Garden Decor

Adorn your deck or outdoor patio with decorations that follow nature themes. Hang decorative wall plaques on bare walls and transform them instantly into bright areas that your family and even guests will appreciate gazing at.

Complement the profusion of flowers found in your garden with a butterfly wall plaque. Brighten a rainy day with the sunshiny cheer of a sun and star garden plaque that combines night and day into a décor of celestial beauty.

My husband just built a nice tree house for our kids, so for me to be able to add an attraction in the tree house, I bought these adorable log cabin birdhouses that I found on your catalog.  It was really nice that you have so many kinds of designs that I was able to choose from.

Now my kids are not just enjoying the tree house itself but also the different kinds of birdhouses that I placed around it. It was such a great fun for them seeing birds going in and out of it!

Nichols Bros. Stoneworks have done it again.  This stylish, distinctive bird bath is reminiscent of the Koi ponds that have graced gardens and yards since time immemorial.  With a special frost-proof material this durable bird bath will last for years in your home or garden.  The unique finish accentuates a one of a kind character that you can find only in Nichols Bros. stone.  And all of this for less than fifty dollars, it’s hard to believe.

Available in five distinct colors, these stone bird baths stand the test of time.  Under heavy use and in any climate, you can enjoy a premium-quality, real-stone birdbath for a fraction of the price.  Take a look and see for yourself how easy it can be to add a touch of class to your home and garden.

Make your yard and garden a beacon of hospitality with one of these wooden decorative birdhouses.  The lighthouse continues to be one of your top sellers.  Anyone who’s ever lived near the water can tell you, lighthouses bring a distinctive charm to everything they adorn.  Whether it’s indoors or out you can finally afford the styles you love – every single day!

Even with the shipping cost figured in the price is just amazing.  For less than ten bucks I can have a very attractive addition to my yard.  And the convenience of shopping from my home or office is yet another added bonus.

How-To Get Rid of Poison Ivy Near Vegetables

Howard emailed me what would appear to be a very straight forward question: “What can I use to eliminate poison ivy near a vegetable garden?”. We all know that getting rid of poison ivy is never an easy task. Many weed killers do a decent job of eradicating this pest, but most must be applied several times to really do the job. Even though these products are rated relatively safe to the environment, you want to be even more cautious when spraying near vegetables for your family.

I mentioned the acetic acid based weed killers and painting the herbicide directly on the leaves of the weed, to lessen its spread. Do you have any suggestions for battling poison ivy? They say with the warmer temperatures of recent years, poison ivy is becoming hardier than ever. So this is probably going to become an even bigger problem for gardeners.

Problem #1:  Seeds have to be moist enough to germinate, dry enough   that the fungi don’t move in, in soil damp enough to keep them going, but with enough air spaces that oxygen can get to the seeds and the roots.

General solution: a well-drained potting soil, and plastic pots with good drainage holes.  Keep soil about as moist as a sponge you’d use to wipe off the kitchen counter.

Problem #2:  Drought and drown.  Most of us don’t have the time to watch seedlings really, really carefully and water them every time they need it.  Plus some of us (ahem! who me?) have minds like sieves and just plain forget to water now and then.  A seed that’s started to germinate and then dries out is dead. 

General solution:  Keep the humidity up so the soil doesn’t dry  out so rapidly.  If you’ve got seeds in soil, cover with  plastic wrap so the tray doesn’t dry out.  Once you see the first signs of seedlings, though, you need to remove the cover and start paying closer attention.

Your neighborhood supermarket is chocked full of flowering blossoms and bulbs this season, and I’m a big fan of putting them in all types of uplifting seasonal displays.  They aren’t just easy to find and gorgeous; they’re inexpensive, too, and are arrangeable in lots of unique displays.  Stop by your neighborhood supermarket’s flower department and give this cool affordable idea a shot!

A list of inexpensive garden decorations.

• Johnny Jump Ups planted in small galvanized buckets looks so charming!
• Plant half whiskey barrels tightly with strawberry plants.
• Scarecrows are not only useful, they’re decorative.
• Check your nearest dollar store for really cute and cheap garden decorations! They also have seeds sometimes 10 packets for $1.00.
• Make a rustic trellis by nailing or screwing branches together in desired shape.
• Tip a flowerpot (any size) over and have soil spill out of it. Plant flowers in the soil for a charming spilled pot look.
• Old bowling balls can either be spray painted desired color or left as-is and used as a “garden sphere” that is so popular in gardens If you don’t have a bowling ball, check the thrift stores or yard sales to get one cheap.
• To spruce up a plain garage or house wall in the garden, nail strips of wood onto the wall in a paned-window shape. Paint desired color, add window-box full of planted flowers, grow a flowering vine over it, or even hang silk flowers over