Garden dressings

Sunset, Spring, 1997 by Lauren Bonar Swezey, Peter O. Whiteley, Joyce Kerr Reeder, Steven R. Lorton

10 ideas from well-appointed gardens to make your garden extra-special

A garden's personality comes not from plants and structures alone, but also from its finishing touches. A bright glazed pot, a colorful hammock, a trickling wall fountain, a collection of folk-art birdhouses - any of these can make a garden as inviting as a great indoor room. Fortunately, garden accessories have never been as plentiful or as varied, making it easy to decorate your garden to express your interests. On the following pages are ideas from gardeners and designers with a real flair for exterior decorating.

Color a wall (or a door)

Nothing sets off a special piece of art like color. Imagine a wall painted bright sky blue behind a row of vibrant yellow and orange nasturtiums and blue cornflowers. Or a ming green wall behind a cluster of metal cage chairs painted the color of strawberry sherbet. Or a low pale coral wall with its top surface painted pale teal to match your garden's decor and the color of the trim on your home.

In the photograph at left, earth tones set off the natural sculpture and succulent pot by the front door of landscape designer Nick Williams's home in Calabasas, California. The door, coated with an acid-washed elastomeric paint containing real copper, has an attractive random verdigris color that beautifully highlights a wreath made of eucalyptus foliage in shades of deep green to bronze. Above, a whimsical pink ceramic teacup, filled to bursting with bougainvillea blossoms, is partially embedded in a bright blue wall in a garden designed by Topher Delaney of San Francisco.

Fill a great container (or two)

The best containers - that make the biggest statements in the landscape - are large and artfully crafted and have character. Smaller containers can have impact, too, if clustered together to form a single focal point, or if uniquely shaped or highly colored and filled with interesting plants. The handsome pot shown at right, by Seattle artist Joyce Moty, is made of glazed ceramic. Its colorful design is reminiscent of a Matisse painting. Other pots by Moty are available at Topher Delaney's San Francisco shop, Lumbini.

Use a birdbath as sculpture

A birdbath in the right spot in your garden can be a functional work of art, designed as much for people to look at as for birds to splash in. Use it as a focal point among low-growing plants. The bath pictured above, of welded steel, is by Scott Lindberg and Cristie Thomas of LMNO Arts, Aptos, California.

Ideally, baths should be 2 to 3 inches deep and - to accommodate a crowd - 24 to 36 inches in diameter. The sides should slope gradually, and the interior surface texture should be rough enough to offer traction. Metal baths should be rust-resistant, as stainless steel is. Lightweight birdbaths need firm pedestals to keep them from tipping.

Display some garden art

Like icing on a cake, the right garden art - in the right place - an transform the most conventional garden into a special one. An outdoor sculpture can serve as a visual oasis among a riot of blooms, or as a focal point that breaks up long stretches of foliage. It may be a playful gargoyle standing guard over a shimmering pond, or small rocks shaped like leaves, nestled on the ground among baby's tears.

Size, shape, and cost vary as much as the art itself. For larger, more expensive pieces, look in outdoor sculpture galleries. Major metropolitan areas and small towns known as artists' havens always have at least a few such galleries. Some artists also sell out of their studios. Specialty garden shops, gift shops, and interior-design stores are other places to hunt.

For the budget-minded, mail-order catalogs are a great place to find sundials, birdhouses, concrete animal sculptures, and other garden ornaments. And wonderful surprises are always awaiting discovery in junk and antiques stores.

Hang up a colorful hammock

The world slows down when you stretch out in a hammock. Suspended and supine, you notice more keenly the pleasures of summer: the soft breeze wafting, a swaying view up into the branches of a tree, the scent of sun-warmed flowers.

Today's hammocks have evolved well beyond the classic versions made of cotton rope. The variety of colors and patterns allows easy coordination with contemporary outdoor furniture. New synthetic materials are softer, more comfortable, and more durable than traditional ones.

The brilliant red Brazilian-style hammock shown above, of handwoven and crocheted cotton, hangs between two posts.

Outdoor-furniture and home-supply stores sell hammocks and accessories. Sources for the lacy model pictured above are listed on page 118.

Set a boulder among plants

A single boulder can be a beautifully rugged foil for plants. Quarries and rock yards provide a surprising variety of boulders and columns (look in the yellow pages under Quarries, Rock, or Building Materials). Artificial boulders, cast in concrete in a textured latex mold, are lighter-weight alternatives. At right, a faux boulder presents a dramatic focal point in a garden designed by Matt Wilson of Second Nature, Alamo, California.