Garden of Freestyle Delights - Ornamental Ginger While Out for a Walk

The Find: Free Ornamental Ginger

While out for an evening walk I came across a very exciting sign in someone's yard next to the side of the road.  It said, " FREE ................. ORNAMENTAL GINGER" and there was a plastic bag with pieces of root inside.  I even took a picture for posterity.

Free ornamental ginger root, with sign

I let the root sit around for a few days until I acquired another set a free planters.  Spring is a good time for getting unwanted plastic (or broken ceramic) planters.

Stack of free plastic plant pots

Growing Ornamental Ginger

I planted the ornamental ginger in some potting soil, unsure if it would every sprout. Had I ignored it for too long? Had I planted it too shallow? Would it rot instead of revive? These are the doubts that plague a gardener. 

But plants can surprise you with their hardiness, at least this ornamental ginger root cutting did. 

First ornamental ginger sprout

 

And then it got a little taller....

Ornamental ginger sprout approximately 4inches tall

And then it got this tall and has stayed like that for a while!  I'm still waiting on flowers though...

Ornamental ginger co-planted with an impulse purchase clematis

In addition to the vertical growth (a.k. the plant's "habit" in the parlance of the horticultural world) I like the slight striping (variegation) of the leaves, which is visible in the photo below.

Slightly variegated ornamental ginger plant leaf

Conclusion

When taking plant cuttings or roots, be aware of the risk of spreading invasive species or pests.  In this case the root cuttings were from the same neighborhood, and I was planning to grow the plant in an isolated container on a patio - not in the ground.  I'm not sure whether this plant would get taller if it were planted in the ground and could develop deeper roots, but that is not something I can experiment with right now!

Happy freestyle gardening, don't be afraid to scavenge for beauty!

Sailing into a future involving gold paint, a framing adventure

The Find

While out for an evening walk I came across this LARGE and beautifully framed photo of a sailboat.  Framed with real glass in the front, amazingly unbroken, and reliably heavy.  So what did I do?  I carried it home with only a vague purpose in mind, thinking maybe it would fit some fancy paper that I bought to use as a poster.

The freestyle green-framed find

The Makeover

Normally I love teal. Teal is my jam.  Cerused teal? Are you kidding? I refinished an end table AND refinished a small oak bookshelf to try to achieve a similar look.  With this frame I think the pattern is some sort of overlay, or something printed on, it isn't actually teal-dyed perused wood.  Perhaps it is for the better because a frame made out of solid oak would have been even heavier.

Corner detail or the original frame

With this frame I wasn't feeling the teal, I was feeling the fake gold.  First things first, I had to take it all apart and clean it, oh, and sadly throw out the large intact piece of glass.  Sigh. It made me sad, but having glass in large frames makes them heavy, which makes them harder to hang, and that glass is very breakable which makes me nervous.  Heavy + breakable + suspended from a single nail on a wall is not a reassuring combination.  Anyway, here is what the frame looked like underneath the dust wrapper, pretty standard assembly.

Inside the back of the frame

Lots of little framer's points to pull...and save for later.

Inside of the back of the frame, corner detail

The first coat of gold paint is always a little streaky. I expected it to take a few coats to cover the darker green and bald underneath....and I was right.  Patience is the key, I try to use thin coats with plenty of dry time in between. 

After the first goal of gold paint

After the painted was complete I looked at some decorative papers I'd purchased and with the existing matting they were the right WIDTH but not the right LENGTH...... you can see some of backing board showing at the bottom with printed text on it.

Poster with backing showing

I wanted to use this "Minerologie" paper anyway so I decided to fill in the blank spot at the bottom of the frame with slightly textured watercolor paper. 

Poster with backing covered by watercolor paper

After some generous use of double-sided tape I re-assembled all the pieces, including poking those original framer's points back into their original holes.

You can see the edges between the watercolor paper pieces a little better in the close-up below.

Closeup, corner detail of watercolor paper overlapping poster

The Final Result

I LOVE the way this turned out, even with the oddity of the watercolor paper at the bottom. I just think of it as a title bar like you sometimes see on posters purchased from museums.  In this case it happens to be a blank title bar, but no matter, I can always fill it in with some script if I ever trust my own handwriting.

Minerals poster in new gold-painted frame

I think the warm shininess of the gold paint is an excellent setting for this colorful poster of minerals.

Happy freestyling, don't be afraid to take the freestyle frame even if you aren't sure what it will turn into.  Finding beauty from scavenged pieces gets easier with practice.