Luscious Thanksgiving decor using material such as leaves and cuttings from your garden!

 

I dropped in on my client, Jill’s,  ”gourmet garden” today and in the process saved her about $10 dollars on decor for her Thanksgiving table!

I found all of the “decor” in her garden and some of it I picked up from the ground.

“Shh, don’t tell Jill!”

 

Table decor can be as simple and fragrant as this foliage and fruit collection set around a candle lamp

I wasn’t there on a creative call, I was just there to do a little weeding and pruning, but in usual Shirley manner, my creative juices flared when I got a whiff of Jill’s rosemary!

 

Trim your rosemary, but don’t throw away the cuttings! Cook or decorate with it.

 

I made a clean cut on some broken limbs and saved the foliage for my creation and picked some lemons for Jill to use in her kitchen.

 

There were three delicious pomegranates ready for picking, so they had no choice but to be part of the “mad creation!”

 

 

The curvaceous leaves on the fig tree caught my eye too.

 

I gathered my leaves, rosemary and fruit and started on my very simple and fragrant arrangement

 

The candle was crying out for some company, so I came to it’s rescue!

 

The impromptu arrangement is pretty, fragrant and best of all, edible! Win, win, win.

 

Does your garden or yard have interesting fallen leaves, seed pods or fruit that you can use for holiday decor?

Don’t be shy, there is no “correct” way to decorate.

Put something together that makes you smile and makes you feel like an artist.

 

Happy Holidays!

Shirley

 

 

Many of my container gardens are made from repurposed materials, plant cuttings, anything that strikes my fancy at the moment.

Here’s a little “eye candy” and design ideas  for the container garden enthusiast!

 

Create a vignette using inexpensive “Coca Cola” glasses from the dollar store, filled with gravel, sand and succulent cuttings.

The mosaic bottle unifies the look.

 

 

A repurposed  muffin pan filled with moss makes a creative container display for succulent cuttings.

 

 

Orange tumbled glass adds color to my bromeliad while I wait for it to bloom!

 

 

Metal Figure Model + Common Annuals= Uncommon Combo!

 

 

“Sacred Succulent Gardens” add sculptures or figurines to your pots

 

 

“Simply Sorbet!” Don’t be afraid to add containers within containers.

Contrasting colors are striking.

 

 

Earthy Textures and Statuary for Your “Meditation Garden”

An art statement!

 

 

Zinc Planter Trio- “A Garden Within a Garden”

 

 

Just add the bunny and make this simple planting combination, special!

 

 

Design Tips

Use statuary and garden decor in your containers to add personality or to create a mini-themed garden.

Stack contrasting colored pots or pots of the same color for added dimension and drama

Use colored recycled glass as a mulch for your container plants for year-round color.

Anything that can hold up to water without rotting or leaching toxic chemicals into your container can be used as a decorative figurine.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and add your personal style to your garden!

This blog post is part the Garden Designer’s RoundTable group blog event today.

Please visit these other talented designers for more inspiration!

Please feel free to join in with a comment here, on our Facebook Page, or on the individual blogs themselves; your thoughts and experiences add to the conversation in such a nice way (and we like to know you’re there!)

 

Enjoy.

 

This month’s bloggers!

Christina Salwitz : Personal Garden Coach : Renton, WA Debbie Roberts : A Garden of Possibilities : Stamford, CT Jenny Petersen: J Petersen Garden Design : Austin TX Jocelyn Chilvers : The Art Garden : Denver, CO Laura Livengood Schaub : Interleafings : San Jose, CA Rebecca Sweet : Gossip In the Garden : Los Altos, CA Rochelle Greayer : Studio “G” : Boston, MA Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK Scott Hokunson : Blue Heron Landscapes : Granby, CT

It has been raining in Los Angeles through the weekend and the ornamental pear trees, Pyrus kawakami, have never looked more dramatic with their dark black trunks and white blossoms. My “dry creek” is actually running now, having served only a decorative purpose most of the time. I love what the rain does to my garden.

Epcot “rain garden” goes to work when the rain begins to pour!

This morning I ventured over to Fresh Dirt, the garden blog written by Sunset magazine editors and found a great post about “rain drums” that create a melodic sound when the rain beats down on them. This is the ultimate in sensory garden ideas.

Check out the post for yourself:   Water drums: listen to the rhythm of the falling rain – Fresh Dirt – Sunset.com Posted using ShareThis

Enjoy the rain Angelenos!

My raised vegetable bed is in germination and growing mode with all my favorite lettuces, heirloom tomatoes, squashes, sugar snap peas, curry, chayote and more! Next to gardening, I love to cook and I can’t wait to see the first set of leaves burst through my 2″ layer of mulch. I’m not the only one waiting though …

I set out some whimsical sheep and geese garden ornaments to give me something to look at while I wait for my culinary babies. The birds are scared of the ornaments too, so I have a built in scarecrow. What luck!

Take a look.

“Mother Goose” waits on my Persian baby cucumbers called, “Green Fingers” from Renee’s Garden to sprout. I looked high and low for these small, crunchy cucumbers that are usually found only in farmers markets.

This sheep was cheap! Only $2 dollars at the market in the “Easter Decor” clearance bin. How do you like my wooden spoon plant marker? I planted “Runway Arugula” also from Renee’s Garden. It is supposed to be slightly less tangy than regular Arugula, but same peppery taste!

The sheep decor straddle my “square foot” wood dividers. Have you read the book, “Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholomew? It is a clever planting method for intensive and effective yield of maximum vegetables in small square foot garden areas!

A few weeks later when the veggies and herbs start to grow, the sheep and geese look like they are in a foraging field! As for me, I am in heaven.