This project has been tumbling around in my head for awhile now. What I ultimately had pictured is a much (MUCH) smaller version of this, seen at Dig Nursery...
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In my imagination I shrunk those concrete containers way down so they actually fit into/above my stock tank pond. Three concrete cylinders in the stock tank, with metal u-shaped pieces connecting them and water circulating throughout the whole thing. Totally doable, if one has power at the location and the means to make the concrete and fabricate the u-shaped pieces of metal. In other words I'm not giving up on the dream...but...
After seeing this fabulous project that my friends Laura and Charlie recently did, with a re-purposed light fixture planted up with a Gunnera...
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I decided I needed to go ahead and get my interim idea up and running, rather than holding out for the someday dream. So I give you the stock tank carnivorous dish planters...
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Because why not up the number of dish planters to 9? After all I've got 12 stock tanks, obviously I believe in repetition...
Originally I planned to sink a CMU block in the tank and use the two voids in the CMU to secure the metal posts, with rocks stuffed in to keep them upright. However talking this over with the husband it suddenly became one of those, bigger — and better — projects. Off we went to buy a bag of cement mix, and now he was making small footings for each post.
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Tada! This is what they looked like after I peeled away the plastic buckets.
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The next step usually just means planting up the dish and sitting it atop the base. However since these were planned to go in a tank full of water I was concerned about a creature landing on the edge and tipping them into the water. In the four years I've had these planters around my garden I've only had two tipped over (I blame squirrels)...but a tipped over planter in a tank full of water would be much harder to pick up. Andrew had all sorts of good ideas, but...I'd already planted up the dishes so must of them weren't gonna work. He got creative...a cut-off nail in the base...
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Then a bent piece of metal was wired to a dish and around the nail...
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Which then had magnets put in place...
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And the planted dishes sat on top...
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What he had no way of knowing is that I'd wanted to work in some Tillandsia usneoides hanging from the dishes but no matter what I did it just looked dorky. He gave me the perfect void to tuck the Tillandsia into.
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I ended up only putting one planter in the tank, the other sits just outside. Oh ya, and the dishes each have a single carnivorous plant in them along with some rocks, moss, glass and bits of shells.
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It's a bit arty, but I was channeling my inner Ganna Walska...
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And I've had the shells for ages (I can't resist bringing back finds from the beach)...
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I may tire of it all eventually and change it up somehow but for now I love it.
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So...(drum-roll)....this is when I announce the winner of the Potted book giveaway!
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I assigned a number to each valid entry (those with a link to an active blog or an email address) and then used a random number generator to tell me who the winner was. Congrats Peter! Aka The Outlaw— I can't wait to see what creative things you come up with from the book.
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Weather Diary, July 26: Hi 86, Low 58/ Precip 0
All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
In my imagination I shrunk those concrete containers way down so they actually fit into/above my stock tank pond. Three concrete cylinders in the stock tank, with metal u-shaped pieces connecting them and water circulating throughout the whole thing. Totally doable, if one has power at the location and the means to make the concrete and fabricate the u-shaped pieces of metal. In other words I'm not giving up on the dream...but...
After seeing this fabulous project that my friends Laura and Charlie recently did, with a re-purposed light fixture planted up with a Gunnera...
I decided I needed to go ahead and get my interim idea up and running, rather than holding out for the someday dream. So I give you the stock tank carnivorous dish planters...
Because why not up the number of dish planters to 9? After all I've got 12 stock tanks, obviously I believe in repetition...
Originally I planned to sink a CMU block in the tank and use the two voids in the CMU to secure the metal posts, with rocks stuffed in to keep them upright. However talking this over with the husband it suddenly became one of those, bigger — and better — projects. Off we went to buy a bag of cement mix, and now he was making small footings for each post.
Tada! This is what they looked like after I peeled away the plastic buckets.
The next step usually just means planting up the dish and sitting it atop the base. However since these were planned to go in a tank full of water I was concerned about a creature landing on the edge and tipping them into the water. In the four years I've had these planters around my garden I've only had two tipped over (I blame squirrels)...but a tipped over planter in a tank full of water would be much harder to pick up. Andrew had all sorts of good ideas, but...I'd already planted up the dishes so must of them weren't gonna work. He got creative...a cut-off nail in the base...
Then a bent piece of metal was wired to a dish and around the nail...
Which then had magnets put in place...
And the planted dishes sat on top...
What he had no way of knowing is that I'd wanted to work in some Tillandsia usneoides hanging from the dishes but no matter what I did it just looked dorky. He gave me the perfect void to tuck the Tillandsia into.
I ended up only putting one planter in the tank, the other sits just outside. Oh ya, and the dishes each have a single carnivorous plant in them along with some rocks, moss, glass and bits of shells.
It's a bit arty, but I was channeling my inner Ganna Walska...
And I've had the shells for ages (I can't resist bringing back finds from the beach)...
I may tire of it all eventually and change it up somehow but for now I love it.
✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤
So...(drum-roll)....this is when I announce the winner of the Potted book giveaway!
I assigned a number to each valid entry (those with a link to an active blog or an email address) and then used a random number generator to tell me who the winner was. Congrats Peter! Aka The Outlaw— I can't wait to see what creative things you come up with from the book.
✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤
Weather Diary, July 26: Hi 86, Low 58/ Precip 0
All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.