We have one place in our backyard where we can't get any flowers to grow. I don't know if it is because of the soil in this one place, or the fact it gets very little sun, or what. But whatever the reason, we finally gave up on planting anything there, that is, until my wife got this neat idea. Her idea was: "Metal flowers can survive anywhere!" So, that's what we did.

Step 1: Materials Required

We began collecting anything we thought even remotely looked like a flower, including cake pans, jello molds, an old heater fan, an old knob from a drawer, etc. For stems I used metal electrical conduit, and leaves were made from some scrap sheet metal I had laying around. Some of the items are shown in the photo.

In terms of tools, I used a metal cutting bandsaw, drill & bits, pliers, and a screwdriver. I started to make this a welding project, but since some of the materials used were made from aluminum, I just bolted everything together. Supply items included miscellaneous nuts & bolts and spray paint.

Step 2: Get Creative

After gathering up an assortment of junk parts, I began the creative part of floral design. Basically, I stacked things together until I had something that resembled my idea of what a flower should look like, then drilled whatever holes I needed to assemble the parts. One flower is shown above, where I put a small baking dish inside a jello mold.

Step 3: Paint

Before assembling, I drilled all the required holes, then painted each piece.

Step 4: Assemble & Enjoy

After the paint had dried, I assembled the flowers using nuts & bolts and installed them in the "dead zone" of the yard.

So far they've done well. The rabbits don't eat them, they bloom all the time, and so far I haven't had to water them -- no, not at all!

This was an easy and fun project.