Spilled Pot Gnome Garden

by Three Dogs in a Garden

This garden feature is easy to do and makes great use of an old clay pot.

What you need:

• Gnome or fairy house (my house was purchased at Michaels)

• gnome or fairy figure (Again, I found my gnome at Michaels.)

• Tree with swing or any other decorative objects (Michaels)

• Tiny mushrooms (Michaels)

• Animal figures (I used 2 rabbits)

• Clay pot (mine was 4.5" deep and 9" across)

• Green sheet moss (from any craft store)

• Pebbles (Dollar Store)

Step 1: This project works best, if your garden has a bit of a slope. With your garden trowel, inset the pot into the slope and fill the bottom third of the pot with dirt.

Step 2: Disguise the dirt in the bottom section of the clay pot with a pieces of dried green moss (available at a craft store). In the picture above you can see the moss peeking out just behind the gnome's little house.

Tools & plants:

• Standard garden trowel

• 4 x 4" pots of alyssum

• 2 x 3" round pots of groundcover sedum

• 2 x 3" pots of Saxifraga rosacea

• 1 x 3" pot of Lamium 'White Nancy'

Note: I also had purple violets and forget-me-knots blooming in the same area as I created my spilled pot.

Groundcover sedum and Alyssum

Step 3: To create a low groundcover in front of the clay pot, I used a two pots of magenta and two pots of pink Alyssum. Leaving space for a central pathway, plant the Alyssum to the left and right of the clay pot.

Saxifraga rosacea

Step 3: Plant your choice of annuals or perennials around the outer perimeter of the clay pot. Annuals will give you the best color throughout the gardening season. I used Lamium 'White Nancy', which has wonderful silver-green foliage. I also used a couple of unidentified groundcover Sedums that were inexpensive at Walmart. Finally, I planted two pots of Saxifraga rosacea, which has delicate, daisy-like flowers.

Planting note: The Sedum and the Saxifraga like good drainage, so I worked some fine gravel into my soil when planting these perennials.

Step 4: To make the pathway, I used decorative pebbles that I got at the Dollar Store. I placed a sprinkling of pebbles on the upper rim of the clay pot to cover any bare earth.

My props included a tree with a tiny swing, a few miniature mushrooms and two white rabbits.

The flowers on the Saxifraga rosacea will fade, but the plant itself should make a nice green mound. If it doesn't hold up in the heat of summer, it may be something I have to replace. The perennials should do fine and the annual Alyssum should provide color right into the fall.