Garden Mushrooms

Garden Mushrooms

This summer I got it stuck in my head that I wanted some decorative mushrooms in my garden. Don't ask me.......I don't know what it is about mushrooms, but I just love them.

It took me a long time to figure out how I was going to make these things. There wasn't much to google about them because not too many people have made these things.

I knew what I wanted them to look like, but wasn't sure how to actually go about making them. After much thought, I figured it out. Like everything else it was trial and error. The first one wasn't made the same as the second one, because I made changes along the way.

They have to go outside, last through rain and wind too, so cement seemed the best way to go. I researched that and decided on mortar. I was going to paint them, but decided on glass mosaic squares. My reasoning-color. I wanted color! They are going into a shade garden and that's where I need the color.

Here they are finished and I'll explain below how I made them.

I started with a very large, plastic bowl. Not the easiest thing to find, mind you. I landed up using an old halloween candy bowl. I sprayed the bowl with cooking oil, poured in the mixed mortar (morter + water according to the directions) and waited 2 days for it to set. Mortar dries smooth and this helps when you are glueing on the glass. The cooking oil allows easy release of the mortar. Mushroom caps-done.

The next step was to cut up the squares and circles out of glass. My years of stained glass experience helped a lot. You can buy these squares all ready cut out in the craft stores. You also can start breaking up old plates and use them. I glued all the squares and circles onto the mushroom cap and then mortared around the squares. I used white mortar as you can see.

I used an empty soda bottle for the smallest mushroom stem. This worked out, but I wanted taller shrooms too. I used 4 inch PVC pipe (home depot), cut it and glued the shroom to the top. This worked great. In the future I would stick to the PVC pipe and skip the soda bottle. It's easier and you can leave it white.

These mushrooms look just great in the yard and everyone loves them. So far they have lasted through all kinds of weather. I plan on planting some Mondo grass around them.

FYI-the red shroom is poisonous......

Christy

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