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Artistic Signs Often Add Character In A Garden

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By MONICA BRANDIES, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 3, 2007

Updated: 10/01/2007 06:11 pm

Garden Signs. They can make you smile, feel proud, learn, or turn and run.

One of the things that makes a difference between a good garden and a great one is the garden art, and I especially love the signs.

Ros Scriven, whose gardens were featured recently, definitely has the fine flair for using art in her garden. She has a sign that may indeed be hand-painted that says 'You Grow Girl!' And she moves it around to reward whatever is growing well.

Just inside the trellis entry to her garden is a pot-holding bicycle, not an old one fixed up but one made only for decoration - with special places to put containers of flowering plants. On the handlebars is a sign that says, 'Take time to enjoy the garden.'

One of my favorites is the one shaped like an empty pot that says, 'I tried but it died.' She had it sitting on a tree trunk. That one was sure to make me smile.

So was the one that Nancy Kast has among her prize-winning African violets, a small, nicely decorated sign that says 'Grow DAMMIT!'

Dawn Renee's garden has a sign that says, 'God is Love. He who lives in love lives in God and God in him.'

It makes for a good reflection.

Another of my favorites, which I first saw in a rose garden decades ago, says, 'The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, One is nearer God's heart in a garden than any place else on earth.'

I don't quite agree with that because I think God is everywhere. But it is easier to feel his presence there.

You can find clever signs in catalogs or on the Internet, or you can make you own.

Very important signs that you can get free include the Certified Florida Garden sign and the Wildlife Habitat sign. The first one you may already have earned. Just stop in or call the Hillsborough County Extension Service and tell them you want information about the Yards and Neighborhoods program. They will send you a pack of free, valuable information that includes a 'yard stick' on which you get points for all the things you do in your yard that make it planet friendly. You need 36 points to get the sign, but I had 59 on my first try. If you don't get enough, they will tell you how you can.

Then you send in the check sheet and ask for the Master Gardeners to come and check you out. This is not so much a test as a visit. These people are the nicest, kindest you will meet, and they want to help, not hurt you. They will call ahead so you can be ready. This does not mean the garden must be perfect. These people realize that gardens are never perfect. At the end of the visit, you will no doubt have your sign, though I was a little antsy until I saw it there.

The Wildlife Habitat sign is a bit more difficult. You need to have 50 percent native plants at least in a small designated area and some written plans with plant names. Again, contact the extension office, ask for the packet and follow the directions.

Many public gardens, such as University of South Florida Botanical Gardens and the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo, have large signs with much information that you may take time to read but not to write down so you will remember. With today's digital cameras, it's easy to take a photo or two of the sign, getting as close as possible, and thus have the information forever on your computer, where you can zoom in on any part.

One large sign in Keys State Parks says, 'Please take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.' Nearby, another sign, slightly smaller, says, 'CAUTION: Alligators and Poisonous Snakes May Be on Trail.'

That got our attention and made us walk carefully. Actually, we didn't walk far on that trail, not because we turned and ran, but because it had been blocked off by recent hurricane damage.

Today's Pick

Alternanthera ficoidea, also called Parrot leaf or Joseph's coat, comes in several varieties. Growers say give it some shade, although the books I checked say full sun. I gave it some shade because that is what I have most, and it has been doing well and spreading all summer. The colors are said to be brighter in full sun. It grows only about 12 inches tall.

I had this plant once before, and something else crowded it out. The spreading, low ground cover has alternate, oval, linear leaves, 1 to 2 inches long, marked, in this case, with bright pink. Other cultivars are mottled with red, pink, orange, bronze, yellow or chartreuse. Purpurea is burgundy. They can be clipped back often to make tight, bushy plants. Use the clippings as cuttings. They root easily. At least two other closely related plants also go by the name of Joseph's coat.

With their fine texture, these look great at the feet of gingers and bananas, and some kinds also will cascade over the edge of a container.

Now's The Time To ...

•Watch out for wasps. I've had two flyby stings from wasps at the church. We carry antibacterial hand cleaner in the car, and I put that on at once. The one on my face hardly hurt, and the small bump disappeared by nightfall. The one on my hand didn't hurt much either, until it swelled up and I had to bend my fingers to get dinner. But pain was minimal, and the swelling went down in a day or so.

•If you get a bee sting, don't make it worse by squeezing the stinger. Scrape it away carefully with a fingernail or the edge of a credit card.

Upcoming Events

•The October Bloomingdale Library Plant Clinic will be at 7 p.m. today and will feature Jim Hawk talking on Dooryard Fruit for Central Florida.

•The USF Botanical Gardens 2007 Fall Plant Festival will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 13 and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 14. Admission is $4 for adults and free for members and children younger than 12. Parking is free. For details, call (813) 974- 2329 or visit www.cas.usf.edu/garden.

•The Tampa African Violet Society will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Seminole Garden Center, 5800 Central Ave., Tampa. The program, African Violets and Chimeras, will be presented by Jim Boyer, award-winning judge and grower. There will be a plant giveaway, refreshments and free parking. Visitors are welcome. Contact Dottie Cesario, president, at (813) 989-2934 or (813) 494-5775, or Mina Menish, publicity chairwoman, at (813) 681-1910.

Monica Brandies can be reached at monicabrandies@yahoo.com.

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