Gardening
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9 Whimsical Touches to Wake Up the Garden
If the August heat is wilting your enthusiasm, try these playful ideas to jump-start your gardening moxie
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia. I've been writing about design online for quite a few years over at Hatch: The Design Public Blog.
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta... More »
As the August heat starts to wilt everything outdoors, ask yourself how you feel about this season's garden. Do you love every inch of it, or does all of that deadheaded, pruned perfection leave you wanting more? It's time to have some fun in the garden, and this is the perfect time to start playing around and planning for next year.
September is a great time to plant new trees, shrubs and fall bulbs, and as everything starts to wither on the vine, you can spend your time painting the shed, building window boxes, adding trellises, bringing in a statue, changing up the plan, putting out birdseed in funky feeders and scooping up outdoor furniture and decor on clearance. Here are 9 fun elements that will get your gardening mojo flowing again.
September is a great time to plant new trees, shrubs and fall bulbs, and as everything starts to wither on the vine, you can spend your time painting the shed, building window boxes, adding trellises, bringing in a statue, changing up the plan, putting out birdseed in funky feeders and scooping up outdoor furniture and decor on clearance. Here are 9 fun elements that will get your gardening mojo flowing again.
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by Bright Green
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| Vertical delights. Today's vertical gardens can take on all sorts of graphic designs. You can even create a sign, a painterly composition or spell out a monogram with plants on the wall. |
Cutouts. Heart shapes entice visitors to pass through these garden doors.
Unexpected color. This living roof delights with magentas, silvers, cotton-candy pinks and golden flowers and foliage.
Sneak a design into the plan view. When you're in this garden, you may not notice the guitar shape right away, but you can instantly appreciate it from above.
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| Wall planters. Classical statuary plantings with Medusa-like 'dos made of succulents bring a giggle to a fence or wall. |
Birdhouse villages. The only thing more fun than a single birdhouse is a swinging singles birdhouse community.
Shop birdhouses
Shop birdhouses
Embellish the shed. You can go over the top with a shed in a way you can't on the main house (just make sure that pesky H.O.A. president never gets a peek out back). Have some fun with color and accents such as barn stars, window boxes, trellises and climbing vines.
| Surprising scale. Oversize items become eye-catchers when placed strategically in the garden. This bright orange garden urn is one of several artful pieces in this garden. |
| Kooky statues. These landscape architects created a fun sculpture out of an abandoned bathtub and an off-the-shelf dragon. Get a closer look at the statue |
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| Two rams guard this entry point in an Italian garden. Historically, Italian gardens were full of well-placed statues and fountains. |
Place a statue in a spot where people will delight in stumbling across it.
This Bigfoot statue is one of the funniest things I've ever spied in the SkyMall catalog, and I hope it brings a smile to your face.
More:
Gardening Happiness Found in ... Potholes
Gnomes Carve Out Life in Houzz Users' Gardens
More:
Gardening Happiness Found in ... Potholes
Gnomes Carve Out Life in Houzz Users' Gardens
Comments
olldbobbi Becky, as soon as I saw that first picture I knew you were the author of this ideabook - wonderful and whimsical! Question - how do you water a vertical garden without soaking yourself? This is something I've always wanted to try.
10 months ago · Like
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Goldie Dicks Great tips for making your garden uniquely your. I try to add ornamentation in my beds to add whimsy and interest. 
10 months ago · Like
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squinlan I love the orange urn! How striking, especially with the white being the only other color involved. And Big Foot from the Sky Mall catalogue is hysterical! You've got to love the humor in that. Thanks for sharing the smile.
10 months ago · Like
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Becky Harris Bobbi P, good question, and I have no idea, though I have seen a lot of them made with succulents. While we've featured some vertical gardens on Houzz, I'm not sure we have a DIY or How-To - it's a great idea for a future ideabook!
10 months ago · Like
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Monarch Stone International For Bobbi - yes vertical walls need a built-in watering system, it needs to be well designed if done on a large scale. Plenty of information available on the internet, through your local garden expert or landscape architect.
10 months ago · Like
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olldbobbi Monarch Stone - Thank you! That makes perfect sense.
10 months ago · Like
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shawnaleeah I *love* the Big Foot, though I think it would terrify me in the wrong light!
10 months ago · Like
Ideabook published on Aug. 12, 2012.
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