Designing a charming garden baker’s rack
When I first saw Jeanne’s well-arranged and simply delightful Baker’s rack, I thought, ‘Somebody raided my junkola! I have similar jugs, jars insulators, birdhouse, wire basket, watering can and all I need is the Baker’s rack, how weird is that?
Now we’ll show you how Jeanne decorated her shelves for the seasons… I have a lot of those things but would never have thought to put them together so artfully!
In her large garden shed, Jeanne Sammons kept a stash of rusty relics and flea market objects she rotated on her Baker’s rack. I have actually been looking for one, but all the ones I see are too “new”….I want a weathered one that looks good, is that asking too much?
I want to save all her good design ideas for decorating a rack like Jeanne did, for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
Spring
Jeanne spray painted this rack with textured Rustoleum in a light color several years ago when she first put it outside …She didn’t want it to ‘rust out’ …but wanted it ‘rustic’ looking,
Some violas today looking so pretty on the patio Baker’s rack in Spring.
Jeanne: “Some’bunny’ loves you. These are the only kind of ‘bunnies’ that I appreciate in my gardens right now … they don’t eat much! I am loving the patina as this bunny ages outside on my Baker’s rack.”
Summer
Memorial Day Jeanne shows a shelf on her Baker’s rack on her patio from … sprucing’ it up for Summer! That’s a cactus I planted in one of those tin jar candle holders, (second shelf) and changed a solar lid to the one large blue canning jar I had in the cupboard…you can make your own solar lids.
See the top solar part … that easily comes off of the ‘stake’ part when you buy these at big box stores; use Silicone II to glue the solar to a jar screw band (don’t use the flat lid) … then use a silver magic marker to cover the gold color of the band… voila, a solar jar light!
Jeanne planted up the insert from an old minnow bucket from her stash of flea market ‘treasures.’ She said, “First, I drilled some holes in the bottom and added an inch or so of pea gravel. Then I found some burlap ribbon in my sewing center which was the perfect width to line the mesh sides of the bucket to keep the sandy soil from sifting through. I planted a succulent (left side) called Portulcaria ‘Red Stem’ which is a new one for me and the label says, “Attractive maroon stems support masses of ovate leaves with clustered ends, giving the appearance of a forest of miniature trees.” Well, that sold me! I love forests!! So it found a home on my baker’s rack on the patio.”
Autumn
For Fall and Winter, Jeanne added greenery from her pine tree trimming. Ohh,…the fragrance that must fill the air!
That’s sage around the pumpkin. Jeanne plants that enamel pan planted with herbs and just moved it to the Baker’s Rack in Fall. When she got the Bakers Racks, it was green…she used textured Rustoleum spray-paint on it.
Winter
Winter gardening…. Iowa style! No pretty blooms so Jeanne got creative with ‘flea market’ rustola. Those insulators give a little color with the pines!
Novembr,…Jeanne said, “Here’s full view of Baker’s Rack I worked on today… beautiful warm 70’s windy day…broke weather record for our area …the rack still needs some additions but I ran out of daylight!”
This vine tree will come back inside when it snows …. Jeanne added a rusty bell garland that she bought … but it could easily be made! The enamel pan grows some herbs in the summer …and the full view … fun to create a bit of ‘winter whimsy’ gardening!
“Have you tried crafting one of the old rusty ‘springs,’ yet like Marie Niemann shares here, Jeanne asked? Well, someone suggested using ‘insulators’ for a base ~~great idea! So here’s my one and only, old rusty spring turned into a junking project on my patio Baker’s rack! Think ‘Spring!’
Remembering Jeanne,…who was an admin in our group for many years,…and whose garden and projects I archived here from time to time. ~~ Sue
1 Comment
How cool is this, changing of the seasons. I need that for my home in Florida….I never know what season it is…LOL. Love this whole idea.