art in the garden - a gardener's wish list

I have been gardening for long enough that I am comfortable coming up with my own plant combinations and overall designs for my yard.  However, I am always on the lookout for neat ideas for decorating my garden.  Here are some pictures I snapped on the Calgary Horticultural Society's winning garden tour this past summer, with some ideas I'd like to incorporate into my own garden -the pictures are my own, but unfortunately I didn't keep track of whose gardens they were, sorry.  Any of my family members who are wondering what to get me for Christmas, take note...
I have a large patio on the north side of my house, that I'd like to add some raised beds to someday, to add interest to the space.  Here is a great idea of a wooden bed on rollers so it can be moved around depending on what kind of space you need on the patio.  Brilliant!

... another building project for hubby (someday).  Why build a regular old deck railing when you can have something as eye-catching as this?  Hmm, where would I put this...

 

Of course, every gardener needs a greenhouse.  Well, I can always dream...  I love how this one is built on a foundation of bricks.

This is a neat way to build a garden room.  I can see this in between the 2 spruce on my north patio someday.  All it is is a two-sided trellis to make the front wall, a hedge on either side, and a fence in the back.  Easy peasy.  Love the painted colours, too.  Honey, I need one of these...

 

 

Here's the same garden room from outside one of the hedges...

 

 

These free-standing trellises are a friendly way to create a bit of a boundary without making a barricade against your neighbours.  Lovely.

A bubbler fountain.  A nice way to get the sound of running water without the maintenance of a pond and/or waterfall.  I was thinking of getting one of these for my mother-in-law, but then she went and bought herself a little fountain-in-a-pot instead.  Hmm, I still want one for myself...

 

A rain chain.  This one is attached to a little pump at the bottom and a hidden clear tube behind the foliage so that it is always tinkling away.  Another option for adding the sound of water without a lot of maintenance.  Help! I want both...

 

 

I have always eschewed the idea of mirrors in the garden.  They are lovely, but I have enough kamikaze birds flying into my windows already, I don't need to add more things to confuse them.  But this  was a neat way to recycle a broken mirror, plus I think the large spaces between the pieces would prevent birds from thinking it was a hole in the fence and trying to fly through.  It is placed low enough on the fence to reflect the beautiful woodland garden below.  Would it be bad luck if I broke a mirror on purpose just to recreate this in my own garden...?

Comments

[tina]

That is a really neat way to recycle mirrors. I have lots in my garden and house, I might need to try this one. Now where to get one I can break?:)

[Amy]

So many great ideas. Love the planter on rollers - I could use a few of those!