Flower bed progress

I've had a successful day off from work (Statutory holiday in Newfoundland) and I've been busy in my real garden and in my mini garden.  I've completed all the tulips (actually I still have lots left over) and I completed one of the Hollyhock kits I purchased in Toronto last week. 
First a little Kit Review.........
This is the third type of flower kit I've assembled, the first two being Hanky Panky flower kits and Bonnie Lavish flower kits.  This kit was produced by Carrie Domm and Connie Stitt in Ontario.  The kit is ten years old (based on the copyright date on the instructions) so I don't know if they still produce them.

By far Bonnie Lavish kits are my favourite to assemble, with very little instructions they are so easy to work with.  Hanky Panky kits vary by the flower, the best individual kit I have ever put together was from Hanky Panky, the geranium kits, but I've tried others that I have even yet to complete. 

This particular kit today also had it's good points and not so good points.  I absolutely loved the paper they used, I would have to say it's the best paper from any kit I've assembled.  Even though there was a full page of instructions, the only picture was very low resolution and there was no other drawings, so I had to consult a picture of a hollyhock to completely understand the instructions.  Overall I think each stem doesn't have enough flowers, but that's something that I can fix in the future when making more Hollyhocks.  I was pleased with my finished product though, and I completely in all in one day, so that's great.

The real value in kits I find is I learn so much from them, that in the future I can usually make the item without the assistance of a kit.  I definitely feel this way about the Hollyhocks.

Now on to the flower bed....
I started to fill in the garden flower beds, nothing is glued right now, and I haven't added the mulch, so this is just a dry run.

Around the fence, I had already added the forsythia before, but now I have added the tulips (made from scratch by me) and the daisy's (made from a Bonnie Lavish kit).  It was a odd angle to take a picture because the shed itself is there, so this was my best shot.

I think I need to bend the flowers a little and I have to add the mulch, right now it looks a little sparse.  The orange stems are pieces cut from a full size artificial flower.

On the other side of the shed, in the larger flower bed, I got a little more creative.  I had received a fig tree in a garden swap from Ira last year, that was wrapped in burlap the same way you would get any new tree.  I thought I would incorporate this into my display as a "work in progress", the gardener is in the process of planting the new tree.  He doesn't want to get any dirt on the freshly mowed grass, so he has laid down some newspaper to collect the soil taken to make the hole.  It also gave me the great opportunity to cover the seam in the sheet grass I used.  You can see another seam on the other side in the first picture above, I still have to figure out how to disguise that one in the future as well.

The ground was typical Newfoundland soil.  You couldn't just use a shovel, a pickaxe was required to get through the tough Newfoundland dirt.  They call it "The Rock" for a reason!!  Now I don't think Fig trees grow in Newfoundland, but we won't tell the gardener this, he'll find out from himself when the tree, doesn't thrive!!  And one never knows, he may have such a green thumb that he is able to get it to grow! 

I've placed all the plants, including the new hollyhocks in the flower bed under the window.  I still have to glue everything and add mulch.  But I think this one is full enough.  Again the tulips were made by me from scratch, the pansies are purchased, the hollyhocks are the kit I assembled today, the lilies are from a swap with Kim last year and then I've added some ready made greenery from full size artificial flowers and the same orange stems I used in the other flower bed, plus I had some red ones like the orange stems and I have added those.  I think I will switch those out for the pink hollyhocks when I get those made.

The geraniums in the window box were made last year from the Hanky Panky kit, they are my favourite I've assembled so far, the kit only made half of what is in the window box, but once I made those, I was easily able to duplicate them myself.

So I'm going to sit on this much for a day or two, assemble the second hollyhock kit, and then once I am pleased with it all I'll glue everything in place and add the mulch.

Welcome to the new followers, thanks for taking an interest in my blog.

I welcome feedback from everyone, it's what keeps me going back to create more minis.

Until next time.....

Wanda