Garden Art

I love garden art, or as my kids call it, “yard crap”. It’s one of those addictions that started innocently…. with decorated stepping stones, I seem to remember. Then I progressed to eBay-purchased stained-glass butterflies on metal posts dotted amongst the plants. I bought my first twirler (the plastic spinning thingies like the ones in the photo) as a keepsake our trip-of-a-lifetime in Hawaii, then added more and more every time The Dollar Store had interesting ones. I buy trinkets at street fairs to hang from tree branches, and I badgered the family into painting personal expressions on pavers for the path in the back yard. A pretty hanging something makes a thoughtful, inexpensive gift for those otherwise-fattening Hallmark holidays like Mothers’ Day and Valentine’s. Steve adds to the collection with leftovers from Burning Man, like the chair in the shape of a hand he found at City Liquidators, and the working model of the Mannequin pis we hauled back from Brussels. The only kind of garden art I don’t like are wind-chimes, which I find irritating at best. Oh, and gnomes and all other humanoid forms. Not in my back yard, or front yard, either.

I love how garden art adds color to the Winter scene. I love how it enriches nature’s splendor in Spring and Fall. I especially love how it distracts attention from the weeds in Summer, and the memories each piece brings back. It’s probably just as well my kids help keep a lid on my urge to keep adding to the collection.