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Poundland Welcome Frog Ornament
by ryeb
When I first got my allotment, I put in a small pond for the benefit of any passing wildlife. I thought I may have made it too small so as a joke, one of my sisters bought me a frog garden ornament from Poundland that bears the word "Welcome" on the front, just so any frogs would get the message to stay. Well, it must have ... worked because my plot seems to be a magnet for both frogs and toads.. The original ornament suffered an accident but I was delighted to be able to buy a replacement a few weeks ago. I had thought that it may no longer be available as Poundland seem to change their stock often.
The garden ornament is in the form of a long legged frog sitting on a wall that bears the "welcome" message and simple outlines of flowers. There are 3 designs available with the frog in different poses - the one that I have has him sitting casually with one knee bent up and the other hanging down over the edge of the wall. It wouldn't be mistaken by anyone for a real life like animal but that's not really the point! When I first received the ornament it came in simple card box which showed all the designs on the front so you would have had to open every box to see what one you were buying. However, the one I bought recently was just sitting on the shelf without any kind of packaging or wrapping. As the ornament is made from some kind of ceramic, it is relatively fragile so I transferred mine home wrapped in a jumper. It is worth carefully inspecting the frogs before you make your choice because I noticed that some had minor damage such as chipped paint, no doubt caused by being jostled around on to a shelf without any wrapping around them. The frog itself has a glossy green painted finish and the stone he is sitting on has a more matt look. I haven't had any problems with the colours fading or the finish flaking since he has been in the garden. I haven't made any effort to protect him from the elements so the frog can obviously survive frost and snow better than some other garden ornaments I have had!
The ornament is quite small - it would fit into my outstretched hand if I laid him down flat but he is a bit wider at the base. This makes him the sort of decoration that can fit in anywhere, even amongst some containers if you have nowhere else to put him. I would probably go for something larger if I wanted a true garden feature, but I am happy for the frog to amongst the grass where his discovery by visiting children always makes them laugh. He is labelled as "not a toy" which is wise to heed in my opinion because the ornament is hollow and lightweight which means it breaks relatively easily. My first ornament was accidently kicked over by myself, so it fell onto it's face without a lot of force but it still broke into 4 pieces. This was better than shattering into smithereens but the edges were sharp enough to cut if I hadn't been careful.
I would recommend my froggy friend to those looking for a fun little decoration for the garden. He always raises a smile, and I don't normally go for anything like that or gnomes! I can't complain about it's fragile nature considering the low price that it sells for. If you don't knock it over or hit it, the colour and paintwork lasts well even when exposed to the elements so I still think it offers good value for money. It is only available in Poundland, although the 99p store offers a similar decoration with a non glossy finish and the frogs are even posed in the same way more or less. I have succumbed and bought one of those too..
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Harlequin Mosaic Resin Lizard Garden Ornament
by ladybracknell
Whilst visiting the Chelsea Flower Show last year, I was rather taken by one particular stall selling cast iron garden ornaments including some rather realistic looking lizards, however, they were a bit on the pricey side and I decided to look elsewhere for something similar. Looking around on the internet, I came across this lovely ... little lizard on offer from Gardens4You through Amazon and though I didn't get round to buying one, I added it to my wish list and then promptly forgot all about it. I have a terrible habit of mooching round the various departments on Amazon and popping anything I come across which I like into my wish list which is where, more often than not, they remain. When Christmas rolled around, I was not only surprised but also delighted to receive one of these as a present.
The lizard is made from resin and painted in bright harlequin colours in a mosaic style. The shape is very realistic although the colourways makes it obvious this is a model and not the real thing! The primary colours used to paint the lizard are bright and shiny and though not painted to keep accurately within the moulded mosaic scales, this somehow gives the piece an added rustic charm. It measures a little over 8 inches from nose to tail and 3 inches at its widest point. On the underside is a hanging hook so that the lizard can be fixed onto a fence or wall if preferred. This hook is serrated along one edge which allows the lizard to be positioned in any way, either climbing up, down or across the wall or fence.
After being suitably appreciative of my Christmas lizard, I was then faced with the problem of deciding where to put him. It's actually pretty enough and well made enough to be a household ornament but thinking I could always buy another one for the house, I decided eventually my lizard should go in the garden and popped him on the patio just alongside a pot where he could catch the sun and look add a touch of the exotic to urban Berkshire.
Although here in the south we've had a fairly mild winter, the lizard has endured a couple of hard frosts and a moderate fall of snow without it losing any of it brightness. I guess being resin it's pretty resilient and has certainly proved in the short term that it's frost hardy. I'm not sure how tough resin is if dropped and I haven't tried to find out but I imagine if this fell onto a relatively soft surface such as grass or gravel it wouldn't come to harm. Anything harder, however, may be another matter.
When we had our most recent snowfall, I decided to bring the lizard into the warmth. Although it's claimed this is frost and weather hardy, there isn't any indication how resilient the paint is and I feel that any paint is going to degrade over time if left unprotected outside. So I popped him on the hearth where he's remained ensconced ever since, though it has to be said, he's a bit wonky on a level surface because of the hanging hook on his under side. I'm not absolutely sure when he'll go back out into the garden as he's looking very comfortable where he is for the time being and he's certainly a talking point. Probably when the milder weather arrives, I'll put him back outside, maybe climbing the fence.
I'm more than pleased with my lizard which is a really attractive little garden ornament and is very reasonably priced at £6.99 plus £2 postage. Gardens4You not only sell the bright harlequin coloured lizard but a more muted and possibly more realistic looking green mosaic lizard. If you aren't into lizards, this company also sell mosaic frogs as well as snails and hanging wind spinners.
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Homebase Rattan Basket
by k2705
A few weeks ago my mum bought me some pots of tiny little daffodils and some primulas. These are now coming into flower and I wanted a nice hanging basket for them, I had seen some rattan ones in my local Homebase and decided that the natural appearance of them would suit the spring flowers perfectly.
Homebase sell this ... rattan hanging basket in 2 sizes, 35cm's wide and 30cm's. I opted for the larger one which cost £5.99.
The hanging basket is made from natural rattan which is a brown colour, the rattan is woven around a strong wire frame to create the basket shape. Unfortunately you can see the wire in places which is a shame because it slightly spoils the look of it. Of course with a natural material being used to cover the basket its not going to be perfectly round, there is always a little stick of rattan sticking out somewhere where it shouldn't but in my opinion this adds to the finished product once its planted up.
The width of my basket as I mentioned is 35cm's, wide and its approximately 16cm's deep. The hanging chains have a drop of 48cm's. The basket comes pre lined with clear plastic. The silver chains are made from galvanised steel so shouldn't rust. The chains are securely attached to the basket and the position of them cannot be changed. One thing to remember to do before you plant the basket is to make a small drainage hole in the bottom of the plastic liner. I just used a sharp knife to make a small hole.
To plant up my rattan basket I stood it on a large flower pot, I always do this when planting hanging baskets, it keeps them stable instead of them rolling around. I filled the basket with Homebase all purpose compost and popped my pretty spring flowers in. Hanging the basket is easy there is a decent size hook at the end of the chains that should fit over most brackets.
I'm pleased with my rattan hanging basket, it has a lovely natural look which compliments the spring flowers, its a nice size and feels sturdy. My only gripe with this is that I can see the metal frame through the rattan in places, I didn't notice this in the shop or I would have thought twice about it. It wouldn't matter if your plants are trailing which is really what its designed for but my flowers don't trail and in my opinion this does slightly spoil the natural look of it. That aside though I'm pleased with the finished basket, I've got it hanging at my front door and it makes me smile to see my little bit of spring.
I would certainly recommend this basket but more for trailing plants, I'm not sure how long this will last as the rattan will obviously suffer with the weather but for mow it looks lovely.
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