Hi there International Bellaonline!

C'mon, speaking of sayings for wood or stones and so on - how many ways can we say WELCOME TO MY GARDEN?

*** Afrikaans - Welkom na my tuin!

*** Zulu - coming soon!

How about YOUR translation please - German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Greek, French, Hungarian, Scots (how would Robbie Burns have written it?) Hindi? Yiddish? More and more and more ... and of course for Russian and Hebrew and Chinese (Mandarin etc.) and many African languages we would have to go phonetic English.

OMG there are so many ways.

And what about some whimsy? Chaucer? Shakespeare? Martian?

Join in, let's have some fun! And then later on we can think of ways to use these too. Ta

Welsh:

Croeso i fy ngardd

Willkommen in meinem Garten

Es ist nett, da� Sie zu meinem Garten kamen. (It is nice that you came to my garden.)

I had to look this up to be sure of my spelling.

SPANISH

Bienvenido a mi jardin

Just wrote an article about Spanish-English cognates and "jardin" is one of over 4000 "true" cognates that those languages share. Francine's German one is almost all cognates.

Hey there Everyone and thanks mucho for the response - more more more please.

Welsh Mona - can you and all write a 'phonetic' style pronunciation style guides for us English only speakers?

Ah this is going to be great and while we are gathering them we must think of ways to use them ... written on paving stones, signs of course and more ways for sure.

How else can we incorporate them into or onto things?

We could also do similar things and use short sentences which say the same thing (in case the language next up says it differently) - like 'You're WELCOME here!' or 'Peace rules in my garden!' Or, anything you consider worthy of a sign in your personal space...

Cheers now

Croeso i fy ngardd [KROIS-oh ee vung-ARTH]

Croeso / KROIS-oh (oi as in point)
i / ee
fy ngardd / vung-ARTH (You run the two words together and TH is as in then)

Hi Mona,

This is great, thankyou!

Now I just have to show off!

Indulge me please.

A leading property and realty company Pam Golding Properties here in South Africa (and internationally though am not sure about USA) recently ran a 'The best verge competition' in a bid to get the suburbs of Johannesburg looking good and weedless and all and all.

WELL, Lestie (that's me) and her team of two (Sphiwe and Jacob), both my hands and enthusiastic Building Assistants and Gardeners WON THE COMPETITION and won a prize of R20 000 for us and our building AND could nominate a charity for a further R5000 00, given that that charity was one that was growing a vegetable patch of sorts.

A hole in one I tell you - we are thrilled and are waiting for our prize to go and do some serious shopping to fill in the blanks we have in our gardening tools and plants and all and all.

BUT - I will now be able to say to people IN WELSH - Welcome to my garden!

Oh I am grinning! We are grinning! They are grinning! Sounds like a Latin lesson hey?

Cheers now

Super Lestie and your team.........and not forgetting your hands.


What a great Christmas present, and well deserved.

Llongyfarchion i Lestie a'i th�m!
Congratulations to Lestie and her team!


This is the walled garden of Llanerchaeron in mid-Wales, an 18th century gentry estate, comprising house and home farm as well as the walled garden. The garden is being restored, using documentary evidence and archaeological techniques, to determine what plants were grown there. But we know - surprisingly - that one unusual plant they grew was saffron.






Croeso
i fy ngardd

Mona

What a beautiful place. I especially love the large tree to the center right in this photo.

Lestie

In American...........Welcome to my Garden!

Hi SandraJ,

Thanks for this - made me smile and soon I will seek out other translations from people I know from different countries.

Now do you have some ideas of how to display your 'WELCOME'

Cheers

Lestie

Let me think.....

How to display the "Welcome" in my garden.
1. Painted on a large rock placed at the entrance to the garden.
2. Engraved on a large rock (that's if you know someone who can engrave on rocks).
3. Get an old piece of wood (or new piece) and engrave, burn or paint "Welcome."
4. Go to the craft store and get the wood letters, paint them and nail or screw them to your garden gate.
5. Decoupage the craft store letters with pretty papers (scrapbook papers, magazine pictures, etc). Be sure to coat BOTH sides of the letters with several layers of acrylic sealer before putting outside.
6. If you know someone who can use a torch and cut sheet metal, make a design and the word "Welcome" on a piece of sheet metal and have the friend cut it out. Then hang on a chain on your fence, trellis, eves on the roof, or on a post in the garden.
7. Spell out "Welcome" with small stones on the pathway through your garden. Or if you are about to install a cement path, put stones in it to spell "Welcome" before the cement dries.

OK, that's all I can think of right now.

OH WOW SandraJ!

What a fab selection of ideas to suit all types of gardens and decks and balconies and entrances and all and all.

I can add some too as in

- the progressive message on stepping stones at the entrance as in
WELCOME
TO
MY
GARDEN or

- a wrought iron free form letter sign of sorts; or

- a bead curtain that says or spelt W E L C O M E in the centre in red beads. I have seen this and while it sounds funny it worked in context of the Garden Centre that did it; or

- a Mosaic plaque; or

- a Topiary rendition of sorts; or

- a Gnome or Faerie with a WeLcOmE sign as in Francine's picture above; or

- Varnished branches nailed together in big lettering with the top of the lettering being nailed onto trellis with ivy growing up and around. This was in a show garden I visited and was most effective; or

- Use single letters spelling out your message made from wood cutouts glued or nailed onto dowel sticks and free form stuck in the ground (moveable and easy to make yourself for crafties).

Hey guys - what others can you think of andOR which will you try ANDor what is your choice of the top three.

Mary Mary not contrary ... how does your container garden grow.

Do tell now!

P S Mary Mary above includes all the Toms and Harrys out there too.

Cheers

Lestie

I like the idea of the single letters with dowel sticks to put in the garden. One of our craft stores has some wooden individual letters that are about 9 inches tall (all capital letters) and I think they have smaller ones in a different type style. It would be fun to get a few different sizes and styles and decorate them, stick various lengths of dowels in them....Then finally put them in the garden!

A good winter project here in Oregon, USA.

Hey SandraJ,

Another rendition of this sigle letter W E L C O M E could be to have a frame of wood on a stake with smaller letters that are suspended in the frame close enough to read but not to hit each other that would wave (you know) in the breeze, much like a windchime might.

I think I will try this one to start! And for those who have big decks and wrap-around stoeps or verandahs or gardens, who says you only have to have one welcome sign anyway!

Cheers til the next time!