June's Morning Light

 

The early morning light in the early summer has a beautiful, soft quality that you just don't get later in the season.

On the screened porch.

The Evolution of the Garden Guy

Many years ago (about 30 years ago because Mollie was a preschooler) we went to an amazing garden show in the old Sears Building in Atlanta. It was filled with the most beautiful gardens created in the warehouse like space. One of the gardens that had been created was home to a garden guy made from terra cotta pots. He was so much fun and Mollie loved him. I was inspired to try and recreate one for our backyard garden. I did and he was around for quite a few years. Funny enough no one can remember what happened to him or why he was dismantled!

This spring when I was cleaning out for the new potager I uncovered a lot of terra cotta pots and I thought it might be time for Garden Guy 2.0. I had used a bunch of the pots to make a Christmas Tree outside the greenhouseChristmas Tree outside the greenhouse in December so I had a pretty good collection of pots to choose form. I had some wire and a pool noodle to use for spacers. I just needed to grab some wire cutters and a serrated knife. 

This is actually the old metal chair (all those pots get heavy) that the original pot guy sat in. I made a hole in the center and put a piece of rebar thru the pot holes and the hole in the chair to stabilize the whole thing and keep it from toppling over and breaking the pots. I also did this because I did not want to permanently glue the pots together. Everything is either wired or slipped over the rebar pole. It will come apart easily if I decide to dismantle him at some point.

I think the pots that form the body are 12 or 14 inch terra cotta pots. 

The rebar stabilizer is not noticeable once the guy is all put together and planted. 

The pot for the head is slightly smaller than the 2 for the body. I was using pots I had on hand. I slid them on the rebar to be sure the proportions worked and then removed them while I wired the legs on. 

I doubled the wire just to be sure and wrapped it around the pole under the bottom "body" pot. Using a serrated knife I cut spacers from the pool noodle. 

Then I simply threaded a pot followed by a spacer on to the wire to create legs. The pool noodle spacers hold the pot in place. You could skip the pacers but you would need quite a few more pots for each leg or arm.

You just keep adding pots until the legs are the length and configuration you want. 

I turned some pots the opposite way to make "knees" that I could plant  in.

After the legs were completed I added the top body pot and began wiring the arms in place. Having the rebar is helpful in securing the arms. The clay pots are a bit heavy when strung together. 

After both arms were secured I slid the pot that makes his head onto the rebar. You can see that I turned one of the arm pots so that I could plant in it if I wanted to. 

I hammered the rebar into the ground a little more once everything was all wired together. 

And then it was time to give this garden guy some hair. I had this asparagus fern already. I ended up dividing it in half with my serrated knife and planting it to each side of the pot so it would definitely hang down like hair!

He fits right in by the greenhouse and the old shed. 

Let me know if you create a garden guy to keep you company in the garden.

P.S. I have used smaller pots to make a small scale, tabletop version of these for a garden party tablescape and they are just as much fun!

 

Easter Decorating 2025

Easter decorating 2025 in pictures.

It was colorful, DIY-filled, thrifted and easy!

I marbelized faux eggs for the terra cotta pot wreath on the greenhouse door.

The Easter tree is a little different each year but I love pulling out the decoupaged egg and carrot ornaments I made several years ago and decorating the tree. This year it was in the kitchen eating area.

My "greeter guy" is ready for an egg hunt! This year his bowl was full of hand-painted chinoiserie eggs.

For the Easter Brunch table I brought the storage container marked "Easter decorations' upstairs from the basement and then just threw everything in there at the table! Bunnies, chicks, eggs, asparagus shaped candles and more! 

The big faux chocolate bunny DIY was a big hit on IG with over 160K views!!

I shared this amazing thrifted chinoiserie egg on IG as well.

And I turned my cherub framed display from Valentine's day into a bunny parade. 

You can never have too many bunnies.

In addition to pretty decorations, Sunrise Service, teaching children's Sunday School, and Easter brunch, I made a carrot cake from a Baker Bettie recipe that was soooo good!

I hope your Easter was full of blessings and bunnies and all the hope that Spring and Easter bring.