Garden Art! Like Your Garden, Uniquely Your Own

I recently attended the annual state Flower and Garden Show. This is a great event and one we gardeners look forward to all year long. The show is held in early spring and seems to be the event that ushers in all other spring events. The convention center was filled with beautiful growing things, new ones as well as old favorites, information on all things garden, and gardening-related equipment. As I perused the garden art, I could not help but notice the very high prices on items such as metal arbors, garden fencing, and plant stakes. I started thinking about my mother's garden and her practice of using items not only for utilitarian purposes, but also to add charm in the garden. I returned home and began to put together some of the same ideas, using what I had on hand.

First I rounded up all the old garden tools I had, both at home and on the farm. Once my gardening friends saw what I was creating, they enthusiastically "donated" items to add to my growing project. I stood these tools against a chain link fence and secured them with a small piece of wire. Not only does this hide the existing fence, but it is also a perfect structure for spring and autumn clematis to climb on.

This turned into a great project during a time of the year when the garden was dormant, and it also gave us gardeners an excuse to get together and play. I plan to continue extending the fence a tool at a time until I reach the end of the flower bed.

The next project is a series of bottle trees I "planted" throughout the garden where they will catch the light. These were created by using old pitch forks,

nails in stumps,

squirrel corn feeders,

and even pieces of rebar driven into the ground.
I added a real bottle tree or two


and created a sign to finish the effect.

You can use glass bottles, from wine bottles to water bottles, of any color and even colored glass vases. I will admit that I helped empty one or two of the bottles that I placed on my "trees," but most of them came from friends, family, neighbors, and even a pub that saved their colored glass bottles for me.

A visit to a few flea markets and Goodwill stores garnered some glass light globes that I filled with concrete. After the concrete set up, I broke the glass off and scattered the orbs about the garden.

Once you start making these you will find a use for them everywhere.

And don't forget old bicycle wheels. I found a lot of cast-off wheels at bike repair shops and some at a scrap metal company. Just loosen the spokes on the wheel, layer colored or clear glass plates between the spokes, and hang the wheels to catch the sun's rays.


Or drill a small hole in the bottom of colored bottles and thread them onto the spokes to create a bottle wheel.


Add an old child's wagon or garden wheelbarrow filled with plants and garnished with a whimsical sign, or perhaps a birds nest, and you have all the "art" your garden can hold. The only investment is your time and effort. Plants can be left in pots with a little mulch to level them. This allows the plants to be changed with the seasons. From a whimsical stone rabbit in the spring, to a mound of pumpkins with mums nestled between them in the fall, the arrangements are endless and will be uniquely yours.


Later on, if you get tired of looking at a particular garden creation, merely take it down and put it back in the barn or shed.

Creating garden art is a lot of fun, and when garden blooms really burst forth in the spring, your garden will be uniquely your own. The money you save by not buying readymade art can be spent on soil, fertilizer, or best of all ... more plants. Happy creating!