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Mirrors in the garden

 
Pearl Sutton
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Two threads about mirrors, please put replies in the relevant one :)
This one is Mirrors in the garden
The other is Mirrors in a greenhouse

I put mirrors on the wall in my garden at my last home. I had already painted the grubby orange block wall sky blue, then I added some broken mirrors to it.



I can't find any pictures of it that I took once the flowerbed grew in, it looked lovely, gave a narrow space a surprising depth and more flowers in bloom. (I know I took some, I'll look for them later.) They opened up a shady area, the wall got sun when the rest of the area didn't, they bounced the light around nicely. The irregular depth, the reflected flowers and the light were a lovely effect!

Have you used mirrors in your garden? How did it work?

Gardens in my mind never need water
Castles in the air never have a wet basement
Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
Bright sparks remind others that they too can dance
What I am looking for is looking for me too!

 
Greg Martin
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Taken to the extreme you can hide your house in the garden!

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

 
Olga Booker
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I get upset that so many birds stun themselves and even sometimes kill themselves by flying straight into my windows because they see a reflection of the landscape into them, Wouldn't that make the matter worse?  Wouldn't they fly straight into that mirror house?

It might be OK with small bits of mirror here and there but I think a large piece could be dangerous for many birds.  In the greenhouse, it probably is a different story, hopefully, no bird would enter and injure itself.

Love is the only resource that grows the more you use it.
David Brower

 
Skandi Rogers
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yes that house will murder birds and blind your neighbours small bits of mirrors fine, large ones are not so good.
 
Greg Martin
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Great points Olga and Skandi....no mirror house for me.

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

 
Chris Kott
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While I feel you could both improve its stealth properties and avoid blinding neighbours by selecting appropriate angles to the mirrors, I can't get away from the bird-murdering capability of it. One would think that a bird flying straight towards its own reflection would veer off, but I suppose they aren't called bird-brained for nothing.

I think the picture is stunning to look at, and unfortunately the reality for birds is neck-breaking.

If I were to spend so much on mirrors, I think they'd be part of an array to focus the sun's light on a specific spot, either to warm a pond for a little microclimactic season-buffering, or for small-scale heat-based materials processing.

-CK

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein

 
Greg Martin
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Chris Kott wrote:
I think the picture is stunning to look at, and unfortunately the reality for birds is neck-breaking.
-CK


I'm not sure if mirrors are made that look opaque in the portion of the UV spectrum that birds can see and we can't, but that would do the trick.  There's no reason, for example, that the glass can't have that property.  Hmm....more research to do if anyone wants to hide their home into their garden.  Lots of trees surrounding your home takes care of the neighbor problem.

Amen on spending that much to make the mirrors do heating work for you Chris!

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

 
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