Pour l'amour de Paris {For the love of Paris}: Wine Bottle Plant Waterer

"In every gardener there is a child who believes

in The Seed Fairy." - Robert Brault

As you well know, one of the things I love most about Paris are the flowers and green that suffuse every aspect - literal and figural - of my beloved city. Of course, there's no help for it, I've incorporated every aspect I can - of this gorgeous aesthetic - into my every day life. One of the ways I do this is with my perennial & annual potted garden, on the tiny deck attached to my Atelier (also, see here).

My little deck has an L shape - this is the 'long' main section

I scour my local garden centers (Lowe's, Home Depot, Farmer's Markets, and seasonal road side stands) for regional/pot friendly blooms. I usually have everything potted by Mother's Day, but this year I got a little 'distracted' - preparing for my Paris-May visit. Still, there were plenty of gorgeous blooms awaiting me when I got home: Petunias, SnapDragons, Delphinium, Verbenim, and (the Parisian staple) Geraniums.

This is the long part of the L section, it wraps around one side of my deck.

In the near left-hand side of the photo is my prized table top heater - LOVE!

Well, in my part of the MidWest, it can get mighty hot and regularly experiences long periods of little to no rain. Add to that, my modest deck-pot garden gets nearly allday sun. The greatest challenge of which is to regularly water my nearly dozen pots (usually by hand). One day - while on a Convertible Adventure - I came across a lovely little wine shop in Geneva, IL (I'll devote a special post soon). The outside of this shop has glorious potted plants everywhere! And they all have wine bottles in them - hmmmmm. You know me, I went inside and asked the owner what's the deal with the upside down wine bottles in the potted plants? She told me that they were D.I.Y. irrigators - how she kept her potted plants watered while not watering them everyday. She was kind enough to share her potted irrigation system with me - and today, I decided to put her plan into action in my modest pot-garden - and you know that I have to share...

This D.I.Y. potted plant irrigation system is simple and cheap. All you need is: a few empty wine bottles, gravel or marbles, coffee filters, rubber bands, and water. This project is ultra child friendly. I asked my daughter - Sage - and my youngest son - Never - to help me. The perfect Mamma-Child afternoon project!