For me, the obsession began with a strand of love beads in eighth grade. I wore antique millefiore trade beads on a leather thong tied around my ankle for an entire year of high school. But the rosaries of my childhood may be the real catalyst, because there were so many of them in my Catholic home. My affinity for beads is just as strong today, rekindled by the amazing array of imported beads from around the world.
Beads can be a great source of zest in your garden too if they’re made of glass, ceramic or metal which stand up to our challenging climate. They’re particularly at home in jewel box gardens rich in succulent plants. This name was coined to describe dense compositions of succulent plants and glittering slag glass or beads that resembles the contents of your grandmother’s jewel box. These gardens help us reclaim that childlike sense of wonder at beautiful shining things while they enhance the form and colors of close range, high intensity points of the garden.
What I learned the hard way is that all beads aren’t suitable for outdoor use. Many will fade in our desert sun. Those imported from China are colored by chemical dyes. These tints won’t hold up here either. Contrasts and patterns often fade so the bead you fell in love with becomes progressively paler over time. In comparison, very old Italian millefiore beads from Africa are all glass and colored through and through so they retain their hues nicely.
Every time I visit the Saturday swap meet at College of the Desert, I always seek out the African import sellers to peruse their beads. It was here I found large beads made in Africa from recycled glass. My biggest score was one strand of golf ball sized cobalt blue beads for a hefty $40. The same material is also available in other shades of azure, gold or turquoise. They’re produced in smaller bead sizes too, and all are strung on fiber cords. These proved the best for outdoor use because their color is integral and does not bleach out in our intense sunlight.
My green man wall fountain became a tribute to Mardi Gras with strands of these oversized African beads. Another wall mounted pot overflows with numerous strands for color and interest without the need to water plants. Other strands I drape over the edge of my succulent pots to give these plants a bit of glitz.
Many creative folks are making their own glittering wind chimes or sun catchers with beads upcycled from cast off costume jewelry. These become a dangling collage of glass beads that literally glow when the sun hits them at different times throughout the day. Many gardeners blend their beads with crystals salvaged from old chandeliers. These pieces of faceted glass drops or panels, many of them vintage, do more than just cast light. These crystals are cut to produce rainbow colored prisms in direct light throughout the day.
Rain chains that dangle from your roof in lieu of a downspout also feature slag glass. They’re hot stuff at Rogers Gardens where these simple glass and wire creations sell for a pretty penny. But for anyone with a creative dangling art pieces are easy to make yourself. All you need is fine wire, needle nose pliers and a bucket small chunk glass from Whitewater Rock on I-10 just west of Palm Springs.
Think twice before you consider tumbled glass gravel in lieu of stone gravel. One cobalt colored example looked great until the first big wind storm littered the dark blue field with bits of grass and palm which spoiled its beauty forever.
For all bead lovers, take another look at your old costume jewelry for beads that stand up outdoors. Keep an eye on garage sales for great vintage finds. But for my money, I will always relish flea market tables heaped with African beads that are larger than most, vividly graphic and affordable.
