Garden Treasures
by: Kim (Bo) Stone Kalil
Editor's Note: Two summers ago, Kim (Bo) Kalil shared a number of ways to Salvage and Repurpose decorating ideas for her home on the St. Lawrence River in the Thousand Islands - which began life as a 1920s horse stable. Each idea is simple and made those of us do the proverbial head smacking and say, "why did I not think of that!" Kim did, and she continues to share her sense of design with us.. This summer she suggests tiny Garden Treasurers
Garden Treasurers
We’ve all seen spectacular floral arrangements; those that are towering or grand in their display of arching branches, dozens of blooms with a plenitude of petals, a massive array of shapes, and a profusion of saturated colour, intentionally arranged with symmetry and geometry in mind.
Though these are indeed to be acknowledged for their allure, my tables are adorned differently. When I first read William Blake’s poem Auguries of Innocence, I was a teenager and just taking up photography. The poem inspired me to look for beauty in the tiniest of details as subject matter in my photos.
“To see the world in a grain of sand,
And heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.” [By William Blake]
In my garden amongst such giant showstoppers of delphiniums, lupins, foxglove, and coneflowers, there are tiny beauties with the most delicate details. Vetch with its ever so organized leaves, and tendrils that look like a butterfly’s antennae, thyme with its little stalks covered in minuscule blossoms in various shades of purple, columbine’s bloom with its vibrant yellow centre set against a deep coral collar, and chamomile sporting its tiny daisy-like blooms.
When looking to decorate your table, there are a myriad of miniature lovelies to be found, if you crouch down and look amongst the giants. I display them in a variety of little glass bottles I’ve found at vintage stores and dollar stores.
By Kim (Bo) Stone Kalil
Kim (nicknamed Bo in high school) Stone Kalil, lives in Toronto and spends as much time as possible with her family and friends at her home in the Thousand Islands, which was previously a 100-year-old defunct horse stable. Kim has shared several decorating ideas with TI Life as well as poetry, which you can see here.
