Gardening & Landscape, Landscaping decor

Wind Spinners

Wind spinners can be a do-it-yourself project or a high-dollar piece of art. Using one in the backyard gives motion to the area giving a calm feeling. The wind or breeze is now something you can see. In the garden, the movement helps keep the birds and animals away. In the flowerbed, the colorful glass ones can reflect color among the flowers.


Wind spinners, twirlers, pinwheel’s idea most likely comes from the design of a windmill. Windmills were developed in Persia around 500 BC to raise water. In the United States, early colonial farmers found small versions of the wind spinners that kept wild animals away and started calling them whirlygigs. The Dutch Americans started to design sound into them (like a fan with a farmer chopping wood) to better scare the animals. Whirlygigs became popular when farmers in the 1930s started to make them for city people as a way of making money.

Garden Pests

Neem Oil

There is a “new” product making its way to the garden shelves called Neem oil or Neem oil extract. Actually, Neem oil has been around for thousands of years, however, is entering the garden area. It comes from the Neem tree (Azadirachta) which grows in Southeast Asia and India. The tree’s seeds hold the highest concentration of oil.

Neem Oil pic

It is non-toxic to bees, butterflies, ladybugs, fish, and birds. A soil drench or foliage spray which is taken in by the plant causes the feeding bugs to stop eating. It works well for aphids, mites, scale, cabbage worms, and mealybugs. As a fungicide, it is useful for controlling and preventing mildews, rusts, black spot on roses, and mold on fruit. Read the directions carefully because you do not want to apply it too heavily.

Home Improvement

Wallpaper of Your Grandmothers

Remember the wallpaper of your grandmothers, the vivid floral prints, or paisley prints. Wallpaper grew out of favor during the 1990s, however, is now coming back into style. Geometric designs are big now along with textured prints. Wallpaper now mimics the look of metal, marble, brick, and fabrics such as leather and satin.

It goes up easy and some have peel-off backing and is much easier to remove. I remember spending days applying a toxic solution to the paper and scraping it off.

The use of wallpaper has changed from doing the entire room in the same color and design to doing an accent wall or lower half of the walls. A textured paper removes the flaws in the room which paint can not do.