On the recent tour of this year's Encinitas Garden Festival, one of the private gardens had a beautiful white-picket fence enclosing an immaculate raised bed vegetable garden. Adjacent to the vegetable garden was an open area with a pathway and fruit trees. In addition, there was a fabulous focal point of creative staggered containers, using wine boxes, galvanized tubs, and burlap bags. Something so simple, with a "wow" factor. It is structural, functional, beautiful, clever, and unique all in one. Hats off to this homeowner, and their herb garden.

This is reminiscent of an idea in Rosalind Creasy's new book, Edible Landscaping, where she describes how to stagger and arrange different size half-wine barrels for a perfect container grouping.

Most of these containers can be found in local farm and garden supply stores, such as Grangettos, Home Depot, or even flea markets for the weathered and rusty look. Look around your garage, sheds, utility areas for possible containers you might already have. Wine boxes can be found at wine shops, wineries, and friends who are in wine clubs.

It is still important to create holes for drainage in the case of the galvanzied tubs, and line the wooden wine boxes with heavy plastic, small rocks for drainage, and then your preferred soil. Eventually burlap bags will break down exposed to weather elements, but will hold up through a few seasons. Gardener's burlap is strong, yet very reasonable, coming in ready-sewn bags, or longer sheets of material.

With very little expense, and a lot of creativity, you might be able to create a unique container focal point in your garden, too.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme...

Attention Chicken Lovers! Spruce up your chicken coop for VintageGardenGal's Annual Chicken Coop Photo Contest. Send in your photos this month to bonnie@vintagegardengal.com

Country Gardens magazine Spring 2011, features VintageGardenGal's fun combination of vintage containers and succulent design in their article, "Show Off Succulents." Country Gardens Magazine, Spring 2011.

Many thanks to Country Gardens magazine, and James A. Baggett, Editor, for their interest in my vintage container and succulent designs. This article was produced by Andrea Caughey, and photographed by Ed Gohlich.

My Bullet Tips on Designing with Vintage Containers: -One of a kind, unique -Surprise element, usually through repurposing -Look for them at flea markets, garage sales, antique shops, online -Buckets, pails, chicken feeders, nests, vintage sewing drawers, oil cans, strainers -Vintage containers dictate your design by color, shape, character, and style -Allow for ample drainage, either with gravel or shells -Add gravel, then your potting soil; next place your bulbs, plants -Wood containers need to be lined with a heavy plastic first -Bulbs and succulents require little water, moist not wet, can use spray bottle

My Bullet Tips on Designing with Vintage Containers & Succulents -Design and plant tight areas using chop stick or knitting needle -Succulent designs lend themselves to small space requirements -Dense planting of succulents is best, less growth, and maintenance -Design ideas tips: 1) single color or tone but different form, 2) group with same shape, or 3) repeat same color tones

Please share if you have ever designed with vintage containers. Please comment on your favorite succulents.

I want to share with you some of the exceptional places that I come across from time to time. These places are gems and not to be missed if you are in the area, or they could even be a destination. Most have a "garden thread" to them. "Places To Know" can be retail, restaurants, nurseries, and other. Whatever the place, expect the unusual. This is a first in a new category, "Places To Know"....

On a recent insider's trip to Napa with my garden gal's, The Farmstead Restaurant was a fabulous stop and restaurant on our itinerary. It is located at 738 Main Street in St. Helena, California 94574, (tel) 877-NAPA-OIL, or just south of St. Helena on the famous Highway 29 in Napa Valley.

The restaurant is in a former nursery barn, transformed into a 110-seat restaurant featuring a farm-to-table menu, comprised of seasonal local, sustainable, and organic ingredients. It is a lively and social atmosphere. It was packed with diners the night we were there. Entering the restaurant, an outside light fixture created with vintage chicken feeders luminously greets you. I often use chicken feeders in vintage container design, but I have never thought about turning them into hanging lights. More unusual chandelier lighting hangs in the center of the restaurant made from re-purposed vintage-salvaged hay hooks from the owner's family historic ranch.

If you come for lunch at the Farmstead Restaurant, you might enjoy  intimate outdoor dining lined with living espaliered fruit trees, and an inviting nursery and demonstrating gardens, literally steps from your dining table. There is also on the grounds a wine and olive oil tasting room, too.

The Farmstead Restaurant is one part of a shining example of a vertical integration of a modern, organic, sustainable family farm which comprises Long Meadow Ranch. Long Meadow Ranch is owned by the dedicated Hall family. Their motto is "Excellence Through Responsible Farming." Long Meadow is a 650 acre historic ranch nestled high above Napa Valley in the Mayacamas Mountains. This property has old olive groves and vineyards originally planted in the 1870's. Thorough their sustainable philosophy and organic practices, Long Meadow Ranch make their own extra-virgin oil oil, world-class wines, raise their own grass-fed beef, grow their own heirloom vegetables, produce organic eggs, and more.

Long Meadow Ranch also includes LMR Rutherford Gardens, another historic property on the Napa Valley floor, and not far from The Farmstead Restaurant. Organic seasonal produce is grown for the the restaurant and the Friday St. Helen Farmer's Market. Soon, a farm stand featuring LMR's own produce, flowers, and eggs will be available each morning at The Farmstead Restaurant.

If you are visiting Napa Valley, I highly recommend stopping in for lunch or dinner at The Farmstead Restaurant. The food is delicious, the wines are lovely, and the atmosphere is inviting. Please comment if you are familiar with The Farmstead Restaurant and Long Meadow Ranch.

I'm sure you have heard of a strawberry patch and a strawberry pot, but have you heard of a "crown of strawberries."  I have had this pair of cherub planters potted with bacopa and a few other trailing plants, but they really took on another look and life when I potted ornamental strawberry edibles in them. Imagine these planters placed on a table for a Sunday brunch.

There is something about using edibles in design, that transcends many styles such as cottage, country, eclectic, European, primitive, and even modern. It just works well. There is a bit of an element of surprise, that also pleases.

Decorative styling with edibles, is borrowing from the European potager kitchen garden concept, using flowers and vegetables intermingled, delivering function and beauty. Flowers and edibles are sensational together for floral designs, tabletop topiary, in the  garden, unusual containers, and where ever your imagination leads you.

Use live plants or  harvested fruit and vegetables to embrace this concept. Think of apples, asparagus, artichokes, green bananas, broccoli, cabbage, cranberries, gourds, lemons, kale, kumquats, oranges, pomegranates, strawberries, squash, and more.

First, your design starts with your container or location. What is it calling for. What form would look best. Is there a color combination that would be nice. Is there a plant combination that would surprise. Is there a function involved. What kind of creative ideas come to mind.

In the example of my two sweet cherub planters, I chose an ornamental strawberry plant, beautiful by itself. Deep green glossy leaves, bright pink flowers, emerging rouge-red ripening strawberries dangling like a crown, all add to its design drama and zeal. It has beauty. It is appealing.  It is growing edible fruit.

Please share if you design with edibles now. Please share some of your fun design combinations.

With Easter in early April this year, you have time to create a special spring bulb arrangement in a great vintage container for your front door or patio. In the photo to the left, I created my spring bulb arrangement in a vintage wooden bucket. A simple container that lets its contents have the attention.

You can either start with various dormant bulbs, or if pressed for time you can purchase from nurseries ready-to-bloom spring tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, freesias, amaryllis, lilies, and more. Try mixing in ferns for softness, or perhaps some dainty violas. Remember, spring is just around the corner.

A few tips to help you plant a fabulous spring bulb arrangement: 1) Select your container, preferably one with a nice wide mouth or planting area. Let your container size, color, and shape dictate what bulbs and plants would look best.

2) Be aware of your "plant-to-bloom" time frame, so that you coincide your arrangement in full bloom to your time frame needed. Perhaps, you might even want to stagger different bulbs to bloom at various times, for a longer lasting arrangement.

3) Dormant bulbs are awakened by the sun. Once your arrangement is planted, keep your arrangement in a sunny spot. Bulbs like to be on the dry side or moist, but not wet. Plant your bulbs root-side down. Arrange your bulbs in a good all-purpose potting soil, and allow for proper drainage. If you do not have drainage holes, line your container with heavy black plastic, and water sparingly. Save your spent bulbs from your arrangement, and plant in your garden.

4) Forced branches from your garden or market are beautiful this time of year, too, and are excellent companions to spring bulbs. Have fun with these beautiful pliable branches by shaping them, creating forms for support, and using them as structure.

Please share how you announce and herald spring at your home? Please comment on your favorite spring bulbs? Is it daffodils? hyacinth?

I love finding great vintage containers with a past. They have a history, the intrigue of previous owners, time-worn patina, and usually multiple imperfections. All of which create an incredible charm and uniqueness.

One of my favorite pieces in my garden is this tiny charming cherub statuary, diligently overseeing her thriving succulent planting of echeveria and string of pearls. She might also hold a candle glowing with a soft romantic light, or some sweetly-scented dried lavender. I have a lot of cherubs in my garden, for a touch of femininity, and maybe to evoke a certain mystique.

This sweet little cherub was once a fecund green, now muted and disappearing in places. She was broken at one time, and someone cared enough to mend her. I purchased her back east, so she has journeyed far. She definitely has a past, and now she has a present and an ongoing future.

Don't overlook these types of vintage container treasures as they can add oodles to your garden charm with their simplicity and sheer survival. Best places to find these vintage container treasures, is often where it is most reasonable. Seek out your local flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales, alley dumpsters (no kidding), barn sales, and favorite garden antique shops.

Please comment if you have a vintage container treasure that makes a statement in your garden? You believe that one person's discard, can be another persons' treasure?

Vintage chicken planter cackles with character, and begs to be potted with succulent plumage. Round and rosette-like, I use my perennial favorite succulent, echeveria, planted at my hen's shoulder and back. Similiar to a perfectly shaped fleur-de-lis, is the handsome green, slightly uncommon ice plant relative, Smicrostigma viride. The chartreuse green notched strands, with a mind of their own, are Crassula mucosa, or Watch Chain succulent (formerly Crassula lycopoidioides). One couldn't ask for better plumage, that keeps on growing.

I love the "thrill of the hunt" at wonderful off-beat flea markets. You never know what you might find, and what treasure you were meant to take home. This is an unmarked vintage hen planter, probably anywhere from the 1930's to 1950's. I rescued her from a flea market existence, out of the midwest heartland. Her comb was broken, yet someone cared and patiently repaired.

In searching for treasures and beauties to re-purpose, don't overlook the wonderful vintage planters. You know the ones, the darling vintage "baby" planters, the mid-century 1950's "greenish" planters, the simple McCoy or Bauer pieces. These type of planters, even though they might have a chip or crack, work beautifully with the colors, textures, and look of succulents.

Clean up your newly acquired vintage planter. Remember a chip or crack just adds to the character of a piece, and chances are when potted with succulents will not even be noticeable. Put a few pebbles and potting charcoal in the bottom for drainage, fill with cactus potting soil, plant and design with succulents that extend the charm and look of the planter. Mist or spray with water sparingly, and your succulents will be happy. Place your newly potted vintage planter in a sunny window, an outdoor sunlit porch, or in other words, a protected spot with sun.

Succulents have become so popular today because they are drought tolerant, low maintenance, abundant in many colors and textures, and plain fun! Chances are you have one or more retail locations in your area that specialize in succulents. If you live in the San Diego area and love succulents, you must visit Solana Succulents.

If you are a gardener, chances are you like to grow herbs, too. One of the most beautiful herbs I have ever grown is the ornamental oregano, Kent Beauty, Origanum rotundifolium. While most oregano varieties are grown for their culinary use, Kent Beauty and a few other ornamental oregano varieties are not, and in fact, have no taste at all. Ornamental oregano are best used for their beauty in gardens, borders, and especially containers.

In the photo above, I created a tiny hanging basket out of a vintage horse muzzle, lined with moss, and planted with a 4" Kent Beauty plant. As the Kent Beauty grows, it spills gracefully over the sides of its re-purposed container. Its simplicity is enchanting.

Kent Beauty is a delightfully fragrant herb, attractive to bees, and has such a delicate "tossled" beauty about it. Its foliage is actually hard to describe. It has wiry stems that reach 4" in height, with beautiful blue-green stemless rounded leaves.

Off of these stem ends, bloom textured bracts, similar to hop, in a delicate mauve pale pink color throughout the summer. These delightful mauve pink bracts can be cut in full bloom, hung, and dried upside down for use in crafts.

Kent Beauty is native to Turkey, Armenia, and Republic of Georgia and is a hydrid ornamental oregano of Origanum rotundifolium x Origanum scabrum. I have seen multiple preferred climate zones for this herb, so check with your plant source for details for your area first, before purchasing.

Prune Kent Beauty closely back, after its summer bloom. It does best in well-drained soil. It prefers to be in dry soil, between thorough waterings. It is best to protect it from excessive winter moisture. It is available in local nurseries, and a good website I found for ornamental oregano varieties and purchasing is http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/index.html.