| Friday Five: More Than Just a Birdbath |
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| Written by Heleigh Bostwick Friday, 12 August 2011 | |||
 Most gardeners like seeing wildlife in their yard and probably have a strategically placed birdbath or two. In most cases the birdbath is used for its intended purpose, but sometimes parts of it break or you get tired of maintaining it. The good news is that birdbaths can be refashioned for other purposes such as miniature aquatic gardens like the one pictured above, planters, or as garden art. Here are a couple of other ideas for repurposing birdbaths. 1. Grow Watercress Love watercress sandwiches in the summer but don’t have a conveniently located (and unpolluted) stream on your property? Try growing watercress in a birdbath. Make sure it’s in the shade, and the water is fresh and topped off. Start with plants or seeds. 2. Miniature Aquatic Garden If you’ve been tempted to try a container water garden but haven’t worked up your nerve, then try it out in the birdbath first. Measure the water depth in the bowl and then pick plants that grow at that water level like the sedges pictured above. 3. Fountain Turn your birdbath into a solar powered bubbler or fountain. Many birdbaths have hollow supports so all that’s needed is to drill holes in the top and bottom for tubing. 4. Planter To make a planter, drill a hole in the bottom of the “bowl” for drainage, and then add potting soil. Choose a groundcover like Irish moss that will carpet the bowl or a plant that drapes over the sides. 5. Garden Art If you have a beautifully designed birdbath of copper or cast iron but are tired of maintaining it, it might make a great piece of garden art with a few additions such as bird statuary or even something more modern like a cubist sculpture. Anyone else have any creative uses for birdbaths that they would like to share? The strangest idea I saw was making a plastic birdbath pedestal into a toilet bowl brush holder. |
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