Readers ask, “How do you get a new idea each month for an article?” I really do not spend time thinking about what to write. Because I love children, flowers, gardening and exploring, the ideas often find me. With this 38th article I find myself in the fourth sPring and call upon my sPring garden muse. Inspirations flood my thoughts with Ps a Plenty; Pots of clay, frilly Parsley and Packets of seeds.
The first Penny Pinching Garden Project begins by gathering up all the clay Pots that seem to multiply like spores from mushrooms after a rain. Birds will bathe in any vessel that will hold rain. Build a clay pot birdbath. I choose a short, circular clay Pot to serve as a base, add two more Pots for the Pestle and top it a Pyrex Pie Plate, a Perfect bathing bowl for chickadees, bluebirds or sPring robins.
The second Penny Pinching Garden Project happens when I spy a bundle of $0.89 Parsley all frilly, green and Pretty in the vegetable section of the grocery store. I think, “Fresh herbs keep best in a vase of water. Why not select a special vase and use it as the spring table bouquet?” If you select a Pot that is transparent to light, roots can aPPear and they can be Planted.
The third Penny Pinching Garden Project begins with the rack of Packets of seeds. I see vibrant colors and recall my mother’s stand of hollyhocks. They are biannual and will bloom next sPring surPrising you with a variety of colors. If you want blooms this year, visit a garden center for one year old Plants.
Come see what Ruby has been painting, writing and growing. She is 
opening her Art Party Press, Studio and Gallery to the public as a participating artist in Columbia Open Studio Saturday, April 11, 10-6 and Sunday, April 12, 12-6. www.701cca.org/event/columbia-open-studios-2015/
