Junk adds flair to gardens
MILWAUKEE — Gardeners aren't just planting posies these days. They're crafting spaces that reflect their personal style, all the while keeping a close eye on their budget.
One way is by using recycled items as containers and accents. Even plants can get a new life, with the help of patient gardeners.
Rusty metal watering cans, broken chairs, plastic suitcases from years ago, discarded bowling balls and more are finding a new life.
The owner of Thimbleberry Designs in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., Barbara Henderson and her husband, Doug, have been using recycled pieces for years. At first, old wheelbarrows and chairs held plants; now the Hendersons use recycled industrial products. There are benches made from parts of propane tanks and a wall of pots made from septic tank collars.
Robin Bean, a second grade teacher at Garden Homes Elementary School in Milwaukee, said she recycles furnishings and plants in her garden to save money, but also because she believes it's important to be environmentally conscious. She finds her accent pieces at antique stores, consignment centers, rummage sales, Goodwill stores or even on curbs.
Pieces she has added to her yard include an antique wood-burning stove that works, vintage pots and containers, and a sturdy indoor bench she stripped and repainted.
As for plants, Bean peruses garden and home centers for those that are tagged "distressed" and nurtures them back to health. It's a way of keeping a plant from being sent to a landfill.When buying these plants, she looks for those with good root systems and then makes sure they are planted in a space where the light is appropriate. She also makes sure they get the right amount of water, fertilizes them with Milorganite, and deadheads or prunes as needed.A rose bush she bought four years ago started as nothing more than an unhealthy twig but now is lush and stretches to the second story of her home. She also has rejuvenated miniature fruit trees, arborvitae, peonies and a variety of perennials.Bean also collects old garden tools, which are both functional and decorative."I get them from antique centers or rummage sales. Some of them are older than I am. I have a hoe that is about 100 years old. These pieces hold up well," said Bean, who shares her home and yard with her three dogs.Steven Swetlik, manager of Open House Estate Sales and Consignment in Wauwatosa, Wis., said old tools are popular and a good buy because they're sturdier, cheaper and nicer to look at than their newer counterparts. He estimates that items such as old rakes and hoes run from $3 to $5."They go pretty fast when they come in," he said, adding that many people look for the old metal benches for their yards, too. These sell for around $75.Old wagon wheels, small wood wheelbarrows and even glass light fixtures are purchased with gardens in mind. He said one customer purchased a 1970s-era hanging light and used the glass globe as a planter. Others have purchased light fixtures and used the globes as sun catchers.Swetlik said he recently put an indoor plant stand made of wood in his yard near a clothes pole. He set a bucket with a cucumber plant on it, and the cucumber vines now trail up to the hooks on the pole.Just about anything can be recycled for use in a garden, he said.
Jan Wos, owner of Mayflower Greenhouse in Hobart, Wis., has been putting plants in recycled containers for years. He said these items are so popular with customers that they often inspire others to make their own creations.Wos has a yearly class called "planting junk" in which the customer with the most unusual entry gets a prize.Each spring he gets recycled items by the truckload from Europe, and he also buys in the United States. Pastel plastic suitcases, butter churns, wash tubs, bicycles, wagon wheels, small furnaces, parts from old machinery and watering cans are among the pieces he turns into planters or garden accents.Because some of the pieces have value, he protects the inside with plastic before adding soil and plants.Karen Spencer, owner of Deja Vu Consignment Center in Milwaukee said she repairs and decorates broken chairs and then turns them into pot or basket holders. She applies oil-based paint to the pieces so they can withstand the weather, decorates them with flowers and often cuts a hole in the seat for flower pots. She sells them for $50 to $75, but she said she also helps customers make their own.Old shutters also can be turned into window boxes, and tall, old storm windows can be hinged together and then decorated and set in a garden as a divider.
