Thursday, August 16, 2012

That stupid wheelbarrow

Last summer I bought this old cracked iron wheelbarrow at Salvage Works in Kenton.


I planted it with lavender, then sedum Autumn Joy, then with a lot of weeds. Everything I've planted has just looked too precious when I wanted the look of gothic rot.



This summer two different girlfriends exclaimed over how cute the wheelbarrow was and I tried to pawn it off on them but no one wanted to bike home trailing an old iron wheelbarrow. It only weighs 50 pounds, JEEZ. So I'm trying again.


I really wanted to do an enormous agave in this but the wheelbarrow is really shallow. I just don't think it would survive (or get big in this climate). So I did a mix of Sedum 'Postman's Pride' (the tall purple), Japanese golden sedum (the gold), Sedum cauticola 'Lidakense' (the blue one you can't see because it matches the gravel, whoops), and a mystery pink-blooming sedum that I got from Linda.



I might still sneak an agave pup in there and see what happens. Then I'll compulsively move it around the yard, which is a real treat to watch. This iron behemoth is top heavy and steering is dicey, so moving it is like getting a toddler drunk and setting them loose on a tricycle. Putting something pokey in there will only make it more fun.

8 comments:

  1. Way better! And yes you totally need to work in a little agave pup and of course an Obama! (http://www.cactusjungle.com/blog/2012/08/14/obama-in-the-garden-14/)

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  2. WHAT. I can't stop laughing at that! I have a tiny garden gnome, is that close enough? Four more years!

    (and I snuck in two pups this morning)

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  3. I definitely like the Sedums better! I should try 'Postman's Pride' again...my first one was super-floppy and then just died...although I'm pretty sure I had it in too much shade.

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  4. I have a wheelbarrow shaped like that, but made of tackier material. It keeps tipping over. That planting is so great, it would be a shame for it to land in a heap. I think sweet-talking that man of yours into doing the moving is called for.

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  5. I'm curious if that one will thrive. It seems like the taller sedums want deeper soil than this (or so says my brief experiment with Autumn Joy in the wheelbarrow).

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  6. Gothic rot--ha! I don't know if it's gothic but I really, really love your black and gold combo. You've got a good thing going on there!

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  7. Thanks! I love that color combo too.

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