The Pond (and Island) T R A N S F O R M A T I O N

Welcome to my island, which I've named

~ Fairy Island ~

We went from the house we built on a small lot

to a 30+ year old home on almost 2 acres.

~Which came with a concrete pond and an island~

but oh it did not look like this

last year when we moved in.  Below is the "BEFORE" 

Solid green scum, debris and a huge mound of blackberry bushes.

and no way to get out there unless you trudged through the green muck.

Of course, what would be the point of getting out there anyway, 

to a forest of prickly blackberrys!

But after much work mostly on my husbands part,

(including a bridge to the island)

I planted flowers in pots and decorated the oasis.

Even the ducks were overwhelmed by too much scum!

And there was no going onto an island of thick weeds.

At one time this place had beautiful grounds, but

had suffered neglect for a few years.

but now

Fairy Island

is a place of beauty and whimsy!

At the end of August I will be showing the renovations

we did to the house and gardens,

with 'before' and 'after' photos.

I hope you will come back to view more transformations!

~ Violet ~

A Garden Inspired by the Beach

We visit the Oregon Coast yearly and I love the flowers and gardens

in Cannon Beach with a view of Haystack Rock and the ocean

{the dogs like it there too}

After visiting there in April, I came home wanting to create

a miniature garden with a beach theme.

Flowers, a tree (a dwarf form of Japanese Cedar), a sandy beach

and of course, the ocean!

with Haystack Rock off in the distance

We always see dogs at Cannon Beach

{and bring our own}

The black one above is resting on Scotch Moss,

a ground cover perennial

and the white one is running on the beach,

past the sandcastles and beach umbrella

These last 3 photos have a blue sky appearing above the ocean

I used pastels on paper as a photo prop

and now I want to figure out how to keep a sky out there

beyond the ocean!

{my back yard fairy garden has a painted background, so why not?}

I added some glitter to the sparkly sand,

not sure what a wind storm or heavy rain will do to this garden,

but this week has beautiful weather so I'm not going to think about that now.

~Violet ~