I have loved collecting shells since I was a little girl. Anytime we went to the beach, my Oma and mom would take walks and collect lady’s ears, olive shells, whelks, sand dollars, and whatever caught their eye. I remember shells drying on the deck railing of the beach house and we would spend a quiet evening or rainy afternoon making animal sculptures out of some of the found shells. When we cleaned out my Oma and Opa’s attic after my Opa passed away, we found about 10 five-gallon buckets filled with shells she had collected over the years. I kept some, but couldn’t possibly keep them all. Also, searching for the shells and making memories while doing it is a big part of the appeal. So, I’ve carried on the shell-collecting tradition whenever I’m at a beach that permits it. (It is illegal to collect shells, rocks, sand, beach glass, etc. in some places.)
If you’re interested in collecting and decorating with shells, you can read these two posts…
But, today, I am sharing about using the shells I have found over the years in the garden.
When we went to the beach last spring, I was really excited about shelling and, despite the fact our house had just sold and we were moving, I was willing to pack up all of the shells I found and take them with me. So, the shells went from South Carolina to Minnesota and ended up in Maryland within six months.
When we got to our new house, though, I was a little overwhelmed by the boxes of shells! I mean, moving boxes filled with shells. it was almost comical, but I knew I would find a good use for them. I use them around the house quite a bit, just set out in bowls or nestled on shelves. They are beautiful, sculptural, they have a story, and they make me smile. That is the kind of thing you want to use to decorate your home.
But, as soon as I started working in the garden beds in the back, I had an idea of how I was going to use some of those shells.
Back in March of this year, I started working on the beds on the left and right sides of the picture below…
Both beds were a bit of a weedy mess and both were filled with river rocks. The bed on the right was mostly rock, but it hadn’t been maintained for a few years. The bed on the left was a mix of mulch and rock. So, I decided to clean up the rock bed and move all of the rock I could dig out over to the rock bed. That meant I would only have one relatively small rock bed to maintain.
It took me a few months of digging out and cleaning rocks when I had a nice evening to spend an hour or two on it. I would just put on some music and work one rock at a time. I often look at that rock bed and think that I moved each one of those rocks by hand. One at a time. Whew! I am so glad it is the only rock bed in this garden because that was a tedious job. And, when I was creeping towards the finish line, I knew this would be a great place to put some of the shells from my collection.
I even included the large clam shell from my Oma’s attic.
There are snail shells from Maine, oyster shells from South Carolina, whelks from North Carolina, and sand dollar pieces from Florida. In the larger shells, I wrote where and when the shell was found as a little reminder as we add to them over the years.
There is one little downside. They are a bit tough on the feet if you miss the sidewalk!
But, I love them. And, by the way, I don’t care that this isn’t a beach house. I think shells can be used anywhere and I don’t feel boxed in by my location.
I planted large limelight at the end fence-side of both beds so those will eventually grow up and fill in the corners of the beds, which will look so pretty in the summer.
I also tucked some shells in the planters on the patio and around the pool.
I like how they add a little sculptural touch to the planters and they will provide a bit of interest during the winter when the planters are empty.
So, if you’re a shell collector like me and have a stash you want to use, try them in your garden!
If you missed it, you can see more details about our patio and pool makeover HERE.
I love the shell/rock bed you have created from your collection! It really looks so nice beside the pool area. During the summer months, I love to take my shell collection out of storage tubs and use them in my decor. Currently, I have a large glass hurricane on my dining table filled at the bottom with white quartz sand I brought back from Florida filled with some beautiful shells from Sanibel Island (shell capital of the US) and other coastal areas we have visited.
Very cool looking around your garden bed!!! My collection found their way into my potted plants awhile ago. Most are still in the pots. Adds a great decorated touch & memories from the beach.🌷🌊🏖️🐚
We have a large desertscape in our garden in TX, so we collect rocks on our travels. Sometimes larger rocks, small boulders, or just an interesting rock. We also have several areas to collect fossils in TX, so these make their way into the gardens and pots as well.
I live very close to Galveston Tx and have large containers of shells, I’m a beach girl through and through. I never thought of the garden, thanks for the tip. Also I follow 4 the love of wood and she has framed alot of shells, maybe worth a look see.
I have shells and think this is fabulous. Borrowing it!
This is such an excellent and subtle way to use shells in decor without triggering that beach house theme. It looks beautiful.
As a collector of shells and rocks from every excursion hither and yon myself~ I appreciate the lovely renewal of your beds and pots. May yours bring Happy Memories around every corner~!💕
Marian, such a great idea to use your beautiful shells in your rock bed and in your lovely planters! Each time you see your shells, you will be reminded of precious memories spent at the shore! Enjoy!
My mother loved to collect shells and she passed that love on to me. I have buckets and buckets of shells as well. I use them in the spring and summer as part of my decor. I love to fill large glass cloches with them, place them in vintage decorative bowls tucked here and there and fill up lanterns and add fairy lights to have a little sparkle on summer nights or add a few large ones to a bookcase shelf. I hadn’t thought of using them in the garden. I love the way you edged the rock garden with them. Where did you find all of the lovely blue conch shells? Are they all from a particular coastal area? I have some blue-gray mollusks but no conchs that color. They are really beautiful.
Those are from Isle of Palms and they are my favorite! The are whelk shells.
The shells look great, especially their blue-gray color. Do you get much snow there in the winter though? I would be worried that snow and ice would break up the shells over time. After all, they don’t get much snow on the beach! I have all of my own childhood collections of shells, just enough to fill about a gallon sized jar, which I have on one of my shelves year round. Since I haven’t been able to get to a beach for 30 years now, these shells are happy reminders of walking the beaches with my mom and grandma and sister.
I love shells. I have a good collection from Florida, and use them in summer around my house.
The pool area looks great. I know you are so glad to have it finished and be able to use it this summer.
What is the vine you have growing on your trellis in the rock bed?
Enjoy your summer.
I collect shells as well. I’ve used them in bowls and on shelves. The idea of using them in the garden is such a great one. There was a Poirot British murder mystery featuring a woman who tended her garden religiously and had a border of oyster shells lined up. It turned out she had buried her husband (whom she murdered) in that bed. Haha. It’s fiction, obviously, but the flower bed was really stunning.
Karen B.
Mom and I collected so many shells of every type over the years that we started filling big clay bowls with the larger ones and putting them in our gardens. My biggest surprise, and sadness, was that they lost their beautiful colors over the years and bleached out to all become white. I guess in time the sun and rain just removed that beautiful patina from them. We had lovely scallops from Sanibel as well as Conchs. We brought back boxes full of them. I still have mine but they don’t look nearly as beautiful as they did originally.
About that exact rock bed – my grandfather, who maintained it until he passed, was an avid rock collector. He’d sometimes take rocks from that bad and either tumble them or divide them, revealing beautiful insides, which he’d display on the shelves in your current living room. He loved to teach, and every one of us 12 grandkids would be shown his collection multiple times, as well as shown the rockbed garden. I’ve grown to love rocks like he did and for whatever reason, think of that rockbed really fondly, even though it was mostly just plain river rocks, because it reminds me of him.
I have about fifty stories about each and every detail from that house (and I know my brothers and cousins all do too). It was well loved, trust me. And always bursting to the brim with family.
Oh, I love that story! I am so glad I took the time to move and clean all of those rocks. Ugh! It’s funny because there were some rocks I was particularly fond of and I tried to put them in a more visible place. Yeah, they are just river rocks, but some are quite pretty.