Garden Ornaments

A garden is a form of personal expression and what better way to say something about yourself than with garden ornaments today on Southern Gardening. 

When we consider a garden we can assume that there'll be flowering annuals and perennials, foundation shrubs like hollies and Indian hawthorns, and small ornamental trees.  But add a sculpture or homemade piece of art and you start to bridge the gap between gardener and the garden. 

The garden is the perfect setting for having a little fun with garden ornaments.  Think about some of the garden ornaments that you've seen just driving around.  It's pretty safe to assume that almost everyone has seen a bed frame planted with flowering annuals.  I'm sure it brought a smile to your face seeing the flower bed on display. 

Garden ornaments can help bridge the seasons.  The sculpture is unlikely to change with the season, but the look of the garden around the sculpture will.  My parents in Tennessee have a sculpture of a golfer made out of round stock.  In the summertime it looks like someone playing through the hosta bed.  Last winter they sent me a picture right after a snowfall with that golfer silhouetted against the blanket of white. 

What kind of ornament should you put in your garden?  The most important consideration is that you like it.  If you like pink flamingos, what's wrong with having a flock in the garden?  I think a second consideration would be durability.  A wooden piece will deteriorate over time and should be sealed or painted.  Concrete is a good choice, but may make rearranging difficult

Once you've placed an ornament in the garden it suddenly becomes an even bigger part of who you are, which of course is why we garden. 

I am horticulturist Gary Bachman for Southern Gardening.