The Planter Box Princess

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My Mother’s favorite garden pleasure is to plant flowers in objects that most people would call junk.  She has a magic touch in her "green thumb." Take this rough wooden chair which is anchored by ivy, it is sitting pretty, don’t you think?

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A worn out ice-cream bucket is transformed into making herb ice-cream.

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A rusty wiped-out washing machine over-flows with floral suds.

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A red tin can, that she found on the wrong side of the tracks, becomes a planter box princess in my Mother’s garden.

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A hose is out of the question when she waters her magical treasures.

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Some of us use mail boxes to post letters. My Mother opens the lid, lifts up the flag, and declares; "Perfumed letters!"

Photos: My Mother’s garden in California, it is full of surprises.



Comments

66 responses to “The Planter Box Princess”

  1. What beauty in those thrown-out treasures! It makes me want to go replant all my plants from their predictable pottery planters to objects such as these in your photos. Thanks for the inspiration.

  2. Somehow it’s wonderful to know that you are amidst your Mother’s great planted pots and treasures. I know you will all enjoy this time immensely, and add more sweet memories to your “family album”!
    Lidy

  3. OMG Corey,
    I think that chair is just like the one I have in my garden. I love your mother’s garden, it is a lot like mine.
    Hope you are having fun.
    Rosemary

  4. I love what you have done with all of these. Nita

  5. Corey, the photos are just beautiful! What a green thumb your mom has, too ~ I love the unexpected container. To me it looks as if seeds fell and grew in them naturally! xxoo, Dawn

  6. Marie-Noëlle

    Your photos make the scene very lively … They feature very well your mother through her garden treasures and corners…

  7. Beautiful!!!! Your mother has a real magic touch!

  8. It sounds like your mother is a true magician, an alchemist!

  9. Your Mother’s garden is beautiful and those photographs could well grace a gardening book.

  10. How lucky you are to share your Mother and her garden and perfumed letters.
    Treasure every golden moment.
    I love you
    Jeanne

  11. Elizabeth Meredith

    Love the suds!

  12. How lovely….and what a coincidence! I do the same thing with the junk containers! I once put thyme in a ‘Prince Albert in the Can’ tin! Your Mom and I would be fast friends I think!

  13. I love that there’s a beautiful theme of putting life back into the old in your family, the creativity and colours are wonderful, whimsical and unexpected. This one is fit for a magical fairytale storybook.

  14. Shannon

    I love the whimsy of it all.

  15. Your mother has a beautiful garden! What wonderful ideas. I see an eye for beauty runs in the family. 🙂

  16. Your Mom has really does have a green thumb! I adore her lobelia. Hope your having a great time!

  17. Your Mother’s garden must be enchanting to visit. Each of the details you featured gave me a smile.
    Darla

  18. hi corey, catching up on posts here, and love your mother’s garden. sadly ours was destroyed yesterday by hail the size of quarters.
    oh well, there is always next year! enjoy your time in willows!

  19. She sounds exactly like another mother I know 🙂

  20. patpaulk

    The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Like her daughter she has excellent taste.

  21. Hi Corey:
    Your Mom’s garden is a play land for fairies and imps to skip, jump and run. Can’t you see them hiding behind the mail box post and tickling your Mom’s feet : )
    carole

  22. Corey, I love the description you give each piece of still life. How I would love to wander thru your Mom’s garden!

  23. Your mother is very clever and sure has that magic green thumb touch! I love her floral suds!

  24. THis is my favorite kind of garden!!! No formal knotted gardens for moi ! My own small garden is quite like your Mom’s…..Only hers is spectacular! You must be thoughorly enjoying your visit!

  25. Lovely pics! I too am a big fan of “container” gardening ;o)

  26. Oh such fun!! Hers is kind of garden that is my favorite … full of life and breaking the mold!!

  27. So pretty! I love West Coast gardens…always so lush and green. Everything in my garden is all dried up with our drought.

  28. her garden is just lovely. inspiring.

  29. now this is what a garden should look like…can your mother come east and help me fill my misfits with flora????…you can come with her…blessings, rebecca

  30. “perfumed letters”…how beautifully said. Every time I read your words, it brings me a certain calmness to me. thank you.

  31. I love your moms garden! It is beautiful! I love using old things, and giving them another purpose. Beautiful! Your mom has an eye for discarded treasure!
    XoX

  32. Hi Corey,
    When we plant older wooden chairs in the garden we make them into Fairy Chairs! Any combination of flowers, vines, and little items that fairies might find amusing always work! Looks like your Mom has a wonderful Fairy Chair in her garden!

  33. Oh goodie. We get to visit your mom’s garden again now that you are home in the valley. More, please??

  34. I love the look of your mother’s garden. So original and colorful and full of life.
    We’re drowning in a sea of weeds right now…this post is inspiration to make us work in our gardens!

  35. Lovely!! Your mother has indeed a green, red, blue, lilac thumb!

  36. I love how she literally breathes life into these found objects! Beautiful. xx, JP

  37. Bonjour Corey,
    I saw these charms in the new Romantic Homes and fell instantly in love. I’ m writing to you because I am most in love with the pink heart showing a couple and any of the ones with the female portraits. I was wondering if you have some of these available and how I can go about purchasing them.
    I went to your website and started reading about you, your family, friends etc. You have a very funny way of telling your stories, I was captivated and very amused—especially about your trip to Lourdes with Anna and her snoring….I have a 79 year old father who has always acted like Rip Van Winkle and can fall asleep anywhere and anyhow (even standing up-I’ve got pictures) so I can relate. I will pray for your dear friend Shelley but I loved what you wrote about her attitude that in itself helps sooooo much.
    Look forward to hearing from you….
    God Bless…and Merci
    Lily

  38. Ah she’s a woman after my own heart don’t you think?

  39. Corey, thanks for the inspiration. We created a flower garden this spring and this is exactly the look I have been going for…thanks for the photos. Have a great visit with your family!

  40. she does have a magic touch and a compassionate eye. beautiful images, corey!

  41. I just love your Mother’s garden. It is so beautiful.

  42. Franca Bollo

    This is off topic but I had to tell you I was running in Crissy Field yesterday when a woman passed me on a bicycle. In the basket in front of her was a box of Cocoa Puffs. I sped up just to make sure that 1) it really was Cocoa Puffs and 2) you weren’t the one pedaling the bicyclette.
    ————————————————
    Hi Franca Bollo,
    Ah a kindred spirit! A bicycle, cocoa puffs, San Fransico… Crazy isn’t it! Long live cocoa puffs!

  43. Such beauty in every corner. Your mother has more than a green thumb, she has a flair for “exterior” decorating. Thank you for sharing her talents here.

  44. Hi Corey! I just love your mom’s garden. Thanks for posting the pics!

  45. the decorative flowered objects of your mom’s garden go beyond her green tumb. i call it all 10 fingers 😉 very lovely!

  46. So beautiful!
    So when shall we meet? Email me.
    OXOX 🙂

  47. Corey, your mother’s garden is fascinating for me, she does things that my mother could have done, like using those odd objects as planters.
    Lots of joy to all of you back home!

  48. Your mother’s garden is beautiful, Corey! I love how she’s planted in those worn out treasures giving them a second life.

  49. Such lovely planters and just the right plant for each…and your lovely description gives them even more magic.
    It looks like the fruit did not fall too far from the tree.

  50. Such a fun approach to gardening. I love it.

  51. Beautiful !
    and now we know where you Get It From
    Your Ma is an artist too !
    xxo-S.

  52. Oh Corey! I love your mother’s garden! I love that washing maching! Makes me want to post more of my backyard pics! I just got home from a short camping trip…I need to get busy and post more on my blog!

  53. oops…I forgot to say…WELCOME BACK TO CALIFORNIA…the weather has been beautiful…and will be for the next few days!! yahooooooooooo!! Hope you enjoyed the beer & burrito! 🙂

  54. Your mother has her heart and soul in her garden. So lovely…the best kind of garden there is!

  55. …as you are full of surprises. the blossoms of your mother’s odd vessels bloom in your heart and soul as well. lovely post! hope to talk to you or maybe even see you while you’re here. xo- snow

  56. Beautiful! My Mum did similar things and I often thing she was recyling withour realising.

  57. Comme toi, ta Maman à l’âme d’un poète !

  58. Your mother certainly is creative in the garden! Now I know where you get your passion for treasure-hunting in the fleamarkets from!

  59. yes
    yes
    yes
    I do, I do, I do
    love this
    artful way
    of gardening…
    mmmmmmwaw!!!!!!!!
    Mama Amaro…
    xox – eb.

  60. Wow – lovely!

  61. very sweet! i feel a kindred spirit on the left coast! wonder-filled gardening…feel the love!

  62. Oh, I LOVE your mother’s garden! By serendipity, I just posted a day ago about how I’m loving planting veggies and herbs in the sinks from my mother’s old house.
    I’m glad to see I’m in such good company!

  63. The acorn does not fall far from the tree as they say…

  64. Absolutely wonderful. Can I borrow your mother for a summer?

  65. Creativity runs in your family!Your mother’s ideas so original!

  66. This inspires me. Your mother must be amazing.

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