A while ago, I realized I needed a watering can, so I picked up a blue (of course blue) plastic watering can. Of course, it worked just fine. It waters plants just as it should. But I realized that I find joys in the little details of my home. I didn’t just want to use a watering can that would hold water, but one that makes me smile each time I use it.
So, I looked around on Etsy and found an antique metal watering can…
…with a screw-on “shower spout”…
…and typography on the handle…
It’s just a little thing that makes me happy.
And, while we’re talking about gardening and finding joy in the little things…
…there’s a praying mantis living in one of my plants. He’s been there for at least a week and, I don’t know why, but it makes me happy that it’s a suitable home for him.
He picked the plant in the ice cream bucket, so he has good taste!
And my favorite hydrangea bush is doing really well and I never know what color blooms it’s going to produce. Sometimes they are white with a little green, soft pink, bright pink, purple and almost blue…
All on one bush! Sometimes even on one bloom. I’m new to this gardening thing, so I don’t know if that’s normal or not, but I am enjoying it!
Kriste and I are heading home today and, while the trip has been amazing (I’ll share the highlights), we are both ready to be home.
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I just bought the same thing! Same reason and I could just stare at mine, they’re so cool!
So beautiful! All of your recent posts about gardening and house plants have inspired me!! I switched out two of my preserved boxwoods for live ivy topiaries, and I potted my first plant for our front porch! So excited to try to keep these beauties alive!
I adore your watering can! I have several for the very same reason…why not have things you love? I bought mine at estates sales though for a about a buck each. I keep them scattered all over for quick watering.
Your hydrangeas vary in color because of the soil’s ph…they are beautiful by the way. Pick them as they turn a soft greyish green and they will dry. I have them all over my dining table now drying. Best, Vicki
Lovely! Just a note about that praying mantis…it may be waiting in that pretty flower for a hummingbird. Believe it or not, they prey on hummingbirds.
You have inspired me with all your indoor plants to incorporate more of my own. I’ve gotten several pretty ferns lately and am putting them in various containers.
What a beautiful watering can. So lovely details, en your garden is also very nice.
I hope you new to gardeners will continue to explore, not only this year but in the future, with your children the MANY aspects of gardening.
Any herbs planted? Next year! They must have well drained soil and full sun and little water.
Check out the www below to learn about the Black Swallow Butterfly and your basic herbs
We do everything green and need everyone to pitch in with our wildlife. BUT one more aspect of gardening.
https://missmustardseed.com/2015/07/a-vintage-watering-can-the-little-things/
I encourage every parent, grandparent, teacher, etc. to explore the many books by Sharon Lovejoy. Great teacher for young gardeners (and I have learned MUCH from her as an adult).
Need a new baby gift, shower gift? Give a Sharon Lovejoy book! Don’t you just love her last name? Let me introduce you to Sharon Lovejoy!
https://squareup.com/market/sharon-lovejoy
Thanks for listening. Miss Mustard, thanks for taking me on your gardening tour!
alderson@udel.edu
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Your hydrangea plant is beautiful. I also like the watering can! I have two galvanized ones. Just my preference as well, but they aren’t vintage like yours.
Sweet details are what make life so enjoyable. I have 3 vintage watering cans lined up like soldiers on my back porch. Every time I go out to water, prune, weed, etc. I see them and smile. What a blessing to receive such joy from the little things!
Looking forward to hearing about the Haven Conference! They are so lucky to have you and Kristie join them. 😉
Marian,
FYI….. A hydrangeas color is determined by your soils pH balance. The more acid in your soil, the bluer the color of the bloom. Just so you know, you can change the color of your blooms by either applying lime or aluminum sulfate to your soil. For a pinker bloom you apply lime around the root and aluminum sulfate or sulfur if you want blue. I believe if you have a white hydrangea bloom that cannot be changed as it will always bloom white.
I would advise you to read up or talk to your local nursery on pruning hydrangeas first. How you prune depends on the variety of hydrangea you have and whether the new blooms for next season grows on old growth or new. However, you can remove your old dead blooms (deadheading) anytime during the blooming season. Just cut right below the old bloom and remove. It makes your plant look better and promotes more growth.
A few years ago we purchased a praying mantis cocoon and let them hatch in a little net house that came with it, then released them into the yard. Every summer afterwards I see praying mantises in the yard and smile thinking they are children and grandchildren of the ones we released 🙂
Marian, look out on those watering cans – they become addictive, said the girl with a collection of them. 😉 Also, even though praying mantis are really cool, esp when they have their babies this time in summer, they can be really harmful to hummingbirds, on which I did a post, it’s so important a subject.
I didn’t realize you were teaching/ heading up a segment at Haven, and here I told you to relax and enjoy. Hopefully it was still fun, and not too stressful. Have a great week.
Hi Marian,
Watering cans hold a special place in my gardener’s heart. I have with me at my new home a watering can almost identical to the one you pictured. It was given to my mother, who lived to be 95, by her father, who lived to be 80. It also has a screw on showering cap but the seal is not tight and it leaks. Yet it holds such charm and memories of me and my mother watering in the garden when I was a little girl. I completely understand the allure of antique watering cans. Enjoy.
Hello Marian-
Teresa beat me on sharing info about encouraging color change on hydrangeas – although there is something wonderful about the mix of colors. BTW — the “shower spout” on your watering can is called the “rose”. Very apt- don’t you think?
My watering can collection is in several places in my garden. Always ready and handy to use as well as decorative when just placed near by. It’s addictive.
Totally with you on the watering cans! Although I’ve found some of the most unique ones…every time I bring one home it leaks! Oh well…enjoying them on my patio and using the plastic one to water…haha!
I just got a metal watering can for the same reason! Mine was from a local flea market and looks similar and I just love it, too. (Wish I had the cute praying mantis to enjoy!)
Love your new “old” watering can. FYI the spray head is called a “rose”
Marian, I love the watering can. I am the same way. I didn’t want an ordinary, store-purchased hose reel. So… I purchased a galvanized tub and screwed it to the wall. I wrap the hose around it and put the nozzles on the “shelf” of the tub. I love the re-purposed, unexpected look!
If you want to change your hydrangea to all blue just add sulfur to the soil around the root. It is the ph balance of the soil that determines the color of them.
Karen
I LOVE vintage watering cans, yours is adorable! I’ve been gardening for almost 8 years now and Hydrangeas still elude me – can’t grow one to save my life, which is so sad because they’re one of my favs. I would revel in the beauty of your plant and just take it for what it is – gorgeousness! Some people do all kinds of things to their hydrangeas to get the colors your getting!
i also love and collect old galvanized water cans. Love to fill them with flowers and sit on my patio. I love anything galvanized!!!!
REMCO! That took me back – my sister studied for a year in Japan and became friends with a guy named Remco from the Netherlands who we later stayed with on our whirlwind tour of Europe. That name -even printed on an antique watering can- means sunshine and bicycling, a foreign flat land and the taste of adventure. Thanks for inadvertently triggering the memories!
The only problem with those vintage watering cans is, with heavy use, they start to leak. Or maybe, it’s just our hard water. I have a couple that I’m now using as planters because they no longer hold water. I can live with that.
We watered my moms garden with two of those watering cans growing up! It brought back a lot of memories when I saw a picture of one here! I think they were originally my grandpas who passed away so they’re pretty awesome… Moms still the green thumb in this family but one day I’ll get one and my kids will water the plants with one as well! Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures! It is the little things that make me smile!