Whimsical Garden Decor

Written by April Reinhardt (last updated November 16, 2018)

Most often when landscapers and master gardeners speak of gardening decor, they advocate understated elegance, focusing mostly on color schemes, patterns, and pre-designed plans. But what of the gardener with a light heart and a sense of humor? Creating a sense of wonder and whimsy in your garden will surprise and delight your visitors, and reflect your personality.

The word whimsical has been defined as "lightly fanciful" and "subject to unpredictable change." While strolling through a garden, what could be more capricious than spying a delicate fairy peeking from around a Honeysuckle hedge, or a stand-alone purple door that opens to a rock pathway enveloped in creeping Phlox?

While some people think a garden gnome is a standard whimsical garden accent, the list of personal garden pieces that inspire whimsy are endless. Some gardeners have been known to decorate their gardens with:

  • Wind chimes, sundials, gnome doors
  • Ceramic toadstools, toad houses, gazing balls
  • Signs, plaques, statues
  • Bird houses, suspended windows
  • Metal bedsprings draped with vine flowers
  • Antique cars, spinning wheels
  • Strategically placed mirrors
  • Scarecrows, fairies, metal animals
  • Sleds, bicycles, pogo sticks
  • Twinkling lights, golf clubs, clocks

Keep in mind that in order to support a great deal of garden accents, you need to have the greater portion of plants. You can be creative when personalizing your garden to evoke whimsy, but start small, and don't make anything permanent. Perhaps you'd like to place an antique spinning wheel for your Morning Glories to climb, but you know that rain and snow will eventually destroy the wheel. Instead, place accents for a few weeks or months, and then replace and recycle them throughout the year. Some more things to consider when creating garden whimsy are:

  • If you are nostalgic, use that in your garden plan. Perhaps you are an antique lover. You could use wooden buckets or crates, old farm implements, or a washboard to evoke bygone days.
  • Recycle anything and everything. If you have a garage, attic, or basement full of stuff that you haven't touched in years, use it as garden decor.
  • Incorporate your hobbies into your garden theme. If you're a sports enthusiast, love sewing, games, writing, trains, or woodworking, you can place objects into your garden to reflect those pastimes.

Whatever whimsical garden decor you use, make sure that it is environmentally friendly. After all, it is a garden and needs to be compatible with nature. For example, if you recycle a gas lawn mower to use as garden whimsy, make certain that you have drained the oil and gas tanks.

Oftentimes the first impressions of your home are its surroundings. Your garden is a reflection of who you are. Using whimsical garden decor shows your personality and you sense of humor.

Author Bio

April Reinhardt

An admin­istrator for a mutual fund man­age­ment firm, April deals with the writ­ten word daily. She loves to write and plans to author a memoir in the near future. April attend­ed More­head State Uni­ver­sity to pursue a BA degree in Ele­men­tary Edu­ca­tion. ...

MORE FROM APRIL

Cleaning Canvas Awnings

Canvas awnings provide protection and shade and will last years if you take the time to clean them. Never use a pressure ...

Discover More

Growing Flowers in the Shade

Shade flowers provide the gardener with an opportunity to be creative in darker spots of their landscape. Choose flowers ...

Discover More

Keeping Raccoons Out of Your Garbage

Don't make it easy for raccoons to enjoy feasting on your garbage. Remove their water source and double-bag pungent ...

Discover More
More Gardening Tips

Landscaping on a Budget

Have you ever noticed how expensive landscaping efforts tend to be? When you are running short on money, but would still ...

Discover More

Understanding Xeriscaping

We all understand that plants need water to grow, just as they need sun and proper nutrients. But you can conserve water ...

Discover More

Easy to Install Solar Garden Lights

Solar garden lighting is very easy to install yourself, providing a low-cost alternative to hiring an electrician to run ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Receive an e-mail several times each week with a featured gardening tip. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 2 + 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Receive an e-mail several times each week with a featured gardening tip. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)