A friend and I celebrated Mother’s Day by helping her two grandsons create floral art from a couple of old chairs. The  seats were no longer sturdy, but the unused chairs made great eye-catching flower planters.  It was a quick, easy project that allowed the boys to enjoy creating  Mother’s Day gifts.

To recycle an unused chair into a flower planter:

Remove the seat from the chair

Form mesh wire into a basket shape or use a wire plant basket

Attach all four of the chair seat sides using wood staples or nails

Line with burlap, sphagnum moss, or sheet moss topped by peat moss to help hold in water

Fill with potting soil leaving enough space to add the soil of the plants

Insert a variety of plants that will bloom alternately all summer

Choose a showy climber for the chair back like a running Rose or Clematis

Add depth by using plants of varied heights in the center like Zinnia, Elfin Thyme, or  Campanula

Place cascading bloomers to spill over edges like Impatients or Petunias

Scatter bark over soil to hold in moisture; water weekly

This can be a creative and inexpensive way for adults to re-purpose unused items into interesting yard art. Its also a  fun project to share with children. It allows kids to  be creative with nature and can  teach them to nurture living things. Allow them to make watering the plants their responsibility throughout the hot summer months.

Check your local florist or garden center to procure the floral products needed for this activity. Also, look for other creative ways to enjoy working with flowers and adding visual interest to your flower garden this summer season.

Celebrate life with flowers!

Sharon

Sharon McGukin AIFD, AAF, PFCI is a floral designer,

author of Flowers of the heart – a bride’s guide to choosing flowers for her wedding

http://www.sharonmcgukin.com   ISBN – 13: 978-0-615-29222-9;  $49.95  + S/H,

and Incoming President of the American Institute of Floral Design

Visit http://www.aifd.org for more details about AIFD.

Sharon travels across the country speaking to audiences and

encouraging all to celebrate life with flowers!