"Garden Ornaments"- Adding Character to Your Landscape

By Pete Haran Vice President

Well planned landscapes and gardens need to be a reflection of some fundamental design ingredients, a functional layout, the owners personality, designer's style and a theme are just a few that we should consider. Beautiful and often magical at times these gardens provide a source of enjoyment and retreat for all those who may enter them.
The best of these landscapes recruit "Garden Ornaments" such as statuary, bird baths, pots, planters, benches and even bridges to finish off or accent the design. They help to provide a sense of character and sometimes movement that otherwise may not be achievable by using plant material alone.

Lets consider a few simple creative ideas which can be incorporated into the existing landscape or design into the next phase of gardening. A bird bath down the center of a garden path, a concrete bench tucked into a planting of evergreens to create a retreat or area of solitude or even a statue which is visible from a favorite window inside the house are all ways to instill additional flavor to the garden.

If all or a portion of the landscape has a particular style or theme such as Japanese, ornaments like pagodas and lanterns will play a major role in truly creating a realistic garden. In more formal types of gardens pre-cast planters, urns and decorative pots arranged with evergreens and/or perennials and seasonal flowers make great additions to the regular planting beds. These also make great accents when positioned atop a pillar or on a pedestal close to a staircase. It makes the transition from one area to another much more inviting. Try putting a gargoyle statue at the base of your steps to guard the entrance, or have a frog at the edge of a small pond waiting to indulge. It's a great way of adding a pinch of spice to the garden.

There are certain plants we call specimens like the curly "Harry Lauders Walking Stick", "Laceleaf Japanese Maple", & Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar that can act as ornaments themselves because of their interesting forms and unique character. These plants can be used in conjunction with the statuary to compliment the piece on sharply contrast it to create interest and excitement. Professional landscape architects & designers enjoy using these pots, planters and figurines to compliment their designs in place of plants, and as a homeowner your job is to pioneer these pieces and let them become part of your garden. With a proper, professional design garden ornaments can add a touch of excitement and a splash of character to any area of your landscape.

Lipinski Landscape & Irrigation Contractors of Mt. Laurel offers a full range of professional, award-winning design/build services to home builders and homeowners in the Delaware Valley.