Thursday, April 9, 2009

Yard Art

The subject of yard art came to mind as people are starting to get their gardens and yards ready for spring and summer enjoyment. The variety of yard art is never ending and some folks are extremely creative while others are rather run of the mill. I guess I fall somewhere in between. The picture above is from a home that has pretty standard landscaping and the little boy adds a nice decorative touch in their front yard. He almost appears to be bending over to sniff the blossoms.
This is one of my pieces of yard art, I like fairies and prefer to have them look a bit natural, at least as natural as they can be since the statues are not real. So I tuck them in areas where you find them as a surprise.

My next door neighbor has six of these pixies along with several life size rabbits. She likes to have them right out front in very planned 4' x 4' squares. She does her plantings in a disciplined way also, very orderly and nothing like me, my garden is more of a cottage garden with everything everywhere.

Here's another of my fairies, she's small, only about 8" tall. I don't just have fairies though, I also have 2 gorgeous bowling balls I picked up at the thrift shop for $2 each and I put them on stands bought at the dollar store and tucked them in discreetly. My own version of gazing balls that will never get cloudy or broken.

Technically this is not yard art but its such a creative mailbox I had to include it. Charles found it on one of his trips in the country.

Some folks like to welcome you to their garden or home with pieces like this. Its a little too cute for me, but wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same?

My neighbor has six of the 4'x4' square beds and in every one is a centerpiece, this one is a sundial, two are birdbaths, the rest are pots on pedestals. These are each surrounded by roses in each corner and boxwoods on each side. I told you she was orderly and disciplined.

Some folks go for very large yard art here in Texas..... ummmm what else is there to say?

And then there is not only large but a bit odd as there is no water in sight. I believe I was told this was the fellow's man cave.

I see yard art like this fairly regularly around here, great visual shapes, wonderful patinas and its recycling!

I have seen many other oddities that I don't have pictures of but wish I did. There was the elderly man that created a brightly painted whimsical piece in his postage stamp front yard. It was made of 2x4 timber starting out in a cross but he kept adding to it. Then he added various statuary and knick knacks, all in either a christian or patriotic theme. The timbers were painted in bright red, white and blue and his piece de resistance was a foot tall plastic Jesus painted bright red atop the highest point. Sadly he passed away and his art was the first thing they took down in order to sell the house. I heard some people complain about it being an eyesore especially since it was on Main St., but really it was art and art is very subjective. I may not want it in my garden but I'm not going to tell you that you should not have it in yours. I would rather see strange (to my eyes) art in some one's yard than to see it filled with trash, or just as bad, absolutely nothing, not even a bush.
So go get yourself some yard art or better yet, make some and let's celebrate creativity!

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