Of course a garden is about trees, shrubs, bushes, lawns and flowers and so forth. But you can your garden much more than merely plantings. Garden accessories can add interest and even allow you to create ‘rooms’ that offer quite different perspectives for your garden.
Fountains
These can obviously be or small - and in the average-size garden, less is more. A subtly placed fountain in the center of the front lawn or next to an arbor can add both sound and a sense of coolness as well as looking great. They come in all shapes and sizes – and prices! Sometimes something simple – e.g. a water wall – where water gently flows down the surface – is more than enough to add atmosphere and interest.
Other water Features
Water features are a great thing in any garden – from gardens that are big enough to actually have a small stream winding through them to the simplest courtyard garden that has a small birdbath at the edge.
Having a birdbath in the center of a lawn not only benefits the birds, but gives you the pleasure of having them in the garden. They will also eat many of the pests on your plants and help with pollination.
A small pond, with or without fish is a nice change within the plantings of gardens beds – especially those in semi shade. It is a great way to attract frogs to the garden. They make a nice attractive feature when combined with a rockery.
Garden Decor
Without going the old painted garden gnome route, a carefully placed small statue or figurine can add a touch of elegance – when placed carefully amidst a bed of cottage flowers or between some azaleas.
This will also apply to other pieces of garden art – it may be a piece of abstract welding, chimes or decorative pots and containers. Remember the latter don’t have to be purely utilitarian – choosing a pot with its own beauty adds to your garden as well as do the plants it contains.
Placing a nice bench seat under a tree, using two urns to demarcate where steps are, having hanging baskets of annuals from tree branches are all ways to add that something extra to your yard.
Arches – in metal or wood are marvelous ways to enhance your gardens look. They can be used in many ways – across the front gate, the entrance to your backyard from a side entry point – to being the gateway to a secret garden.
Garden décor can be contemporary, classical or even oriental. Be subtle and don’t mix styles just for the sake of having something.
Although they aren’t for decorative reasons, garden accessories also include your compost bin, a worm farm and, last but not least, make the old garden shed down the back a feature – train clematis or another climber over it.