Portfolio: DIY projects, some actually doable

If you're the handy type, you'll open Handmade Garden Projects, the new Timber Press book ($19.95) by Lorene Edwards Forkner, with a quickened pulse. Me, I assumed it was yet another book about do-it-yourself projects that are ridiculously out of reach for folks like me.

Despite the author's disclaimers, I did find an awful lot that I know I could never do - and other stuff that was just plain ridiculous.

I've never considered vintage travel trailers like Forkner's, which she calls "my little 'canned ham' beauty," a thing of beauty on the road or surrounded by plantings. She considers it a garden folly. I agree, but not in the way Forkner intends.

Ditto the "temporary turf tattoo," a six-foot outline of a heart made with field-marking chalk. Forkner describes this as a way to "declare your affection for your yard." Those bumpy "mosaic patio accents"? They look mighty dangerous. And the kid's wagon filled with plants? Why do people think this is cute?

I think we can all agree that handmade garden projects and found-object garden art constitute a tricky business. All too often, they look like promos for the Jed Clampett School of Outdoor Design.

That said, there are fun, do-able things in this book.

I loved the dead plum tree, stripped of all but its four largest limbs, upended and anchored in place. It's an interesting, creative, walk-through arbor and I think - with help and the right tree - most folks could make this.

Loved the bamboo obelisk, stacking herb tower, bird-free birdbath, outdoor terrarium, and galvanized gutter made into a sleek succulent planter. Best of all are the "glimmering glass birdbaths" fashioned from vintage glass ceiling lamps. (Just be sure to bring them in when the weather turns bad.)

But whoa. "A plucky pair of planted toasters" proves that "everything is fair game for potting"? I really don't think so, but perhaps I'm in the minority.

It sure wouldn't be the first time! Be my guest.

  - Virginia A. Smith