Do-it-Yourself Tire Sunflower

Do-it-Yourself Tire Sunflower AG WORLD Ag World 14-4-19 "It makes a great conversation piece for our garden," say Robert and Alice Tupper, Canton, S. Dak., about the garden "sun-flower" they made out of a pair of old bias ply tires. The unusual planter stands in the middle of their garden, planted with a bed of colorful petunias. It was made out of two old auto tires, a steel wheel, a 4-in. dia. wood post, and a few pieces of strap iron. "We used chalk to mark petal shapes on one side of the tire that run from the tread to the bead," explains Robert. "A little soap suds smeared along the cutting line makes the sidewall easier to cut. We used a coarse-toothed saber saw but a stiff short blade knife will do the same job if the knife is sharp and the line is kept wet with soap solution. "The next step is to turn the tire inside out by pushing the remaining bead through the center of the tire. We then took our wheel rim and inside out tire to a service station where they mounted it on the rim. "To attach the rim to the top of the post, we welded 8 lengths of strap iron to the top and bottom of the rim for mounting brackets. Then we set the post and tire in our garden and nailed four rubber "leaves" cut out of the second tire to the post below the tire. The final step was to paint the post and tire green to give it a "natural" look. Yellow paint on the tops of the petals makes it almost look like a real sunflower. "We put about 2 in. of marble size stone inside the tire to aid in draining and then filled it with dirt. "Everyone who gets a look at our garden comments on the sunflower and wants to know where we got it." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Al-ice & Robert Tupper, 608 E. Elder, Canton, S. Dak. 57013 (ph 605 987-5666).

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