A Collection of Bird Houses

I love bird houses. Bird houses help our feathered friends and I love to decorate with them. I think bird houses and cottage design go hand-in-hand. Not only did I design my garden in the cottage style, but the inside of my home is also decorated in cottage style. I think I enjoy cottage style so much because it's comfortable, cozy and says "come on in and relax". We have quite a collection of bird houses, both inside and out. I'm always on the lookout for new ones and we also enjoy making birdhouses. Come and take a look....

We made this birdhouse as a garden decoration. We put it on a small baluster so it's only about three feet off the ground. We never thought it would actually be used, however the Chickadees use it year after year!

This little bird house is a decoration on my front porch. Once spring arrives, it will be surrounded by flowers.

Even the winter pillow on my front porch bench has a bird house on it.

And of course, the best bird house of all....a nest. This is a Mockingbird nest in the Cleveland Pear tree in our front yard. It's pretty small and there were three babies in it last year. I was lucky enough to see them leave the nest and wander around the front yard looking for insects. Even as a child I was captivated by birds' nests. It is absolutely amazing to me how they make these. This one has been through forty mile an hour winds and still looks good as new!!

I decorate the inside of my home for each season. Of course, bird houses are always a part of the decorations! There are big bird houses.....

....and small bird houses!

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my bird houses. What type of decorations do you like to use in your garden or home?

 

Happy Gardening!

Words and Photos Property of Christy's Cottage Wildlife Garden.

Some Cheery Winter Color!!

 

 

Recently I visited the garden of one of my gardening friends. The picture above is one of the fabulous winter decorations she made to put in her garden. This particular one is in the window box attached to her porch. She filled all of the window boxes with greens and berries. I was so inspired that I came home and made some decorations for our garden.

 

 

 

This urn is in one of the front beds. I filled it with pine stems, leyland cypress stems and holly berry stems. You can use any type of evergreen "greens". If you have a Magnolia tree, its stems are very pretty in these bouquets. All you do is stick the stems into the soil in the urn. Now when I look at this bed I see the bright cheery red berries and it always brings a smile to my face!

 

 

 

We have several gates in our Cottage garden and I put these decorations on all of them! I will leave them out all winter to bring some color and cheer to the garden. It recently snowed here and they were particularly pretty with the snow glistening on them.  

 

I hope this inspires YOU to decorate your garden in the winter months!

 

Happy Gardening!