Let The Birds Begin!

Gardener and artist Rosalie Stanley just recently started watching birds. Their fascinating ways made her want them in her backyard too, but she realized her elaborate bird houses weren't attracting them.

“A gardening customer got me interested in feeding birds because in her yard they are always around just five feet away because they are used to people feeding them. So since I've been flat out broke, I noticed my neighbor had old lumber laying around including some old growth redwood that was headed to the burn pile. Some had moss growing on it, so I packed them home and I went to work."¯

And she hasn't stopped since. The environmentally-conscious Stanley makes some birdfeeders from recycled wood -- some is old growth redwood found on scrap heaps, although that is a very limited supply. She gets used lumber, boards and shingle scraps from customers and family and commercial scrap piles, and driftwood from the beach. Some lumber has extra character such as moss. Redwood shakes become bird feeder roofs. The feeders can either be post-mounted or mounted on a stump.

She'll make you a stunning feeder out of new lumber too, if you like. She made a bunch for her own yard in the form of bird houses with feeding platforms and perches. “After years of no birds coming to my birdhouses (she makes strictly decorative fancy birdhouses) Voila! Within minutes there were a plenitude."

“You take birds for granted," she says. “But if you sit in one spot for an hour and watch them come and go, it's really interesting."¯ Some of the birds in her West Coast backyard include powder blue Stellar Jays and red flickers.

Crafty? Let Rosalie Stanley show you how to have fun making your very own garden art that does double duty of course. Function is as much a part of her art as aesthetics.

Try water basins and planter troughs for succulents ¬ concrete sculptures that work for you. Water basins, roughly 16 inches in diameter or square, accent a garden and, at the same time, offer a drink to thirsty critters. Stanley's dog, Sally, and her gang of cats drink from the basins scattered throughout her gardens. The basins are great for the rock collectors among us to stash a few pretty ones for the water to play over. “They're always shiny like you found them at the beach,"¯ says Stanley. The concrete is grey or black with random sculpted designs and shapes. They've got the granite look.

For succulent and cacti buffs, the small eight-inch troughs are great for starting young plants. Stanley has found that succulents like to be rootbound, so a four-inch pot will fit just right. The plant will take a while to fill in the planter but meanwhile the heavy material will prevent the plant from tipping over. Since cacti and succulents tend to like an alkaline environment, the little planters are perfect. And a great thing is, they are easy to make yourself.

Instead of shipping the heavy yet delicate planters, Stanley sells the easy “How-To" instructions. Anyone can make the basins or troughs in their own backyard or garage and you need no special tools. Each design comes in a handy pamphlet with step-by-step directions with photos.

Although Stanley lives on the California West Coast, her feeders and basins and troughs will work great in DIG IT! territory too. Contact her at 707-964-1451 or jpmohn@mcn.org

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published January 01, 2004