Celia Hart's blog about what's going on in and around her studio.
Art, printmaking, inspirations, gardening, vegetables, hens, landscapes, wild flowers, East Anglia, adventure, travel.

Saturday 4 August 2012

Scented-leaf Geraniums displayed



My collection of Scented-leaf Geraniums (OK to be accurate they are 'pelargoniums') is now on display next to our back door. I'd been hunting around for something for them to sit on and then had a brain wave :-)


Two very long and cold winters had left me with just a couple of my collection of Scented-leaf Geraniums and I missed all those lovely leaves to touch and sniff; so at the end of June when I saw a special offer from a specialist nursery, I just couldn't resist! A few days later I received a package of little plants . . .


I had fun planting them in some old terracotta flowerpots (I retrieved these from next to a neighbour's bin, many years ago). And the wooden seed trays were from a another neighbour who was throwing them out!


The little plants are growing well, one needed repotting into a larger pot already, but the others can grow a little bigger first.


Now that they are on display they needed some nice labels, so I made some . . .


. . . did you guess that they are old venetian blind slats painted with acrylic paint? I wrote the names with a fine-tip silver marker pen.


There's just one little snag . . . someone says it's his favourite step-ladder. I'll let him have it back when the Scented-leaf Geraniums need bigger pots.


Celia
x


26 comments:

  1. I just love your plant labels idea! And that is excellent use of step ladder too ;-)

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  2. Ahh, I 'used to have' a similar collection, from the same nursery, but mine perished over winter; I think I have just one left...that's a gorgeous way of displaying them, I shall keep my eyes peeled for a similar ladder, so that I can copy you when we finally get our own garden!

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    Replies
    1. I hope that I can keep these safe from frosts and make a bigger display next year.

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  3. Re using old things just looks so good, brilliant inspiring idea.

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    1. Thank you! I don't like throwing things away.

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  4. Brilliant! Great idea, from the labels to the ladder display. And I can just smell those pelargoniums :D

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    1. And they are just by the back door so I can have a little sniff of the different scents as I go past :-)

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  5. now I need an old Venetian blind. We only have the one, in the kitchen and we'd notice if there were bits missing!

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  6. It's beautiful! I love having herbs by my back door for that very reason! I love the way you've displayed them too!

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    1. When they grow larger I'll need more and bigger ladders!

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  7. These always remind me of my Mums garden she always loved them! She still loves flowers but now unable to garden. Great way to display! Ada :)

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    1. The perfect plant for your Mum to have as a pot plant.

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  8. I love your makeshift pelargonium theatre! and what a clever recycling re the name tags!

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    1. I've been using the plain white slats for a while as plant tags, but I'm very pleased with the faux metal ones.

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  9. I love the way you've used the ladder to display all the pelargoniums.....and the plant labels idea is inspired!

    I also seemed to miss the water butt post last week so have just read it....wow Celia, I really love what you did there....

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    Replies
    1. I like to reuse things in the garden - but not in a Bob Flowerdew way!

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  10. What a super way to display them, like an Auricula theatre.

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  11. A lovely Blog, I like the way you've stuck to clay pots.

    I always think Clay's are the best.

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    1. I use plastic pots for growing seedlings and cuttings in the greenhouse - my vintage clay pots are kept for special display plants.

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  12. Celia, your scented-leaf geranium display is quite beautiful and clever. I'd say that your recycling imagination deserves a page or three in a home and garden magazine. You've created a wonderful setting, and clearly the plants applaud your care.

    I also quite like those entwined circle motifs on the white wall. I suspect that they are also courtesy of your artist's eye...and hands.

    xo

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    1. Now that would be a fun commission - I'll work on that, Frances ;-)
      The motifs on the wall aren't my work, they were done when this part of the house was built in the 1980s. They are a traditional Suffolk decorative plaster work called Pargetting. There are some examples in the nearby villages that were done centuries ago.

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  13. Those labels are an inspired 'make' Celia. How clever to make a geranium 'theatre' just like auriculas. You are right about their scents. Nothing can beat them.

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  14. My favourite is the one that smells of lemon sherbert dib dabs!

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