spring, OK?
*Squeee!*
I LOVE this. Last year, I bought a Hosta ‘Cat’s Eye’ and the small meadow rue from a local grower.
I am trying to figure out how to showcase these. I think I am going to make some sort of tufa mountain planter for them.
I will have to look up your coral bells, and see if I can find them.
Wait a minute . . . that pile of rocks from the compost pile represents all the rocks you have dug up over the years? I dug up more than that planting one hydrangea last year!