I found this really rustic looking garden gnome holding a carrot at an estate sale. He is natural concrete. I have him sitting under my datura by my front porch. He looks adorable.

I also found this resin ball (like a gazing globe) except that it is covered in 3D leaves. My kids love it, and it is sitting on a gazing ball stand in the middle of my herb garden.

I also have a mini chimenea that I have candles and shiny glass stones in that is sitting on a nice flat raised rock. My kids call it the "Faery House" and I often find little flowers and stones that the kids leave there.

I am always scouring estate sales and antique shops for "Garden Whimsy". What a fun thread!

HW

Does my 'Lawn Beauty' planter count? It's an old drop spreader that I found.
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mizjoy that's awesome!!

At this point I'm considering mole holes and tiny mushrooms whimsical! Beyond that I have a cute ceramic frog that sits amongst my painted ferns, a hand-formed birdbath near the grasses, and a wrought iron trellis (for $2 at a garage sale) that has varigated porcelain vine growing all over it!

Gigi, I'm so jealous. I have always wanted to go to the Rose Bowl Flea market!

I have a mail box/bird house stand that my DH built for me. I keep my garden tools in the mail boxes. Since I took the picture below I found a nifty rustic hook and added a railroad lantern to the front below the bird house.

Fun thread - and mizjoy I love your planted drop spread. That is adorable!

fiwa

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:689338}}

mm..my daughters keep me in garden decor...I look forward to mother's day and a fresh new face in the garden. I collect cobalt blue glass so I have lots of glass stuff outside..candle holders on the deck and patio and windchimes, flower stakes, birdhouse and feeders, all cobalt blue. I also have a fair amount of rabbits in diff styles around my guest house and around my "pond" I have frogs and a few turtles. Great thread. I LOVE that lawn beauty and it is so pretty filled with flowers. Who would of thunk! :)

well I have my "Beware of Snapdragons " sign and my "beware of Attack butterflies" sign.

haha

those are probably they witty things. for whimsical I have a concrete mushroom, a birdhouse in a flower bed, some tree faces, a baby's rockign chair with a potted plant on it. Some frog musicians.. some see no evil, hear no evil ,speak no evil frogs.. and a wooden girl on a swing that hangs in a tree- when the breeze blows she swings.:)

I have two things my husband and I both picked out for our garden. One is a birdfeeder face we nailed to 'Eric the Half-Tree' (anybody a Monty Python fan?). It has a large set of goggles, a big mustache and a bottom lip that serves as a birdfeeder. I have yet to see any birds feeding from it, though.

The other was a rusted metal silouette of a fairy. I'm a large fan of Cicely Mary Barker's garden fairies, so I try to keep my eye out for statues that look like hers. This is the only one that doesn't, but looks great in my hosta bed. We bought it at a craft fair.

Yeah, ME! lol! Ok, forgive me, I just returned from shopping, which for me is 30 min. away for anything major. And a couple thousand feet lower in elevation, which means 20 deg. hotter. I can't take those 100 deg. temps! My hair is frizzing from my sweat, so I'm calling myself winsome. : )

Does my Lewis count?

Diana

Here is a link that might be useful:

Well, there's the ropiary monkey.

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You'll have to pardon him, he's newly planted with creeping fig and it has yet to 'take.'

Nell

oh my gosh! i kept looking at that topiary monkey picture and it looked like it was about 20 feet tall, and i thought oh, those poor poor neighbors!! i kept looking and looking, and realized that it was a matter of perspective...the monkey is hanging from that tree branch and not standing on the ground in front of that house!!

i LOVE the monkey! (now that i know he's not 20 feet tall!)

:) jiggreen

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My Guinea Chicken, seen at the left of this photo. My niece brought him back from Guinea in West Africa when she was over there with the Peace Corps. Guinea Chicken was made by a local man who eked out a living by creating things from metal scraps he collected. It is a very special piece.

I found a cute little birdhouse made to look like a knapsack at Cabela's. I had to have it. It goes really well with the one that I have that is a cat's face with the opening for the door as the cat's mouth. They are cute...I'll see if I can get a photo.

that monkey and rooster rock!

I forgot I have several of those silly tree faces

love that monkey and rooster! Ok don't know if this counts but here goes. {{gwi:689344}}
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Love to see all the photos - everything is so cute! Ladypenny, you're a genius! I've been wondering what to do with my great-aunt's old mailbox that I found in the barn. Now I know! :) Thanks!

I am laughing as I look at these pictures and read the descriptions!!!!! Very clever.

Lady pennywort-The Rose Bowl Flea market is fantastic!!! I arrive with my cart and if I get a good deal on something I feel like a million bucks! My D.H. sometimes comes to load the car and I tried bringing kids a few times but it was a fiasco. Lots of fun. My best buy was a wooden carved Indian Chief bust for one dollar (it looks antique)-sounds corny but it is wonderful. :.)))
Gigi

I have various birdhouse themed items my mother has made for me. A shovel that has signs on it that says "Stephanie's Garden". I also have a couple of rather strange things right now, the first is a croquet mallet that was redone to be in a wood box where you can wind it up then let it hit the ball. The wind up part has broken but I love it because it is so odd. I also have a broken croquet ball just in a flower bed as decoration. I also have a little fairy with wings floating around somewhere. I haven't seen her lately so don't know where she is at (the children like to move her around).
I love the monkey topiary and need to redo my watering can one.

This is not mine, but my kids loved it! (and us grown up kids loved it too) Saw it on a garden tour, thought it goes in the category "whimsical".

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I don't know about witty, but.........here's mine. :)

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I enjoyed seeing the Guinea Chicken. I have to work at not putting more chickens in the yard, including real chickens in the dog pen.

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These were easy; I just let the boxwoods grow up and then my GS cut away everything that didn't look like a chicken.

I'd be embarrassed to post some of the things I've had in my gardens over the years (my flower "bed" was particularly disastrous). We ought to have a seperate post for attempted whimsy that didn't quite work! LOL

But here's a few that I thought were pretty good:

Marbled my bird feeder....
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I went through a bowling ball phase...
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I probably had 20+ BBs at one time....not so much now, and no more BB fountains.

Nothing is safe from paint at my house, everything gets decorated...
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This shed has bees and ladybugs painted all over it...
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LOVE those bees and ladybugs! Why don't you still have the bb fountain? It looked great!

mizjoy - I love those spreaders used as planters!!! I used to have one many moons ago, now I'm gonna watch for anther at yard sales! Mine was never as perfect as yours.

I have a 3' high wood mushroom that someone carved with a chainsaw, I found it in the alley, asked polietly and they were glad to get rid of it. There are 'brothers' and 'sisters' to it all around town so possibly someone went on a tear chainsawing mushrooms!

I guess I have been on a birdhouse tear lately, I have made 35 so far, here are photos of a couple:
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My first attempt at woodburning:
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I have some very interesting ideas for future ones!
GH-

Have some questions for my gardening friends---

gottagarden-My kids would love that!

Pianolady-What paint did you use to do your shed? It's adorable! I have something in my yard I could do that to.

Gardeners Hands-Do you sell your birdhouses? Let me know.

pfmastin-I like your blue-bottle bush:.))

I am getting inspired by all of you!
Gigi

Here are my whimsies. I don't look for anything in particular - just something that makes me smile.
'Everblooming' flowers
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Freddie the Frog
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I love searching for stuff to use in my garden! On my deck this year, I bought several old tall floor lamps, the ones with the open bowl on top and 2 or 3 light candle bulbs around it and the heavy base. It reminds me of the ones my grandpa had growing up many years ago. I put ivies or ferns in them and they look so pretty draping over the sides. I buy the cheap ones, where nothing on them is the original lamp, parts replaced, you know the kind!

I also had a rusty Singer cabinet given to me free this week, it was not in good shape, and it also looks great on the deck - I opened the drawers, and planted flowers in them, and put a birdcage on top of it with million bells spilling out of it. Although my in-laws were appalled that I put such stuff outside, I love it!

I will post pictures soon. I was a regular here, but took last year off, as I had knee surgery last June, so I really couldn't garden like I usually do, and I had a small jungle to tame this spring! Many of you have visited my website, but in case you haven't, here it is:

Here is a link that might be useful: Webshots

I have a "topiary horse" in my garden. I used to own a real horse but had to put him down after 18 years of friendship so bought "ED" also known as "Fern's big Chia pet" to keep in my garden at Gardenscape in April. He stands about 3 ft tall and is filled with moss and planted with different Thymes and sedums - his mane and tail are made out of iceplant which are now in bloom - he is gorgeous even if he is taking up more space than I realized in my little garden.

Fern

Just me! :)~

Gigi--I used the Delta acrylic paints for outdoor projects. They've held up well for me over the years & the wide variety of colors is great. On the shed, we used this acrylics and top coated it with a spray poly. I like them because they're inexpensive & you can get a large variety of colors. I didn't poly coat the bees and ladybugs, and they've fared just fine.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dreamcoat Paints

Pianolady...

I looked at your lovely potting shed the other day and didn't even notice the little bees and bugs! I can't believe I missed something so cute. Glad you shared again and pointed them out.

Rene

I suppose my dragon stuff counts as whimsical, right?
Dragon Weathervane:
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Dragon statuary. He appears to be sleeping, but one eye is open keeping a watch on things:
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I have numerous other dragon / gargoyle things strewn throughout the garden.
I like mixing the fantasy into the garden.

Mr Morton!! I am in LOVE !!!!!
I am crazy about dragons but have not found any that I want to use in any decor - inside or outside. Those are perfect.
I especially love the second cutie pie.

Where did you find both of them and is there a source for me to purchase?

I must confess that I like them so much that I have one tattooed on my back.

My wonderful wife found them for me. Weathervane was for our 7th anniversary and the statue was a recent fathers Day gift. The Weathervane I have seen in several catalogs. Dancing Dragon and Pyramid being two I remember. The statue she said she found at a local Home and Nursery store.
My wife has a dragon on her (lower)back, too. But that would be for me, not her.
; - )

I have a glass vase totem in the raised front yard bed....
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And one in the backyard, waiting for placement as we're currently renovating it....
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This the side yard that we are now working on. I'm just about done planting and we need to edge the bed with stones. I have an antique stained glass door leaning against the wall and a plaster column with a pot on it. I also have a sign, artwork and lanterns that need to be put up, once the yard is done.

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Pianolady-
Thanks for the info regarding paints.

Gardeners hands-I will send you a e-mail. I have a " cottage idea" for a birdhouse and I would love it if a member of this forum made it for me..and since you do sell them----yea--I am excited!!!!:.)

Love the cute dragons Mr. Morton!
Gigi

It's so fun to see what everyone has in their garden besides plants! I am always looking for fun garden art. Here are some of my favorites.

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Gardengirl - I love the Dog Fey dragon birdhouse. I've been wanting to get a piece of his work for some time now. The problem is, I go to his site and can never make up my mind just which one I want. His work is amazing.

Steven

Thanks Steven! It was a gift for my husband from his mother. We have been meaning to pick out another one but haven't gotten around to it yet. I think it will look really great when the vines start to grow up around it so he's peeking out of the foliage!

Of course I meant Doug Fey, not Dog Fey. Have any birds been interested in building in there?

I also meant to ask where you got the frogs. Those are way fun!

Steven

So far no birds. I'm hoping the yellow jackets don't nest in there. I read on his website that we can leave it out all year round but we took it in for the winter and were kind of late putting it out so that could account for why we didn't get any nests.

I love those frogs! We got them at an art fair a couple of years ago here in Columbus. I thought I had the artist's card but can't find it at the moment. If I locate it I will post here or send you an e-mail through GW.