I have this fascination with glass. So I have lots of glass rocks scattered about the yard. I buy them in Oklahoma from a wholesaler that carries unusual rocks, petrified wood and waste glass chunks (left over from glass factories).

Some times I scatter them out in the woods where stray ray's of sunlight make them come to life if you catch a view of them just right. Other times I line the front steps with them (like now). And I've been known to decorate the porch railings with the smaller ones. When I first started this obsession I filled the indoor fireplace with them with small candles to add some sparkle - everyone that saw them thought I had some sort of indoor nuclear reactor in the living room.

I would like to have some sort of temporary large sculpture tucked into the woods. Nothing permanent because I change my mind every other year or so.

I wouldn't go so far as to call what I have as art sculpture, although some things were made by local artisans.

I do have garden accents such as finials, birdbaths, bird feeders, benches, sundial, snail figure, bunny, metal butterfly, windchimes, stepping stones, bridges, etc.

Cameron

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We burned an old piano a few years ago and I've got an as yet unrealized plan to set the metal frame/plate up in the meadow garden and grow vines over it. It's very architectural. I already set the pedals out there.

My husband built a log cabin off in the side yard, which I consider to be quite the work of art. I should get the go ahead to start landscaping it next fall. The link will take you to a photo, and if you want the whole 8 year saga: http://www.idgara.net/logcabin/old_pictures.htm

Oh yes, and one year we had this, but it was temporary: http://www.idgara.net/web.htm Ended up ruining my kids best dress-up clothes.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:560080}}

Indoor nuclear reactor, hmmm. That really sounds like something you could decorate a room around.

Karen the log cabin is beautiful. What is the square footage? What do you use it for now? Unfortunately I cannot see the pictures not posted as links -- for some reason my computer won't take me to the sites.

As in everything else I tend to overdo the garden junk. With every new thing my husband rolls his eyes and tells me I am becoming more and more the "crazy lady" everyone already thinks I am. I've made hypertufa leaves and this spring will attempt a series of very large hollow spheres for planting or as water features. A friend gave me some life-sized silver ladies doing yoga poses that DH made me hide in the back of my long bed in my side yard. He actually wanted them in the back yard so no one could see them. I placed them in the back of the long garden mid summer where they were somewhat hidden. You can see them in the winter much to his dismay. The owners of BB's are also very generous so I usually end up with broken cement pieces and the like. I haul everything home and place them here and there. I suppose to some it must all look like a lot of junk but I have always loved gardens that have unusual sculptures in them. All the junk is very visible now since I've only been planting here for a couple of years so all the shrubbery is still very small and struggling a bit with my sand and the drought. I hope that someday the junk will just poke out here and there amid the greenery instead of vice versa. Adele

I have been dragging things home for the last eight years, especially when I started plant rescues and found lots of neat things in the woods. One of my favorites is a truck crank shaft, which hubbie had to help rescue due to the weight. Digging a hole and filling it with concrete, we stood the metal on end, and it is now a lovely thing. I also buy things, both large and small, and scatter them where I see them when I walk. I prefer rock and metal, but I do have a few ceramic items. (I ask for seconds at pottery places.) My house is off the road, and my yard is for me, so I don't care if others find it strange or tacky. "Suits me," is a motto I learned years ago.

It wasn't my idea but dh has a couple of pals who got interested in making things out of those landscape timbers you can buy at the big box stores. So...I have an enormous basket (with handle) made of timbers.

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And the other fellow surprised us at Christmas year before last with two absolutely HUGE chairs for the garden. They are straight, hard, and not comfortable for any length of time. I always feel a bit like that little girl character of Lily Tomlin's when I sit on one. But they are very unlikely to be stolen or to blow away in a storm since it takes two men to lift one of them!

Fun to know Pete inspired a thread! :) I love garden "schtuff". Besides the many cool things he's done for me like the mailbox and bird bath (in the drift o daffs shot in the first spring pix thread) that were in some of the shots i posted, we also have a bottle tree, trellises and many assorted bugs and critters he's made. We made 3 copper and 2 bamboo trellises that I consider arty as well as functional. We have a really cool bench we bought a while back that's beginning to deteriorate that is much more artistic than functional. I have colorful bowling balls scattered around- some decorated, some not. I really like spherical shapes, and so i have a couple of glass and metal balls (would love scads in the trees like someone else mentioned- love glass in any form). I found that old light fixtures look really cool, well, at least to me, when scattered about- they're mostly round balls, too. We bought a series of wood fairies, or tree tribes, as the maker called them, over the course of several years and art festivals. Unfortunately, he's no longer doing them. Some are in the pix i posted in the spring pix thread. I love broken pottery scattered about, though i don't have much yet. We have a pottery gargoyle, frog, a green man on the side of the house and other strange little stuff like that around. I really want to get into making some hyper tufa stuff- just haven't found the time yet. Adele- i will be anxious to hear about your experiences, esp with the spheres! We still have the oversized teacup and spoon from the plot last year. Kids have added in some plastic -though not terribly tacky- little turtles about. They like stacking rocks to make improptu sculptures. Anything that strikes our fancy is fair game. Since we love art fairs & thrift stores and we all have creative streaks- that leaves a lot of possibilities. I don't much care if folks think it's tacky. It suits us, and that's what matters to us. So glad we're not in some nitpicky subdivide where they tell us what to do.

If you're into garden art- especially with found objects- the garden junk forum is a lot of fun. Some is tacky, but most is fun.

Karen- the cabin is stunning. I second Alicia's ?'s. I'm curious!

I am like you Dellare. I have gazing balls, hypertufa leaves that I have made as well as planters. As far as stuff I have purchased that were made professionally, I have a wind sculpture made by a gentleman in Holly Springs. It is very graceful when the wind hits it and it rotates.

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A big blown glass ornament purchased for me as a Christmas present this past year.

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A crane birdbath I got a couple of years ago. Notice one of his eyes has fallen out and needs to be reglued.
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And an obelisk I purchased for my partner several years ago.
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Various gazing globes.
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Tufa planters
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Hypertufa leaves of various colors. Not all are in the yard since some were given away as gifts.
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The cabin is about 550 sq ft, not including the loft. The bathroom is really deluxe, including the old claw foot tub that we've been dragging around for over 10 years, in the interim serving as a place to ice down the beer at outdoor parties. Since we got the CofO this fall, it's been an extra bedroom for out-of-town guests (mainly grandparents), a teenager sleepover heaven, and a parental hiding place (my favorite). It gets used almost every weekend for one of the above. Alica, I've added my husband's main website as a link -- hopefully that will work. It's been quite the journey, but I'm very happy that my kids will have this as a childhood memory.
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Back to the main topic, the more I look around the garden the more non-organic elements I find. This is one that has been with me for over 10 years. I think he's a little pissed about my slack weeding:
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Here is a link that might be useful: building the log cabin

Wow, the cabin was so finished on the inside. It's beautiful. What an ambitious project and the final result is stunning.

Oy, sometimes I wish we could go back and edit. I meant to say, is finished on the inside. :)

Not in my yard, but one street over there used to be a lavish garden filled with Camelias, Azaleas, Rhodies, and Daylilies along with all sorts of shade perennials. I'm told that the couple that lived there were somehow involved in the hort department at NC State and that they hybridized Daylilies for years. The husband is now in a nursing home (if he is still alive), and the wife is in poor health - so they sold the second lot which is where the bulk of the shade garden was. It was open to the public and was known as the "Garden of the Dwarves", it even had an elaborate wooden sign where you entered.

The funniest thing was the way they decorated the place with these little "scenes" from the bible with plastic kids toys and garden statues. Most of it was run down by the time I moved here but it was still kinda odd/creative/quirky. All in all I think they had a dozen displays, some of which were quite large.

I remember once there was this fancy horticulture meeting/convention on campus and after it was over people were at a loss of what to do to kill time. I suggested we hike over to the Garden of the Dwarves - and they did it! To this day they talk about that strange afternoon spent looking at the most whymsical use of old toys (this, after a week spent touring the fancier botanic gardens).

I never thought I'd be the type to have schtuff in my garden, but now that I have two little kids, I have schtuff. My girls love frogs and I'm slowly building a collection of frog planters. Right now I only have two (one for each daughter) but I have my eye on a few more. I also have two frog rain gauges. I like the stone colored frogs, because they're a little less noticable than the bright green one.

I also have a bunch of copper dragonflies, butterflies and ladybugs in one little area. They are cheap dollar store/big lots items, but en masse, they look cute!!

I also have some garden memorial stones to honor my dear SIL who passed away at the age of 46 from leukemia. I'd love to purchase a garden angel to go with the stones as well.

Years ago, I saw a brass headboard and footboard used as a flower "bed" in a magazine. If I ever come across a cool looking headboard and footboard, I absolutely plan on creating a flower "bed" of my own.

I pass a huge brick house on my way into Raleigh sometimes and I notice that the owners have HUGE lifesize wooden/plastic?? statues of black and white cows dotted all over their yard. I know I'd never put them in my yard, but I have to assume that the owners love a bit of whimsey to put those in their yard. My girls get a kick out of seeing the cows, so isn't that what it's all about in the end??

I wouldn't mind having a model of a belted Galloway. I think they look so neat. I used to be able to look out the window and see real live long horned cattle but the neighbors sold them last year. Too bad because the horses liked hanging out with them (they had adjacent pastures).

Thank you everyone for posting pictures. Art can add a lot of character to a garden.

TJ left the saddest part about the garden of the dwarfs (other than the fact that the owners got old and frail, etc)- it's now essentially gone. A developer bought the prop, tore out about 75% of her plantings, and built a house there, then put it on the market. There's only a little left on the edges of what they slaved over for years. It was fairly tacky, but the gardens themselves were something- esp if you like the southern dogwood/azalea under pines w/daylily on the edge combo, since that's primarily what it was. My kids loved it when they were little. The lady was really sweet and i can't imagine living next to what used to be my gardens with a big honkin' house there now. Maybe it's just me.

Deirdre- you're so right- kids definitely bring schtuff to the garden- be it toys, plastic figurines or whatnot. I think they loosen us up- in lots of ways, mostly good. They make you learn to see again through that magical lens of childhood.

We have an old brass headboard that was left in the basement when we moved here and i've always meant to use it somewhere but so far we've done nothing w/it. Someday.

Karen- that was an amazing story of how much work it was to build that gorgeous log cabin! It was neat to see your kids in the pix & helping. My question is- why? What are you going to use it for- it's just extra space? It's so nice inside!! I did read the post about how you've used it so far, kids, guests, etc- i guess i'm curious about what your plans were/the thoughts behind doing it to begin with. How close is it to the main house? So much work!!

'Why?' I'm not sure that we asked that question at the beginning. The inspiration was that we moved into this house two weeks before Hurricane Fran came through. My husband looked at all those huge trees that fell on the property and thought to himself, 'I should do something with those.' Really, I'm not making this up, and it just kind of built up momentum from there. At some point my husband decided it was a good way to lure my parents up from Florida for extended visits so some of the nicer finishing touches came from that motivation. (We don't have an extra bedroom so they used to stay in a hotel when they came.) I much prefer it to any addition we might have made to the house proper. It feels like going on vacation when I spend the night out there, even though that forsythia in the foreground is only about 12 feet from my house.

This falls into the "homemade" department. :)

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I like that Pam.

Karen- that's actually pretty neat motivation. Guess i was just wondering when or why you thought- "hmmm- gonna go build a log cabin and trick it out fancy on the property." I'll bet it is just wonderful to spend a private night out there! Like camping but with no packing and lots of amenities!! Wish we had something like that for when my MIL visits- LOL

here's our bottle tree:
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I like those bottle trees. I especially like the way yours branches Tammy. I would love to have one with purple bottles. My FIL was a welder by trade but I'm not sure how much he could do anymore -- he had to have a knee replacement, didn't do the physical therapy, and as you can imagine, didn't have a very good outcome.

Karen I bet that is great to have a home away from home. Good for visitors too, so everyone can have their space when they need it.

Do plans count?? LOL I've got plans for a water feature in my garden but nothing on the ground yet. I have a bunch of small items I haven't incorporated yet. Just haven't got the gardens in yet. But I'm working on it!!! :-) This is giving me some wonderful ideas by the way!! I love the bottle tree!!

I love seeing these photos and hearing about what folks are doing! The bottle trees are so cool!

Here's a porch column that we bought at an estate auction and painted.
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Spazzycat, I like that column.

I need to find the photo I have of a horse pasture on a farm where I used to ride in college. It had fake Grecian columns!

Here it is: (click on image to enlarge)

The owners of this farm also had giant abstract art pieces and life-size elephant figures I believe it was, in one of their back pastures (could be seen from the house but not the driveway), and some white alabaster-like figures in one of their horse ponds. The elephants were like the dinosaurs in the outdoor display at the Children's Museum in Durham.

I try not to overdo it, b/c it would be oh so easy to become the crazy lady referred to in an earlier post.

One thing I do is keep adding to my pea gravel areas by throwing in shards of anything I break inside or outside the house. The pathways are a mosaic of memories of china pieces like blue willow, pottery, old pots, many many shells from my trips to the beach (I used to haul home buckets full). I've also added a few glass baubles too. Children are fascinated by what they find in the garden.

Claire in Sanford

Claire, that's a great idea! I love the walk of memories. I've seen the idea used for mortared walls or tables, and even stepping stones but not loose among walks.

My gram, when she decided to switch colors, used to throw her old fishtank gravel out in the driveway and as a child i thought all the colored pebbles in among the grey brown were so cool! It was amazing treasure to me to find one of the pearly bits she included with her gravel sometimes.

A dear friend of mine sprinkles the rounded glass pebbles and shells among her gravel in certain spots and it's enchanting even as an adult. Her garden is an amazing show of art- she's got homemade sculptures and ideas galore. Old bowling pins, and old bedstead, a collection of bowling balls perched on differing heights of rebar, odd little colorful birdhouse, little glass geegads, colorful bowling balls covered in pennies & marbles, bricks set into a patio with marbles in the holes, a wooden giraffe, some of Pete's bugs, and more. Every corner shows a new hidden gem. Her house has so much handpainted leafy trims, cool painted end tables and chairs etc- it's just a fun colorful place to be! Frankly, i stole some of her ideas. :)

I don't really want to be thought of as that crazy artsy fartsy couple, but if we see a purpose for something or like it, we'll use it, no matter if what the neighbors think we're weird. For a really wild walk on the weird side, go visit the last unicorn in hillsborough. It's like being in a strange metal garden.

Back when I lived in Oklahoma City there was this iris breeder/seller/world famous catalog business. I only went by because a friend was working their big open house. They had this corner display garden kinda done up like a modern Japanese garden. The coolest thing was the pathway made of broken shards of red clay flower pots. It looked kinda sharp and jagged but they had taken great care to turn all the sharp points down into the ground. The best was when you walked on it - it sounded like some sort of oriental plank-plunk musical instrument. I have kept that memory in the back of my brain and someday will resurect it.

I've always thought of certain plants as living sculpture - especially prickly pear cactus. I have always had at least one. Sometimes I display them well and other times I struggle but I notice that those visitors with an artful eye grasp what I am trying to do.

Lordy, art....I'm still just trying to get all the climbers on some kind of support :-)

I'm always fascinated when I see "things" used creatively in the garden and I think it does add something --- if nothing else, those things give you something of the gardener.

I actually have some lovely things that people have given me for the garden, just can't figure out how to use them.

My husband builds these very simple, very sturdy, very comfortable, very inexpensive benchs from treated wood (I found the pattern in a bird watching magazine). I've discovered that I love to paint them and set them about. Right now its bright pastels. Nice to have a bit of color in the winter too.