A Mermaid’s Garden

This hand-painted Mexican mermaid becomes a shrine at the back of my fishpond grotto.

Sometimes I feel like a land-locked mermaid  far away  from the sea. To ease this nostalgia, I created a cozy courtyard with a small fishpond  grotto constructed of native river rocks. Whether sitting on the flagstone edge of the pond or at an intimate table for two, it’s a peaceful place to  enjoy the soothing sound of water or sip a refreshing glass of Sangría  in the company of mermaids.

Refreshing white sangría by the fishpond in my Mermaid Garden

A whimsical mosaic fish, a collaborative  piece by artists Celia Berry and Richard Heinichen, replaces my precious koi, who, unfortunately  became a gourmet meal for marauding raccoons. Austin artist Melody Lambert trimmed the  native stones with a wave of cobalt mosaics, for a cooling effect.

A mosaic fish with moveable fins sits on the fishpond’s stone ledge.

A fish and seashell mosaic encrusted on the stone wall of the grotto

 

Seashells and a yellow ceramic fish adorn a nicho in the stone grotto.

The Mermaid Garden is a peaceful place for morning tea.  My favorite  is  made with leaves of peppermint and aromatic lemon verbena freshly picked from the garden, brewed of course, in a teapot decorated with mermaids!

Even the teapot has a mermaid motif!

I collect mermaids, those alluring sirens of the sea (known as sirenas in Mexico), and many reside in this garden.  One of my favorites, a rusty iron mermaid made in Mexico, once lounged on the stone wall above the fishpond next to a silver Maguey (Agave americana),  but you’ll soon see she has a special new spot in the garden.

Mermaid and Maguey

I  recently painted the rough cedar fence enclosing this courtyard  a vivid Caribbean turquoise (using rags and brushes dipped in latex paint diluted with water), replacing the original bright coral color (see first photo). What a colorful backdrop for bright orange flowers of Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans) and  Mexican Flame Vine (Senecio confusus) flowers, magenta blossoms of Coral Vine (Antigonon leptopus), purple Morning Glories and Hyacinth Bean (Lablab purpureus). Potted palms, Sagos (Cycas revoluta), Firecracker Fern (Rusellia equisetiformis) and the stunning Pride of Barbados (Poinciana pulcherrima) add color and texture.

Growing in the pond, Papyrus offers texture and height and Crinum lilies have beautiful star-shaped white flowers.

This picturesque scenario is embellished with seashells, clay pots in shapes of or decorated with  fish and turtles, a carved stone cantera Neptune, and even fish chairs.  Stepping stones embellished with shimmering turquoise and sea-green glass stones delights guests and young children who leave with the tiny jeweled treasures in their pockets.

Piscean stepping stone with colorful marbled glass lead you through the Mermaid Garden.

Miss Tita by a fish pot and hand-painted fish plate with her image

A table for two under a bright umbrella provides an intimate setting in this cozy courtyard. I recently created this fun and functional table by inserting an “invisible” plastic liner into a cobalt blue Vietnamese pot, filling it with sand and seashells then covered it with a beveled glass top.

A large blue pot filled with a tray of sand and seashells becomes a table when covered with a glass top.

Fish-shaped chairs sit by the seashell table.

I’ve paid  homage to mermaids by creating a Mermaid Altar, using a metal garden arbor  draped with Trumpet Vine to form a “nicho”.  My Mexican  iron mermaid  adorned with a seashell necklace now perches on a chair with the moon behind her.  Copper troughs at her feet planted  planted with Succulents and  Sansevieria (Sansevieria  trifasciata) growing in blue pots look like plants growing from the bottom of the sea.

Can you hear the sirena’s song?

Whimsical mermaids are happily at home  in my  Mermaid’s Garden.  What an ideal spot to savor  a Sirena’s Splash, a most refreshing  tequila spritzer!

Haitian mermaids carved from oil drums swim in a purple sea.

A colorful painted tin mermaid

A massive Mermaid Rose (Rosa ‘Mermaid), with  its 5-petaled, creamy yellow roses, spreads voraciously  and requires lots of pruning (beware of sharp thorns!),   but provides a glorious canopy for my Mermaid Garden.

The last mermaid rose of the season growing from a canopy in my Mermaid Garden

Now it’s time for sweet repose…or to swim…at least in my mind…with  mermaids!

In the summer, this sirena is graced with red Rusellia flowers.

When you can’t be by the sea

Where would you rather be?

Spanish red wine sangría by the fishpond. Don’t you want to sip with the mermaids?

All material © 2014 by Lucinda Hutson for ¿Qué Pasa?   Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. Gracias!