A Growing Insole

My mother's favorite thing was shoes. She was a sweet, kind woman who never complained and really never asked for anything. But when she had the opportunity - she loved new shoes. My father on the other hand did not really care for shoes all that much, but was a die-hard gardener. Put them together and you get a wonderfully whimsical shoe planter!

Garden Walk Garden Talk had a fun photo of a shoe planted with sempervivums...

All of Donna's pictures are beautiful.  This one adds a touch of whimsy!

...in her last post In the Greenhouse with GWGT. 

There is another blog called Shoe Planter Crafts that is dedicated to gardeners on a budget - what fun!

How to Make Shoe Planters from Children's Shoes

And Shoe Metro has Weird Shoe Wednesdays...



Blackberry Creek Home Arts has some wonderful pictures of unusual planters...

Including this boot bragging these beautiful pansies.

So, next time you are about to recycle those Reeboks or shed your Skechers - just remember, they could provide a humorous habitation for some grateful greenery.  (It gives a whole new meaning to Nunn Bush!)

Get your hands dirty!

You Say Houseleek, I Say Sempervivum...

Let's call the whole thing Hens and Chicks!

Sempervivum (translated Live Forever) is a remarkable little succulent plant.  There are literally hundreds of cultivars due to it's ease of seeding and the way it cross pollinates with others of it's own specie.

It is often referred to as Hens and Chicks because of the way it usually has one center Hen surrounded by many smaller Chicks.  But don't be mislead ~ this is one tough little mother!  It can survive cold, hot, wind, dry... almost any miserable condition.  The one thing it does not like is to be soggy.