I like to make these for gifts to take to cookouts for the summer. People like them.
-I pick up the little birdhouses at the Thrift store. Usually for .50
-The dollar store have the coir. I can get 5 houses out of one coir pot. The coir is hot glued to the roof to hold the soil.
Total cost 1.00 - 2.00

Cinta, that is so clever. That would even keep the birdhouse cool in the middle of the hot summer weather. Great idea.

If I wasn't in such a dry climate, I'd do it.

Maybe in the shade Tabby?

Beautiful!!

Tabby succulents like dry. Why do you think being in a dry climate you could not do this?

The birds do not use them they are really decorative. I have had small sparrows but mostly they look good on a table or as decor in the garden. They can be left outside in any climate because I use hardy Succulents and Hens and Chicks.

Those are so cool looking. Thanks for sharing the photos. Now.....if only I had not just thrown out several battered old birdhouses! Must make a trip to the thrift store to get some more! Hmmm.....I have a bat house......

Cinta: Beautiful pictures. New to all this. Learning about hens and chicks and would you tell me what coir is and how do you get the hens and chicks to stay on the birdhouse? Is there a tutorial video on here somewhere. just getting my collection started and really want to kearn how to do some birdhouses and designs some pots. Looks great. What is the burgundy plant in your photobucket pots collection? Is it a succulent? Sorry to sound so unkowledgeable, I am straying far from the usual perennails for my zone, so excited about this. Any suggestions and tips.

Doglover love your handle I am a dog lover also. Heck I am a animal lover. lol No question is

I will try to explain I do not have a video turtorial next time I make one I will do a step by step. But it is pretty easy because you are actually planting in a coir pot as you would in your garden.

If you have seen those wire hanging pots with the brown grass like substance as a liner that is coir. I hot glue them on the top of the houses and put soil in the pots on top of the houses. It takes about a month and they are pretty tight in the soil on top of the houses. I keep a needle and thread close by if I get a stubborn one that tries to fall off. I stick the needle in the coir and pull the thread across the plant push the needle on the opposite side of the coir pot.

Does that make sense?

I am not sure which purple plant you asked about. It could be Oxalis regnellii – false shamrock, purple shamrock? If that is not the one maybe if you count down and give me a number of the one you do not recognize I can give you the name. They are not a perennial though I keep it in a pot on the patio in the summer and in a window inside in the winter.

I use a lot of tropicals and houseplants in my garden and patio in the summer. Cannas are good and easy to store, Dahalias, and Elephant Ears are things you can use in your gardens to give people the WOW factor than what others in our cold zone are growing.

Cinta, when you do a tutorial with photos you can put it in the Gardening Ideas. You can access it using the tab at the top of the page. That way it will be accessible to everyone. What a wonderful thing that would be.
If you need help just let me know, or Sharon. She is such a helpful person when doing articles, tutorials and tips.

Love the Birdhouses. Beautiful...

Okay Lynn thank you for your help. I have one ready to start after the holidays. I will see if I can do one for the board as a reference.

Great. I so look forward to seeing it on the front page of ATP, where everyone can see/find it.

Cinta: Thank you for the help. The purple plant is picture #39 of your pots. I understand about the dried grass-like material being glued to the birdhouse, but where does the pot of dirt come into play? Hard to explain, I am sure. I will try messing around with some old birhouses and see if my husband can add some small wooden edges all around the roof and then insert the grass-like material, add some soil and plant the sedums. I will let you know if this works. Any other suggestions or links will be appreciated. Thank you very much. Marsha

Marsha, you do not need wood to make a pot. The coir is stiff enough to hold the semps and soil. The coir is your pot. You are not going to use that much soil really because these plants do not like a lot of soil they need drainage to survive in the winter especially if you are going to use the birdhouse in the garden in the winter.

Tomorrow is going to be a rainy day I will try to do a instruction pic step by step.

Thank you Cinta, I will keep an eye out. Mine will be left out for winter, zone 5a, Illinois.

I so look forward to your tutorial Cinta.