Serendipity-Southwest Style

"Yard Sale!" the handwritten sign on Highway 28 announced.  My husband Wayne can't resist the possibility of finding a treasure at bargain prices.  The drive from Mesilla, New Mexico back home to El Paso. Texas one leisurely Saturday had lulled me into a dreamlike state.   I opted to stay in the car while he shopped.

It didn't take Wayne long to purchase two small baskets, which he tossed in the back seat while proudly announcing, "Two dollars each!"  Oh no, more clutter for the house was my initial reaction.

After closer examination, however, I warmed up to the baskets.  They appeared to be handmade with natural materials like grapevines and rope, and they certainly were an unusual shape.  And just the right depth for a collection of small flower pots!

Every year, about mid-winter, I get the urge for springtime to arrive so that I can garden outside. Hopefully, an indoor plant project would tide me over until warmer weather arrived.

Most of the landscaping around our house consists of desert plants.  One of the joys of desert landscaping is discovering tiny volunteer versions growing nearby their giant mother plants. We transplant the babies to three to four inch clay pots, using whatever old pots we find on the potting bench. 

I gathered up all of these small pots from their winter homes inside near bright windows and spread them out on the kitchen counter.  Some were tiny versions of xeriscape materials and others were small succulents that I had bought or propagated from cuttings.

After lining the baskets with aluminum foil to retard water damage, the creative part began.  I spent a good deal of time happily trying out different placement of pots in the baskets.  I was finally able to fit eight small pots of differing sizes and shapes into the two baskets.

I could have stopped the project at this point, but I wanted a bit more polish.  A trip to Lowe's for sphagnum moss to fill in the areas between the plants and a bag of small white decorative rocks to cover up the soil in the tiny pots, and the baskets were finished.  Here are the finished products!

Finding a home for two new baskets amid all of the other indoor-for-the-winter plants took some rearranging, but now the baskets are prominently displayed in a room we call the estancia, It is an outdoor patio converted into a TV and dining area.

This bit of serendipity - Wayne finding the baskets and recognizing their possibilities for a new life- gave me the opportunity to spend a creative afternoon on a very cloudy, gloomy day.  Will springtime every arrive?

Please note:  Southwest Kaleidoscope is taking a mini-vacation.  I'll be back on February 13 to talk about Northern Arizona.