landscape design ideas

How to Incorporate Art In the Garden

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About 20 years ago when my husband and I were new to Pasadena we went to see the newly renovated gardens of the Norton Simon Museum. If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend a visit. Nancy Goslee Power designed it to reflect the essence of Monet’s garden in Giverny, and it was spectacular. It still is. Her elegant use of sculptural art throughout the garden is masterful and adds a depth and magnificence to what might otherwise be simply a beautiful garden.

It made me think. While it makes obvious sense to incorporate art in the garden of a museum, would it not be as powerful to do so in the garden at home? It may seem out of reach and something for only the wealthiest clientele. But shouldn’t art be accessible to the average homeowner as well?

I would say yes. But rather than hearing from me, I thought it might be more meaningful to read about art and it’s place in the garden from one of my longest clients, a dear friend and accomplished Ceramic artist based in Pasadena, Joan G. Aebi.

Joan G. Aebi

interview with the artist

NCR: Joan, how did it happen that you first began to bring your pottery into the garden?

JGA: The first thing I did was the “chard pile” which, if you make a lot of ceramics, you have a lot of things that don’t turn out very well. You get a nice sense of satisfaction when you have a piece that you thought was going to be great and it turned out Ucky instead—you take it and slam it into the ground and it breaks apart. You get a real charge out of that!

  • Garden Art - chard pile
    Chard Pile
  • Garden Art - Totems
    Pottery Totems
  • Garden Art - Totem Top
    Pottery Totem Top
  • Garden Art - pottery
    Face Casts

From the beginning, long before we worked together on her design, Joan began throwing her discarded sculptures into a pile in the front yard of her house at the base of a massive and ancient Deodar Cedar. Thousands of broken pieces of pottery stretched out in a 15′ radius beyond the base of the tree making a fascinating understory—a uniquely artful yet accidental interpretation of mulch.

One of the hands you can find near the chard pile

JGA: The other thing is that at that time I was doing a lot of people and casting people in clay. So I had chests, backs, and hands and faces, and I would throw them in there. Then the neighborhood kids started going through and and say “Oh my god! There’s a hand!” so they started going through and looking for treasures.

The other thing is that’s amazing about it is the stuff sinks into the ground. With as much stuff as I’ve put in there you’d think that the pile would be really high but it just sinks in.

Deodars can grow in a variety of soils as long as they have good drainage. In this case, with so much clay going into the soil water from the irrigation and rains goes into the pile and becomes absorbed by the clay. Slowly, over time, the moisture is released into the soil below creating an unlikely symbiotic relationship with the tree.

NCR: You also had some totem poles out there before we worked together on your design.

JGA: I had a friend who was making some outdoor sculptures and I got the idea of making totem poles and I really liked the idea of, you know, sort of staking up the different types of pots that you could stack and make these totem poles.

NCR: Did you those pieces start with the intention of being used for the totem poles or did you select ones that you had already made and thought they would work for this application?

JGA: Both. I started by using pieces that I had made and stacking them and then I would say I need a top to this and how am I gonna do it? After a while it really became that I was making a totem pole.

NCR: When I saw your artwork I just knew that it had a place in the garden and as much as we could use we should incorporate it in there. I don’t know if that was your intention for your sculptures.

One of many “people pots” placed throughout the garden

JGA: It really wasn’t. But as with some of my ceramics you end up with so many more pieces than you know what to do with so this was a great way of dealing with it. And they work. They belong. I hadn’t really used any of the people pots outside. That was you. That was great. I mean I love it that they’re out there. They’re not real refined so they really work well in the feeling of a garden where things happen in a free flowing sort of way.

NCR: It seems like art in the garden is a really personal choice. What do you think about how others might be able to incorporate art in the garden?

JGA: It depends on the person and what they want to do. I think that the garden is a great place to display art. Especially ceramics because ceramics can stand up to being outside. Particularly things that are high fired will work well. Metal also works. I think it’s wonderful to have these unique pieces in the garden.

Also, if you have something that can take the weather, put treasures in the garden! That can be art for the garden! Whatever! But treasures should go in the garden, just like artwork. It makes it personal. These bits of who you are make a personal statement rather than standard “garden art”. And your garden is so much more special with it.

Check out our post Garden Art: Found Items for more ideas on this!

Finding your own art

One of the main take-aways from our conversation is that art, however you define it, gives you a means of expressing your own true self. And this applies even in the garden.
Joan is an artist, so she has a wealth of opportunity to use her own pieces to enhance her outdoor spaces. But you don’t have to be the artist to bring art into the garden. You only need to know what you love. Here are some suggestions on how to find something magical while incorporating art in the garden.

Resources

. Contact your local Arts Organization. In Pasadena, Armory Center for the Arts is a great resource for you to discover and connect with the local art community.
. Contact your local matal’s guild, or pottery studio where you might also discover an artist you love
. Consider using treasures you have or one’s you’ve found and bring them into the garden in an artful way (Contact us if you need help with that)
. For art in the garden, you will want to stick with durable materials that can withstand the elements: metal, pottery, concrete, and glass are the four best choices.
. Stay away from plastics at all costs!
. Wood can be amazing but it weathers and rots. To keep it looking good it should be sealed and never placed directly in or on soil

  • Upcyclied copper electrical conduit
  • Vase I found in my mom’s house
  • Elephant planter
San Francisco episode of HGTV’s The Outdoor Room – with Jamie Durie. Jamie along with the other contractors all added their own custom art pieces to the garden.

Boundless Landscape Border Ideas

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glass landscape border
Garden in West Seattle with a super-cool idea to separate the front yard from slope out front.

Landscape border ideas? “Boring!” you might be thinking. But wait a sec. Borders are brilliant! Something as simple and straightforward as that border can be the difference between a basic garden and a spectacularly innovative one. Perhaps you think I’m over-selling a bit here, but I assure you, this is exactly the detail that makes a garden stand out.

It’s true, in the most basic terms, borders are just lines in the ground that divide two spaces. But before you draw one of those basic lines in the garden with some bender board you must first ask yourself, What do I want from this design? Do I want a nature-scape where the borders are invisible—grasses, perennials and trailing vines tumbling over one another to make a sea of horticultural communion? Or do I want to separate the garden and the turf to let each region of the garden shine on its own?

Either way, never overlook this oft missed opportunity to insert your own panache into your design.

An aside about Turf

I’m going to break a little blogging rule now and mention turf which is not our main topic of conversation here. It’s related however, and, in my opinion, an important aside. There’s a huge movement for removing lawns, particularly in the hotter, drier regions of the US. The primary goal is to dramatically reduce water usage. There are numerous other angles to explore as well. I have strong opinions about this, and I assure you we will discuss it at length, so I encourage you to stay tuned for our series entitled To Grass or Not to Grass, which will look at these issues and investigate design solutions for turf and turf-free gardens. This post is not that space. Right here, we’re just acknowledging that lawns exist and they often require borders. No judgement! Ok, back to the subject at hand…

FUNCTION: Why Do We Need Borders in the Landscape?

landscape edging with river rock
The edging in front of the stone prevents grass from creeping in.

Separation. A little distance. That’s all we’re trying to do. We want our garden residents—turf, decomposed granite (referred to as dg), shrubs etc.—to stay on their own sides. First let’s look at how things spread.

Grass: By it’s nature, turf grass is a spreader. It either uses underground runners (rhizomes) or above ground runners (stolons) to propagate itself and take over any non paved area within reach. Without a border it’s grass, grass everywhere!

DG: It is strong and inexpensive and if it’s stabilized with a polymer it can be as hard as, well, rock. It’s an excellent choice for walkways and patios. Nonstabilized dg however, has a consistency not much firmer than wet sand. Without a proper border, dg will spill out into the surrounding areas, look messy, alter the soil biology and ultimately cause your space to lose shape.

These are just two factors that make landscape borders so important!

FORM: Why do we need borders in the Landscape?

Because they look great! We now know what can happen if we don’t install physical barriers, but looking beyond that the most important part of garden design is making every item look intentional. The hard objects that help us keep things separate in the garden are just as important and can be just as interesting as the plants they are there to retain.

basic landscape BORDER MATERIALS

Here are the super basic choices for borders. Note I didn’t say bad choices. Every one of them serves a purpose and may be the perfect one for your needs. Here are 7 of the most common ones. I’ll discuss the top three.

  • Benderboard
  • Steel edging
  • River rock
  • Concrete Band
  • Brick
  • Concrete paver
  • Wood
steel edge landscape border
Clean, invisible line of the steel edge

Benderboard vs. Steel Edging
In a battle between the two, steel edging is the clear winner, hands down. It comes in 20’ powder coated 4” sheets of brown, black and sometimes green. You get steel stakes with your purchase to anchor it into the ground, and it is sturdy stuff! The reason I prefer it is that it makes a very clean line—straight or curvy—and it almost never comes popping out of the ground when it’s installed correctly. The cost is typically around $55 per 20′ panel

Benderboard, on the other hand comes in two varieties: one is brown, about 1/4” thick x 5” high, comes in 40’ rolls and is made of HDPE plastic and also comes with plastic stakes, the other is a black edge with a rounded bubble at the top and made of an unspecified plastic. The black one, I never use, ever. It simply looks unprofessional and will often start inching it’s way out of the ground as soon as you turn your back on it. But at a cost of only around $25 for a 40′ roll plus installation, it is an adequate cost effective substitute.

river rock landscape border

River Rock
The third basic edging material is river rock. By this, I’m referring to the white-ish speckled stones that are relatively consistent at about 6”-9” in size, although you can certainly find them somewhat, and even much larger. I often see them used as borders in a garden, marched in a single file row around turf areas. While, I myself often use them in my borders, I assure you that this application (the single row of matching rocks) is not an elegant choice. But we’ll get to design in a moment.

River Rock Pro-Tip: The most important thing to know if you are using river rock is that you must ALSO add edging first! Rocks do not a true border make. These rocks, when laid out, leave holes and openings for sneaky creepy grass to find its way in, or dg to find its way out. If you’re going to be there to maintain the garden and keep the grasses at bay then have at it. But it’s a risky move and extremely frustrating and time consuming to keep that mess managed. I know! I’ve made that mistake exactly 3 times before figuring it out.

Beautiful landscape Border Materials

We know that borders are used to divide spaces, and that’s really all there is to it. No one ever said that it had to be rocks or a straight piece of metal or plastic. Somehow, over time however, that’s just what evolved in most typical gardens. But there are so many interesting materials out there that can be repurposed and used to do the same job.

I have a husband and wife client pair, one is an artist who works with pottery. Along the side of their property lived stacks of cast off bricks, multi-celled cement blocks, and pile upon pile of broken and unused pieces of the artist’s pottery. It was an absolute gold mine!

I started out using some randomly sized rocks and boulders and then interspersed small groups of varying patterns of old bricks and blocks. Finally I selected uncommon and exceptional pieces of pottery from what she referred to as the “chard pile” and voila! We had a border, literally unlike any other!

So many different materials to make a whimsical and unusual border.

unconventional border material ideas

I was lucky with that project. It’s not often that you find such a unique assortment materials all in one place and at no charge. You can however keep your eyes open for all kinds of items that would work well in your border. Here are a few examples of borders I’ve designed and others that I’ve seen and either fallen in love with or been intrigued and amused by.

  • A trench of pea gravel with tumbled glass. Contain it in edging with landscape fabric underneath to prevent weeds from emerging and rocks from sinking.
  • Spanish roof tiles on their ends to create an “S” curve.
  • PVC or metal drain pipe cut to varying sizes. Place on ends in the ground, then add plants into the actual pipes. Cascading plants such as Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’ or a wild strawberry would do the trick.
  • Gabions. Wire frames filled with rocks or any other chunky type of material. In collaboration with another designer, we once made gabions out of broken tiles and tea sets and won an award for it!
  • Dried bamboo poles—anything from 2” to 5” in diameter, cut to varying heights and “planted” on their ends. It makes an interesting natural edging with a twist.
  • Flagstone “planted” vertically to be about 6”-9” high, and irregularly organized: this is a great choice if you’ve had a recent flagstone project because there’s almost always leftover pieces that are too small for paving. Use these smaller pieces to make a low vertical border.
  • Skateboards. They will degrade but that’s part of the charm. I recommend wood decks not plastic. The plastic turns to powder with over exposure to sun and moisture.
  • Metal car rims (avoid plastic. See above). You get the best impact with a variety of designs!
  • Bicycle rims. Unlike with the car rims, bike rims are finer and thiner and look modern and streamlined when you use matching ones. But if you want to avoid the problem of many things marching in a row, it would be interesting to bury them to varying depths to make the border of a varying height.
  • Glass wine or other beverage bottles turned upside down and “planted”. Caution: don’t use clear. They get dirty and moldy inside and it’s unsightly. Darkly colored bottles mask this problem.

Try mixing materials! Bottles, bamboo and drain pipe—all round objects—can be combined to make a dynamically interesting, colorful and extraordinary border. If you’re adding something like rims or skateboards, it’s likely going to be difficult to find enough of them to make a complete border with only that subject. Consider using boulders and river rock to supplement with these special items.

So, what do you think? I hope now that you’ve poured over some of these unconventional landscape border ideas that you’ve come up with some of your own. I find that once you break away from the home improvement or landscape supply center’s choices for border materials, you begin to look around your world and consider everything a possibility. As long as you continue doing that, you are going to create some killer gardens!

Send me photos of your great borders and I’ll happily post them here!

Good luck! -Natalie

LANDSCAPE DESIGN IDEAS: Straight Lines, Voluptuous Curves

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Straight lines, voluptuous curves

Which Is Right For Your Garden Design?

When you’re designing a new garden, picking plants may be fun but don’t run off to the nursery just yet! Let’s talk lines. Do you like firm, straight ones or curvy, voluptuous ones? I have great news! You don’t have to choose only one! Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too—straight lines and voluptuous curves. But there’s a right and a wrong way to do it.

Landscape Design Theory
Way back when I was taking my very first landscape design course, we were taught the two primary approaches to landscape design—rectilinear, with straight lines and precise angles, to create a formal and balanced look, and curvilinear, with free flowing lines to create a fluid and informal landscape. Over my twenty years in the industry these design principles have been reliable foundations to my designs. Early on, however, I discovered that melding the two can make magic!

Choosing only lines or curves when you’ve got a blank slate is easy, but as a designer or a homeowner, we typically start with some non-negotiables. Perhaps there is an existing rectangular, concrete patio, or a kidney shaped pool. Those are fixed objects that need to be preserved but don’t necessarily need to dictate that every other feature must mimic it. The key is to introduce complementary shapes, not necessarily identical ones.

Combine lines and curves
Let’s take a rectangular patio as our example today. One way to incorporate a curved walkway into this fixed element is to apply the rule of thirds. Imagine the rectangle being divided into 3 equal parts. Intersect your new curvy walkway 1/3 of the way from the end, not in the middle or at either end of the patio. This innately creates intrigue and interest as you interact with the landscape.

Next, create your curves. I recommend sweeping, undulating curves. In a walkway, make them uneven so it widens and narrows. This creates an informal and natural path which can be enhanced by plants gently spilling over the edges.

  • Curved walkway with angular patio
  • Laying out the walkway

Once you have the design is in place visitors are forced to walk through the patio to get to the walkway, and again, through the garden. In this way they experience the whole garden, not simply zip past it.

Pitfall Warning

  • Avoid perfectly symmetrical curves. They seem unnatural and forced.
  • Avoid subtle curves. They appear to be a installation mistake.
  • Be intentional, always.

The wonderful thing about a curvy walkway or wall that is anchored with firm lines and angles is that it gives you the opportunity to create an informal, maybe even wistful garden, while maintaining a sense of order and structure.

If we then take this idea to the next stage, you can add shrubs, perennials and a tree on one side and a drought tolerant turf or ground cover on the other. Or if you’re going turf-free, plants all around!

  • Formal straigh patio, soft curved walkway

If you only want straight lines in your design

Now, circling back to our original design theories we can see what the same patio would look like if we used a purely rectilinear design approach. The drawing below shows that adding straight lines for your walkway is a great solution for a different style garden. In the case of a formal or modern theme it is no doubt the best choice.

  • Rectilinear design
  • Modern rectilinear design with a little curvy surprise

Know the rules. Then bend them.

Great design, be it in the landscape, in the home or in any other creative field, has rules. Curvilinear and rectilinear are just two of the foundational ones. As designers you need to first know the rules before breaking or bending them. They serve as guideposts in creating beautiful, accessible and functional gardens. And once you know how to use these important design tools, you will be able to manipulate them just enough to create unexpected and breathtaking results, every single time.

Good luck!
Natalie

SEASONAL SPECIAL; PLANNING YOUR NEW SUMMER LANDSCAPE, NOW!

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I know what you’re thinking! Natalie, summer is over. The kids are back in school, there’s homework and karate classes to deal with. Work is ramping up and I’m already seeing Halloween decorations in the stores. I can’t possibly think about planning my summer landscape now.

But I’m here to tell you that you can. And you must. I cannot count the number of clients and prospective clients who have contacted me in spring to discuss their landscape ideas which they can’t wait to unveil for a May graduation or June wedding. Unfortunately, unless we’re talking about a super simple plant refresher, spring is way too late to get that ball rolling.

A full landscape project—out with the old, in with the new—simply takes time. How much time? More than most people think.

Let’s break it down.

THE DESIGN 8-16 weeks:
I hate to admit it but this part is a bit squishy on the specifics, mainly because it depends on both the designer’s schedule and the client’s response times. Additionally, if permits are required, it will rely on bureaucracy. Biggest. Time-suck. Ever. But this is why we want to start landscape planning early!

This is what you can plan on:

Site Plan: Most designers will need an accurate drawing of the property, some rare cases will require a survey. So, there’s scheduling the consultant for field work (1-2 weeks), and then drafting the data (1 week).
Site Analysis: Going to the property, interviewing the client, taking copious notes and photos of the site and interpreting them. (Just a matter of scheduling)
Preliminary Plans: Personally, I always give a client 2 design choices and a plant palette. (2 weeks). If needed or requested I may also include 3D renderings (adds 2 weeks)
Client Review Time: Rarely a client will give 100% feedback immediately. Most take 2-3 weeks. Still others I don’t hear from for 2 months or more. (0 days – 8 weeks)
Revised Plans: Taking client comments and making changes to the drawings, plus adding the specifics (2 weeks)
Client Review Time: See above (0 days – 8 weeks)
Final Touches/Final Plan: (1-2 weeks)

LANDSCAPE PLANNING Insider Tips

  • Consultants (structural or civil engineers, and irrigation designers require extra time because each has to wait for a completed design in order to begin their work
  • Personal challenges can put landscape on a lower priority for the client
  • The designer’s schedule may be loaded and cause delays

BIDDING up to 4 weeks:
Once you have a completed design it will be time to get estimates. Every designer has a magic recipe for this. Some turn the drawings over to the client to find a contractor, others submit their plans to a few trusted contractors and compare bids. Still others are licensed contractors and bid the job themselves.

Apart from Design/Builders, we—designers and clients—rely on the contractor’s schedule. During busy times it can take up to 4 weeks to get estimates. If it’s slow as little as 1 week.

Landscape Planning Insider Tips:

Bidding is super important! I cannot emphasize this enough. Sometimes a contractor will ask to come back 2 or 3 times to check things out. It’s not because they’re incompetent (usually). They just really want to make sure that the information is accurate. If not they may over or under charge. While it may seem like a win for the client if a contractor under-charges, I assure you it is NOT! The client is almost always the loser in that situation, just in unforeseen ways—quality, attention, overcharging on other items—all to make up cost.

  • Any project with special services—mason, carpenter, electrician, metal fabricator, etc—will take longer to get a bid for.
  • During spring and summer contractors are very busy. Their priority is on paying jobs so bidding tends to slide. Getting bids during winter (yes, even in Southern California) will tend to derive rapid results.

CONSTRUCTION 4-12 weeks

This is what you can plan on:

  • If permits are required it can take a very long time. It requires up front research during design and may require changes or additional drawing clarifications down the road. It varies city by city.
  • If the project is planting and irrigation only things will move very quickly. A front or back yard only will likely take only a week or two without any unusual circumstances. If it’s a full property, closer to 3 weeks
  • Adding basic hardscape to the project will add approximately 1-2 weeks if we’re just talking about average walkways, steps, patios etc.
  • Pools take months
  • Outdoor kitchens can take 2-4 weeks
  • Random issues are the real deal-breakers when it comes to schedule. These are the unpredictable things that cause extensions. Here are a few I’ve come across personally:
    • An actual 4’ concrete wall underground ran across an entire property where we were going to plant 36” box trees.
    • A water line directly under the tile we were removing busted the minute we started.
    • A different contractor did “demo” before we started and left the entire root system and stumps of 30 Oleanders that were supposed to be removed.

Landscape Planning Insider Tip:

Keep in mind that, just like in the design process, a smooth construction phase relies on both the contractor and the client. If the contractor is knowledgeable and prepared that’s a great start. Likewise, if the client is efficient in responding to requests, and making choices on materials the project will run more quickly.

CONCLUSION
If you have a plan for your landscape that involves a full property make over with many moving parts you’re looking at the possibility of needing 8-9 months from site analysis to sipping cool beverages on your deck. And when very momentous events such as weddings or graduations are involved, it is so satisfying to be ahead of the game.

Starting in September or October for for a fantastic summer fling gives you the best shot at having a stress free landscape makeover with plenty of time to spare.

Cheers!

GARDEN ART: Found Items

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Do you find that there are some things in your life that you just can’t let go of? I’m not being esoteric here. I mean “things”. Like “stuff”. Maybe it’s an old chair with busted springs or a jewelry box you’ve had as long as you can remember. Maybe it’s even jewelry. We all have treasures that aren’t so much treasures as much as they are objects that have inspired and created memories for us.

For me it was some of my grandmother’s old teacups. She was a bold, brassy British woman that stood at a towering 4’9”. She was bossy, and silly, and would break out into a song and dance, whenever the mood struck her—an ‘old ditty’ always at the ready. In her twilight years, as she became more subdued, it seemed that the only thing that brought her comfort was a nice, hot cup of tea. I inherited several of her cups and although I never became much of a tea drinker myself, I simply couldn’t let them go.

One day I was trying in earnest to cull our overflowing boxes of “things”. So many tea cups and not a cupboard to put them in. I noticed that I had a few small succulents that hadn’t been planted yet when it dawned on me. They were just the perfect size! I didn’t need to throw out the memories. I simply needed to redefine them to fit into my world. Now they’re not just Nanna’s old things, they’re a wonderful memory of a great lady, brightening my kitchen window.

And we can do so much more!

THE INSPIRATION

We often think of the garden as a serious place. A proper place. It is a place for well curated plants, clipped just so. There is nice furniture, that belongs on a patio. It is to be enjoyed in the proper way (you can add a stuffy British accent there for effect if you like).

As a professional landscape designer, I will say “Yes, but…” This may all true but if you want to really transform a garden, make it into not only a beautiful horticultural experience, but a deeply personal space to be enjoyed, I’d like to give you permission—no, I’d like to strongly encourage you—to color outside of the lines a little.

Years ago when my son was very small, we used to go to the newly opened Kidspace Children’s Museum in Pasadena, a lively and creative space for children to learn and play. I had started my own landscape design business about 3 or 4 years prior, and was still looking for my voice in the field of design.

One day at the museum, my son and I were playing around in the amphitheater—he was working on climbing from one tier to another as I sat on a curved concrete bench watching. Suddenly and simultaneously, both of our attention became hyper-focused on the concrete itself. He began grasping and prying at what turned out to be little Hot Wheels cars embedded in the concrete.

I was intrigued. I had heard of people using different types of rocks and pebbles in concrete but this was entirely different. And what a great idea! Why not add something unique into the concrete to make it personal? Records, Leggos. How about the favorite dish set that was ruined when a couple were broken? Or, throw in some nails and wood screws. Suddenly, what was plain, dull concrete becomes an element of focus and a personal reflection of the owner. So many possibilities.

Courtesy of Kidspace Children’s Museum

APPLICATION

Even if you’re not working on a project that includes concrete, you can still insert a little something unique—a little “you”—into the garden. A good friend has bowling balls in his garden! When he and his wife bought their house there were a few in the garden, not so much a design choice. Perhaps an, “I don’t know what to do with these things” situation. Rolling forward a few years, they added one or two more, and soon a friend, children’s singer-songwriter Dave Kinnoin became smitten with the idea of it. Soon he was a bowling ball benefactor, even penning a short poem about his contribution and taping it to the ball. They now have 25 in the garden. How great is that?! Bowling balls can be plain or exotic and beautiful, but the story and the memories attached to them add untold depth and enjoyment to their whole garden.

Bowling balls and teacups are a great start and here are more examples to consider:

  • Motorcycle helmets (clear out the foam padding first)
  • An old tube t.v. (convert into a planter by removing the glass screen and innards)
  • A chair where the seat has been replaced with plants
  • An old tool box turned planter
  • A converted vanity
  • A wheelbarrow
  • Empty wine bottles, different colors
  • An old guitar, piano or other hallow musical instrument

Pro-design tips and cautions

Before you start putting stuff out in the garden, willy nilly, let’s go over a few pointers in design and logistics:

DESIGN

  • Place small items in areas along a walking path with very low growing plants so they will be discovered.
  • Larger items have a little more flexibility and can be placed in and amid plants that have varying sizes.
  • If the item is tall or angular it will work nicely with weepy and flowing types of plants.
  • Be judicious on the quantity of items you use. One, odd item in the garden will seem like an accident. Two items, well, I’m sort of opposed to even numbers (too matchy-matchy). Three or five is great when you triangulate them through the garden.
  • Don’t add too many pieces (“too many” will depend on the size of your garden, so use your best judgement). The idea is to have a garden which expresses a playfulness and whimsy, not one that looks like an outside junk yard.

LOGISTICS

  • Plastic will degrade, fade, and turn into powder. Don’t use it!
  • Wood, if you want the object to stay in it’s present condition, should be treated and protected first. Sometimes, however, the process of decay and weathering over time, is part of it’s unique beauty. Just know that wood directly on soil or directly exposed to water, snow or sun will decay more rapidly. You can place wooden objects on some kind of paver to keep it off the soil, just be sure to level and compact the soil first to avoid uneven and unwanted settling.
  • Metal is great but know its properties. Copper looks better and better over time as it patinas (green staining). Steel will rust. Stainless steel will remain unchanged.
  • Ceramic and glass is fine.

Wrapping up

Keep in mind once these found and unique treasures are incorporated into the garden space, they become part of the cacophony of the garden. That is to say they must be cared for, just as you would care for the plants. Make sure to occasionally go out and check in on these items. Look for things like mud splatter, bird droppings or plants that have grown over and obscured them from view. To reiterate, we want them to look intentional, not discarded.

I believe that a garden is an expression of who you are as a person. Whether I’m playing around in my own garden or designing for someone else, part of my “process” is to really get into the head of who’s garden I’m working on and to bring their unique personality and perspective into their outdoor living room. In this way, the garden is a place to feel at home, and a place to share with others a small piece of who you are.