Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Sorry Birds, The Fern Has Moved In

I purchased this faux - faux bois birdbath from a catalog a few months ago and was rather disappointed in it as a birdbath. The bowl was really deep and the birds just sat on the side trying to figure out how to get into the water without drowning. It was hard to clean and still even worse, the paint was peeling off in the water! A trip to the nursery and a small tree fern, a couple maidenhair ferns that were looking a bit ragged in the house and some Scottish moss and viola! A lovely planter! Sorry birds, I promise to buy a new birdbath.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks really nice. What a creative reuse.

Wicked Gardener said...

It looks like it was made to be a planter.

Anonymous said...

Well at least you were able to turn it into a fantastic planter. I have one that is deep and I put a large rock in the center that they can sit on while sipping the water.

Anonymous said...

ooh, what a great idea!

Eve said...

Hey, great idea about that rock in the middle of the deep one, perenn/gardner.

I lvoe the way that looks. The birds can still come and vist it. It looks really old, like it has been there a while.

Anonymous said...

I love it! Moss in a bird bath is very elegant.

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

I've been wanted to do the same thing with a birdbath of mine that is too deep for the birds. Tell me... did you drill drainage holes in it or did you just plant in the basin without drainage. I saw a lovely arrangement of succulents done in a birdbath outside the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, but didn't know if I could get away with it without drain holes.

Cindy

Sheila said...

Cindy, I did not drill holes in this one, but made sure that I chose plants that can handle wet feet. We'll see how it does. I did have a cement birdbath with succulents a few years ago (it fell over and broke) and it did well, but it was very shallow and the cement didn't hold water well. Good luck!

Sylvia (England) said...

I love your bird bath plus plants! I can't find a bird bath here that I like, they all look so artificial. Some are so light that they must blow over in the slightest wind. For now my birds have a little dish on a old chimney pot, good for drinking but not good enough for bathing.

Best wishes Sylvia (England)

Kathy said...

What a great solution. The ferns are lovely. I love your blog, first time visitor but I will be back. Kathy