Part of the fun of going to the Leelanau Peninsula is poking around all the little shops. I found two fun items at a little shop in Leland. I knew I wanted the mustard colored box and only learned after I inquired about it that it is an owl box. It was the wonky heart opening that sucked me in. And the color. The other treasure was more expensive. And heavy. It’s a yard light, sort of shaped like a light house. I loved the patina, the copper cupola, and, oh, I don’t know. I just kind of knew it would look good in the Secret Garden.
It took three women and one man passing by to get it into the back of my Escape. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get it out. When I got home yesterday, the first thing I did was walk through the Secret Garden, and before I knew it, and before I had even begun to unpack the car, I had gotten out the spade and was replanting a hydrangea that I thought was dead but wasn’t. I had ripped it out before I left, but forgot to discard it. There it was with green shoots, so I redug the hole and plopped it back in. At that moment, my friend Dale came by to get some pots I had left out for him. Poor Dale. He often gets dragged into my heavy lifting projects. He thought I was still out of town, so I’m sure his intent was to quickly grab the pots and leave. Instead, he was commandeered into unloading the light (with its heavy cement base) and lugging it into the Secret Garden.
And it looks great! I pulled up the old red fence post (or, rather, Dale pulled up the old red fence post) and put the light in its place. The fence post is riddled with termites, something I knew would happen when I “planted” it in the ground. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it.
The garden is looking ever so lush. We’ve had lots of rain. The pinks are doing their thing, and so is the old dogwood.
A neighborhood cat that comes to visit several times a day loves the catmint. I could not get him to open his eyes for this picture. I suspect he loves the catmint too much.
Garden337 
I love the new yard light. It looks like it has lived there forever in your secret garden. Good find! We stay on the Leelanau Peninsula every summer and make new discoveries every year. Such a wonderfully charming place.
I just love it up there. If only it had been just a little bit warmer.
Oh gosh, I just love that light as well! We also have a Secret Garden…. it even has a bench engraved with that name. I am off to entertain, but when I get a chance to breathe later on, I plan to stop by and visit your garden (and all the posts you’ve written about it) again.
Cathy
I’ll have to explore your Secret Garden!!!
Your pinks are glowing. Please tell me about them. I’d love to grow them here someday.
They are Cheddar Pinks and quite easy to grow. These were actually transplanted from the front garden. They are in the same family as carnations and have a similar clove-ish scent. They are called pinks because of the toothy edges, as if they had been cut with pinking shears. They like sun.
The yard light looks very nice and was worth all the effort of lugging it into place in the garden. I like the owl house probably because I like anything whimsical and colorful. Jasper high on catmint gave me a good laugh.
Cool lamppost! And it grew right into the space– clearly you needed it all along. I love the copper roof. Why does stuff like that look so great in gardens? I think we all hope that nature will win in the end and all the buildings and parking meters and phone towers will be covered in vines and roses. Your gardens are looking terrific.
Linnie, I can see it now. A red phone box covered in vines. Hmmmmmm.