In the winter many gardens look bare but with proper planning there is no need for this
Certain trees and shrubs have berries, colored bark and twigs and interesting
shapes. Warmer climates have certain plants that will always grow. And when all else
fails, garden art and interesting buildings and sculptures can fill in for plants and
flowers.
Below is a very interesting article written by Dean Fosdick, which ran in the Associate
Press Dec 23rd.
I have included the story and the url link for the photo that was included. The photo
was a unique garden art piece made from an old farm piece. Check it out, it was fun!
Who needs flowers? Yard art brightens winter lawns
Art is enjoying a coming out party across America as gardeners add personality to their
yards.
Discarded farm implements are being restored for use as planters. Plywood cutouts of
Disney-like ducklings are staked out alongside driveways and sidewalks. Statuary mingles with rose bushes. Fountains become the focal points of residential ponds. Colorful bottles replace fall foliage on tree branches.
Personal statements, all. But does this visual outpouring represent a creative
direction in landscaping or is it just so much neighborhood kitsch?
”Garden is art and art is a part of the garden. We realize these two things belong
together,” said Holly Shimizu, executive director of the United States Botanic Garden
in Washington, D.C.
Shimizu’s husband is a Japanese garden designer, which is an exacting form of
landscaping.
”You do have some restraints in that kind of garden,” Shimizu said. ”I kept wanting to
junk ours up. He kept saying, ‘No.’ I finally found a beautiful stone Buddha. He said,
‘OK.’ It looks nice and appropriate.
“Some gardens are meant for yard art and there are certain kinds of yards where it
really works. But it’s not for every garden. You have to have a respect for place.”
Jill Nokes is a horticulturist and landscape designer from Austin, Texas, who became
fascinated with yard art or ”vernacular landscapes” during family travels across the
region as a child.
It’s a way for people to ”use their yard or garden to create particularly exuberant
statements about themselves, their history or background and even religious beliefs,”
writes Nokes in Yard Art and Handmade Places: Extraordinary Expressions of Home (University of Texas Press).
Garden art has had a place in my garden for years. It just adds to the fun of gardening
and makes each garden each year and new adventure.
To view the original article:
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