Playing With Fire

Many years ago, I thought that having fire in the garden would be delightful.  A clay chiminea was used a few times but usually just to dispose of branches from pruning.  I also worried as the instructions said that the thing had to be dry or it could break apart.  After a while, I used the two parts as plant stands.  Enter the cast iron chiminea which could be used regardless of moisture.  Don't know if that got used very often but there was always the worry of where it could be placed so that sparks wouldn't hit foliage above.  You guessed it - the base now holds a large water bowl and the top is a plant stand.  One would think that a person would realize that this fire in the garden idea might not be such a good one but no.

Suddenly fire bowls and tables with gas flames and the like were all the rage in gardens so I jumped on the band wagon about ten years ago when I found one on sale.  It was used all of three times and then moved into the garage.  When the garage turned into a greenhouse, everything had to be moved out of the garage and I tossed and donated a lot of stuff but couldn't bring myself to get rid of the fire pit thinking that someday we might have guests stop by on a summer evening and enjoy watching dancing flames while sharing stimulating conversation...maybe a guitar would come out of the attic and we'd sing camp songs by the fire, toast marshmallows,  and laugh into the wee hours.  Oh well, a goal without a plan is just a dream and since I'm too lazy to actually invite folks over, that probably won't happen.  The fire bowl was languishing beneath a table in the greenhouse so the other day, I dragged it out and looked at it for a while.  I remember seeing a "fire" made of wood and Japanese Blood Grass at Watson's Nursery a year or so ago.  Maybe I'd give that a try.  The grass available locally was a bit tall but I bought some firewood and a few little pointy Crotons anyway and thought some more.  In the greenhouse, there was a Canna 'Tropicanna' that wasn't going into the ground this year.  Maybe that would work?

Not too bad.

Marshmallows, needs marshmallows.  Hastily cut styrofoam from the basement to the rescue.

Still needed a bit more.  Everything's better with a touch of glass, right? 

I'm hearing the strains of "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," "Five Hundred Miles," and "Tom Dooley" already.

Hope you're enjoying playing in your garden!