Cherrie Carine
A walk around Cherrie Carine’s garden, framed by handcrafted stone walls and weathered wooden buildings, promises to interest and inspire antique and garden lovers. Cherrie takes us on a ‘Garden Tour’ during which you’ll hear the story of her garden at the edge of the woods.
Cherrie Carine began gardening with her grandmother when she was just a child. “She grew perennials to sell,” Cherrie says, ” as a way to pay her real estate taxes. Before she passed on, she insisted I take a clump of all the perennial varieties and plant them on my farm and over the years as the flowers multiplied, I would divide and find new areas to plant them.”
Cherrie is an excellent photographer as well as a gardener, showing how she combines Flea market finds with her garden flowers and arranging little vignettes on the porch of her garden cabin.
“Gardening has become a great stress reliever for me…has giving me great pride and satisfaction and has brought a lot of new friends, fellow gardeners into my life. I truly love to garden! The Flea Market and farm finds made their way into the gardens because I also love to antique. I love anything old and rusty.” Cherrie tells us.
If Cherrie loves antiques and rust, she live in the perfect spot,…a farm dating back to the mid 1800s. She and her husband, John, married for nearly 50 years raise miniature horses,…and grandchildren!
“A lot of items came from my grandparents farm, parents farm and of course my own farm. I have always lived on a horse farm so when something became old and useless for the animals, I would put them to a new use in the garden. I love the feeling of tilling up a patch of earth and planting something new… mothering the new plants and watching grow into beautiful blankets of color…warms my heart!”
“Found rust… Over the years, my little farm has given up some of its little treasures to me. While working in the gardens, or digging holes, I have found little memories of my farm’s past. They have come to hold more value to me than something I could have purchased. It brings to mind the purpose they served, who may have held and used them so many years ago. The past reveals itself to anyone who takes the time to stop and take interest. My collection consists of horseshoes, oxen shoes, half of a horse’s snaffle bit, hand wrought nails, railroad spike, a wagon clamp, old scissors, an old hammer head, a clasp, and a latch…. and more.I enjoy the memories!”
Cherrie Carine says, “ A rusty cast iron kettle, a flea market find, makes a perfect sedum garden…. I drilled 5 holes with 3/8″ metal drill bit…not hard at all with the right bit. I started each hole with a small diameter drill bit first and then enlarged it with the bigger bit.”
“Over the years, I have found lots of china plate shards, small metal objects, pieces of old crocks, and bits of colored bottles…
The cabin serves as display space for Cherie’s treasures and wind chimes and suncatcher hang from the eaves.
Barrel Hoop stepping stones…
Cherrie explains how she preserves some of her farm finds. “A few years ago,” she says, “I took three old barrel hoops…added quick cement and then pressed a lot of the old relics and vintage marbles into the cement….it made three perfectly round, large stepping stones edged with rusty metal rims…it was even more special because my granddaughter helped me. The best thing about “Memory Stepping Stones” is that you can take them wherever you go! It was an easy project and so gratifying.”
“This is my beautiful orange Azalea in front of my old stone milk house. It’s a hybrid, a present from my grandmother some twenty plus years ago. I don’t know its name. The original farm house was built around 1855-1860’s…dated from the pegged beams in the house construction… the artifacts I have found, are from that time period on..”
Cherrie has made use of the huge boulders in her garden to edge flower beds, creating large pockets of color in proportion with the woods behind. Smaller rock egedes wouldn’t be nearly as effective and pleasing. “Large rocks never fail in landscaping, Cherrie says, “After digging these out of our pasture, we made a circular garden with them. An old well cover adds to the look…”
“We live on a glacial deposit…more rocks than soil… I have spent 45 years using the rocks we have in all sorts of ways, and have totally stone-walled the entire perimeter of our farm with them…I certainly love rocks…I had no other choice!
Cherrie says, “We lost the tree during a winter storm so I used the stump to make a flower out of blue bottles…I am still putting bottles on as I find them…”
Cherrie and her loving husband, John, who she says, “has put up with all my nonsense for 48 years…”
Cherrie’s glassy garden flower
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