The Garden Car started out as a 1981 Toyota Corolla station wagon that was owned by my neighbor who had lost his license and wanted to sell it for $200. I bought it as a Christmas present to myself. I was trying to think of a theme for the car when I came up with the idea of making a garden car. Since everything grows in Miami, why not grow a car!

I have a fence totally covered in vine, and thought a car would look good covered in vine, too. My yard has a lot of plants that I thought would grow from cuttings but all of that would take time. I wanted to cover it right away with something that would give instant results.

So before Christmas, I attached chicken wire to the car with self-tapping screws and an electric drill. After a quick trip to the Christmas tree place and a few hours of wiring, the car was covered with green tree branches and looked pretty cool. Unfortunately, after just a few days, the branches dried out, and I became concerned the car might be a fire hazard. I wanted to have an entry in the Mango Strut Parade in Coconut Grove the Sunday after Christmas so we set to work on a different approach.

First all of the tree cuttings came off. We stuffed newspapers under the chicken wire hoping to retain some moisture for the plants. Marsi went to work cutting branches and digging up plants while my friend Gregg suggested mounting the fountain in my yard on top of the car. We got some bilge pumps from the marine store, and the yard fountain soon became the rooftop fountain sculpture. A huge cooler (about 40 gallons) was installed in the back of the car to hold water. Ultimately, we ended up with a rain-bird lawn sprinkler attached to garden hose which is connected to the bilge pump in the cooler. We connected the pumps to the rear defroster switch and with a touch of the button, the fountain and sprinkler sprays water all around the entire car.

After the parade, the plants slowly died. We needed growing plants, so I bought 12 cubic feet of Florida Everglades Spaghnum Moss, mixed in bird seed, and stuffed it under the chicken wire. Within one week I had little green sprouts of sunflower, rye and millet. Other plants from the yard went on the car too. There's fern, bromeliads, morning glory, malo, philodendra, elephant ears, a vine called ficus repens, daisies and other stuff I can't identify. Potted plants went on the roof.

The car changes as it grows daily. It's quite an experience to put seeds on the car and wonder how it will look in the weeks to come. If I see some branches in the trash, they go on the car. People donate plants to put on the car. I hope to put bird feeders, a bird bath and maybe some pink flamingos on as well.

People seem to have a need to name things, like some kind of identity helps to explain the unexplainable. Since Miami is home for many Spanish speaking people, they call the Garden Car "El Carro Jardin."

The car is great fun to drive. People stare in drop-jaw amazement. When I think they're looking, I'll switch on the fountain or sprinkler and watch a big smile grow on their faces. It's nice having people smile and wave as they drive past. I think I've gotten over 2,000 smiles to the gallon maybe more. I drive the car to work every day and to date, have not had one negative comment.

Front of Car

Back of Car

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Last update April 1, 2004