Leaf Bird Baths

My banker and friend Carrie and I have made our second set of concrete leaf bird baths!  This time we used decorative rhubarb leaves and magnolia leaves.  Last summer we made a leaf with a Gunnera or Dinosaur Plant.  That was too much of a good thing; really too much of a good thing.  That leaf takes at least two people to move it and is reinforced with metal webbing in the middle of the concrete because we thought it would easily break in half.

 This time we did four rhubarb, two magnolia and one other strange  large round-leafed plant that I don't remember what the name is.  I thought it was only fair that Carrie should get to keep the extra leaf as she had the bulk of the supplies.  I provided sand this time!  Next time she has to remind me to bring black spray paint!

We start by putting out mounds of sand, then lay the freshly cut leaf face down on the sand.  The next step is to scoop handfulls of our concrete/sand mixture onto the leaves and cover the leaves as evenly as we can to the edges.  We then let it harden.  After it hardens and the leaves are removed (sometimes it is quite a bit of work to get them off) and brushed off.  Following that, Larry, our hero in the project, saws the edges of the concrete to match the outline of the leaf.  When that is done it is ready to paint.  It is quite the project, but overall it is a  lot of fum and the result is fairly dramatic if we do say so ourselves!

Just wanted to add a little bit of size comparison for those who haven't seen these. 

During the spring nature fills these little birdbaths on its own.  In the summer we have to help out.  I personally like to put them in the garage for the winter so that they hopefully won't freeze with water in them and break, but some people do leave them out!  A little work (except Larry's!!), a little fun (especially painting) and they're all done. Oh, and we finish up with concrete sealer.  This year it was raining like mad right after we finished putting the concrete out; but it was sunny and warm when it came time to paint!  We're thinking of doing a few more smaller ones using hosta leaves and maybe a pumpkin leaf.  We keep a lookout for large leaves all year long.  Oh, the magnolia?  Well, we have a LARGE magnolia in our northwest yard. Here's a view of the flower!  These are beautiful, but since they are so high we rarely get to see them we picked this and brought it in.