Birdbath Upgrade

birdbath and planter

The birdbath is doing really well. Birds love it. I even catch them bathing on cold winter days. (At least when it’s sunny out. Update 15 July: Today I saw a currawong bathing and it’s  cold, dark and drizzly out there!) The wood palings on the outside still drop occasionally but Frank just glues them back on.

The creeping fig is marching in a quick-step up the stump towards the bath itself. Some of the plants are about 18 inches high and branching out. In no time at all the whole thing will be green.

(Note the fig tree behind the birdbath on the left. This gives a better sense of scale than yesterday’s picture did. It’s a tiny little tree right now.)

The 2nd branch of the stump has been taunting us for a while. It screams out for a planter – especially since Frank levelled the top so we could put a planter on it. (When the tree was first cut, the stumps weren’t flat. Frank initially left the 2nd stump at an angle as this original post shows https://laurarittenhouse.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/birdbath/.)

The planter we chose for the stump is full of succulents. I cobbled it together a few years ago and it is one of the plants that survived the tenants. It had been thriving in the back yard for a few months before being moved to the front for no reason other than we thought it would cope with the shade – which it did. But it’s now being called on for a higher purpose – to beautify the birdbath and survive the full summer sun in a pot. I think it will fit the bill.

What it lacked was something that hangs down. We have a virulent weed (or maybe a highly valuable rare species – but I doubt it) that likes a couple of our flower and veggie beds – and one of our indoor pot plants. We figured it would do the job so we dug up pieces, put it in the pot and time will tell if we have creeping fig going up and this unnameable (or I can’t find its name anyway) plant hanging over it.

chain of hearts

Update 15 July: The Brisbane City Council website offers all kinds of information on weeds. I spent some time on this site and asked for help and, as a result, I’m now sure this trailing plant is Ceropegia linearis subsp. woodii also known as Ceropegia woodii, common names “string of hearts”, “chain of hearts” and “rosary vine”, native to South Africa and Zimbabwe.  “Chain of hearts” is such an apt name – that’s how I’ll remember it from now on.

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