Decorating with Garden Statues and Sculptures

My last blog on memorial gardens reminded me that I wanted to discuss garden "art".  I used quotes around art as there may be some difference of opinion about what constitutes tasteful lawn ornamentation.  I actually have very few items in the yard that are not plant related.  I have a brass sundial that I inherited from my parents, a couple of homemade stepping stones, birdbath, a catlike gargoyle, and a small angel head with wings.  I had purchased a small statute of St. Francis after one of my cats died unexpectedly and I was just overwhelmed with sudden grief.  But the bottom of the statue appears to be felted so I do not dare place him outside, so, instead, he protects the animals from the inside of the sun porch.

Please note, this is Not from my yard.

While I might have been tempted to pick up a pink flamingo at a yard sale and brazenly flaunt it in my front yard, I wouldn't really do it.  Same with the backside of the lady made out of wood that appears in county gardens along winding roads. I've inserted an image here as an example, but I've seen this "lady" in many different dresses and socks, and often without the gray haired bun. There are other items that are readily available from nurseries and gardening websites, ceramic frogs, ducks, gnomes, sleeping cats, etc.  And some are actually quite nice.  I think the key is to pick one or two tasteful items and strategically place them in your yard so that they stand out as items of interest and not trash talk from your neighbors (as in, how long before they throw that trash out?)


The St. Francis statute was not the only sentimental buy.  The catlike gargoyle came home with us when I became angry at the neighbors over a fence dispute (their fence, our land).  I purposely placed the gargoyle facing their house as an attempt to ward off their bad spirits.  Also, I like cats (obviously) and this was a rather cool looking gargoyle who adds a nice touch on the steps for Halloween, and with a neck wreath and bow is a perfect Christmas accent.  The birdbath comes inside in the winter as it may crack (not quite concrete, more like resin) in the cold, wet weather.  It is also important to bring in any ceramic pots in winter as they, too, might fill with water, freeze, and crack.

Memorial Garden

Our dog lived with us from 1994-2009; I'm guessing he was about 16 or 17 years of age when he passed, but I can only guess as we adopted him from a shelter in Brockton, MA, right after we bought our first house and his age was unknown.  Our decision to get a dog went something like this; we had just finished unpacking and were working outside when I said to the better half, "now that we have a house can we go get a dog?".  And I'm sure he (reasonably) replied "why don't we wait until have finished with all the yard work?" (meaning in a month or so). I'm certain, at least this is what I remember, I put my tools away and said, "there, I'm done, how about now?".

When we visited the "Best Friends" shelter there were 12 dogs all waiting for adoption.  Of the 12, only one was not barking when we entered the kennel.  This dog simply wagged his tail and appeared friendly.  My husband said to the attendant, "we'll take that one".  Our dog came without any information as to his previous life; he was found as a stray and brought to the shelter.  They listed him only as a "shepherd mix" although he probably had some retriever in him (loved to go get things and bring them to you) and the vet thought a bit of doberman (he had a long skinny body).  Our dog was as big a part of the family as the kids and it was a sad day when he died.  So I thought I would create a memorial garden in the back yard where he spent a lot of time.

Although it's still an unfinished garden (I've only put a few plants in so far), the memorial garden has seen a lot of activity. Four pet rats have come and gone and are now buried there (I chose to cremate our dog, with his ashes returned to us, as the thought of him being disposed of in any other way made me cringe), plus a deceased field mouse I found in our driveway one morning on my way to work, and a dead bird that I found on our deck (may have flown into one of the windows).  I know that most people would probably throw an animal away with their trash but somehow it seems disrespectful.  My only concern, however, is that the next home owner will go digging out back in the memorial garden, find all the tiny bones and think that we harbored some type of wildlife serial killer!  (I guess I should also confess now that my daughter buried a dead hummingbird in the front yard, and there are two additional field mice I found on the school playground buried in the side yard.  Oh, and a squirrel that was hit by a car and left in the street is somewhere by the back garden.  That one I wish I remembered where my husband put as it's been in the yard the longest and chances are I'll find it first if I keep gardening.)

Our dog's ashes are supposed to take their place in the memorial garden.  In my mind I had a dedication ceremony half planned ending with a sentimental spreading of the ashes.  But I am still not ready to part with him (well, what's left of him).  I keep thinking if we move we'll want to take him with us.  I am also holding onto our cat's ashes from last year.  We've had two other cats who have passed in the time that we've been married, I placed one's ashes at the base of a lovely linden tree I planted in the front yard and the other's ashes my daughter planted with a tree she picked out, a little white coast cedar that still hasn't "taken off" but cannot be replaced due to the sentimental aspect of the tree.  I somewhat regret burying the ashes that we have as it feels like the final goodbye, but it's part of the grieving process.

I may have gone off topic here (after all, this is a gardening blog) but I think creating sentiment in your yard helps you connect to it.  I also, though, think that you shouldn't go too far with that sentiment.  How far is too far?  Well, a couple of years ago John Grogan (author of the book Marley and Me: Love and Life with the World's Worst Dog) wrote an article that appeared in the Parade magazine describing how he and his wife decided to move but couldn't bear the thought of leaving Marley behind, so they dug up his corpse and brought him "home" with them.  Yuck.  That article positively haunts me.  It was all filled with sappy sentiment, and sure the author has made a tidy career from this one dog, but if he thinks that every time he moves he needs to dig up his dog's body, then perhaps he's not the animal lover he proposes to be.  Let the poor animal rest in peace.  My advice, if you cannot part with the remains of your pet, please cremate and place the ashes in a pretty container to bring with you.  If you prefer a burial in your yard, dig deep, mark it well, and for the love of St. Francis, leave them alone.

The Joys of Raking

While I am so tempted to leave this post blank ('cause let's be real, what could possibly be joyful about raking?  Unless you consider it doing penance in some sort of religious sense?)  But raking, like mowing, is one of the unavoidable tasks of yard maintenance which can seem like thankless work.  Whenever I rake, however, I remember a story from one of Leo Buscaglia's programs on PBS that I heard as a child (yes, I am just that old, and no, we did not have cable TV so there was nothing better on).

In this particular story, Leo talks about teaching his students during a pretty fall day and being inspired to bring all the leaves inside the house.  At the time it sounded like so much fun, bring all the leaves inside for jumping into and rolling around in.  However, when I think of it today, all I can imagine is the mess that it would make and how long it would take to clean up.  The difference?  Attitude.  If we imagine something to be undesirable and a real chore, well, it will be.  If we can look more at the positive aspects (exercise, fresh air, how nice it will look when done) then it won't be as difficult to get motivated.  I strongly suggest raking with someone else, a family member, gullible friend, etc.  Talking during any unpleasant task always seem to make it go faster and you feel accountable to finish the job when someone else is with you.  An ipod also makes a good companion (plus it can block out the sounds of your neighbor's high powered leaf blower that makes you a bit green with envy).

Autumn Follies

It occurred to while I was admiring the baby grass grow around the new labyrinth that the reason we don't usually plant grass seed in the Fall is because we inadvertently end up disturbing most of the new blades while raking.  Because we have a large maple in the backyard, the leaves tend to fall fast and furious.  And once the maple has covered the yard in pretty red fallen leaves, the (5) pin oaks begin (and don't usually end until after the first snowfall).  So, this year we will have to be really gentle on those areas where new grass has sprouted.

It is generally a difficult task when you have a large area of containing both perennial beds and deciduous trees as raking can disturb other plants as well.  I've tried a few different approaches: using a small soft rake to get some of the leaves out of the beds; hand picking the leaves; and, my laziest method, justifying that the leaves "protect" the ground from heavy snow and just leaving them there until Spring.  The soft rake still pulls a lot of mulch out of the yard with the leaves, and if you've just laid mulch in the previous Spring, you may not want to waste the mulch.  In general I usually hand pick the leaves, if they are wet from a recent rain they tend to be easier to pick.  I also finally invested in a leaf blower with a vacuum option.  If the leaves are dry (and maple, as oak leaves tend to take far longer to decompose) we can vacuum, mulch, and use in the compost pile.

I saw a gardening TV show a few years ago that was encouraging gardeners to create leaf mold/mulch over the winter for the benefit of their gardens in the Spring.  In a nutshell, you collect the leaves into dark green trash bags, add water (only if the leaves are dry; if they are already wet, so much the better), tie off, and then store in your yard in a sunny spot.  The heat from the bag combined with the moistened leaves will cause them to decompose quickly and months later produce a leaf mold that can be used like humus or compost for the benefit of the flower beds.  I love ideas like this one, simple, inexpensive, and useful.  However, we do not have the benefit of a large yard, so finding a secluded sunny spot to place a garbage bag or two isn't doable. I'd have to leave the garbage bag on the front lawn, and I'd worry that the neighbors would be suspicious of just what was in the bag.  (Like, if I saw someone digging in their yard late at night I might begin to wonder when the last time it was I saw their spouse).

One of Three Things Update

The labyrinth has been tweaked a small bit (I think it was missing one more stretch of patio bricks to make it an even number of rows on all sides) and more loam was added to finish the leveling with the lawn. The better half threw down some grass seed on the outside of the bricks in anticipation of a rainy weekend.  The only question that really remained was what to do with the spaces in between the rows.

While I like the idea of planting creeping thyme, I don't want to run the risk that the ground cover will grow so far over the patio bricks that the pattern is obscured.  I also didn't want to the kids to think they couldn't run and play over the labyrinth.  So, we ended up by filling in between the patio bricks with pebbles that we purchased from Home Depot.  While creeping thyme or some other type of ground cover might have been prettier, it didn't seem as practical.  Most likely the dampness will cause some pretty moss to grow over time (just as it has on our other walkways).

One of Three Underway

No, we haven't built an alien spaceship pad in the middle of our backyard (although the neighbors might think we have).  On Saturday we bought loam to fill in the back yard (went the cheap route and headed for Lowe's) along with some grass seed.  While we were there, I noted that the patio bricks were on sale (end of season) for 20% off regular price.  I had pretty much scrapped the idea of a labyrinth, thinking it too complicated and unnecessary, but then priced the least expensive patio "brick" and thought, why not?  So I went home and came up with the simplest design I could imagine, counted up the bricks needed, and went back and bought enough plus a couple extra in case of future breakage.  The preliminary result is below:

Part of me thinks it might be too uncomplicated, but we haven't filled it in yet just to see if it needs tweaking before we finish with loam and grass seed on the outside and mulch on the inside.  That is next weekend's project.  Meanwhile I'll probably keep looking at it to be certain it's perfect.  Once it's been set it won't be easy to move or adjust.

These Three Things

The end of summer is approaching and I've felt particularly lazy about posting progress or advice.  When you've worked hard over the Spring and early Summer, the enthusiasm for yard work may have all but disappeared by Labor Day.  Though I've tried to keep up with the new weeds (which usually follow any significant rain fall) and I've mentally made plans to fill in the large divot in the back yard where the kids' wooden playset used to take residence, re-seed grassy areas that still need love, and mulch the path that used to be in the front (now overgrown with ajuga), I haven't quite summoned the energy.  Part of the delay is because the weather has either been too hot or, lately, too rainy.  The other part is lack of ambition.  If you find that you are resenting the work, take a break from it.  If you are stuck because you feel that you do not have an adequate plan or course of action, then do a little research and see what your options are.

Currently, I have three things I would really like to do in my yard if time (and resources) permit.  I would like to put in a labyrinth in the rectangular section of the back yard left vacant by the kids' playset.  I would like to replace the asphalt path that leads from the driveway to the front steps with a brick path (we have brick steps and a brick path would add so much).  And, I'd really like to fix the side garden/grassy area by the driveway with a traditional square garden sectioned off for growing vegetables and perennials.

When I discuss the idea of a labyrinth I am usually greeted with polite nods and smiles.  I'm thinking some people envision a large maze with trimmed hedges leading path walkers down a confusing series of walkways.  What I am really talking about is a design in pavers that creates a path that leads into a central core and back out again (not really a maze, although it is often confused with one).  What intimidates me most is trying to design such a path with rectangular edges.  Most designs online are circular and our space is fairly limited.  Also, picking out reasonably priced pavers, predicting how many will be needed, and how close to set them is mystifying me.  I am also wondering if it's overkill considering how many other unusual choices we've made to our yard already.

The brick path is another stumbling block.  I would prefer to hire someone to put one in, but imagine that the price would be considerable.  My sister claims it is easy as she has installed them herself, but first the asphalt must be removed.  While I do not disagree that I could probably do it myself, I hesitate on the issues of how much sand, gravel, and brick to buy?  How do you keep the path clear while you are installing the sand, gravel, and brick?  And do I have that kind of free time to dedicate?

And, finally, perhaps the easiest on the wish list, to fix the side garden area that seems to need a bit of help.  In Fantasyland (where I like to go when things get tough) I am able to create a garden in four sections with a cross shaped in between for easy weeding.  In reality, I have a young apple tree right in the middle of the square that is most likely too large to move, and too sentimental to kill.   My daughter started that tree in kindergarten after picking the seeds out of an apple she ate and (using skills she learned in camp) getting them to sprout by keeping them moist against a paper towel and sealed in a sandwich bag.  This tree is now 8 feet tall and there is no other space for it in the yard.  Though I have no use for an apple tree (the number of apples it may produce some day will not be worth the care and maintenance over time, at least not for me) my daughter is really proud of her tree and I can't bring myself to kill it, though I've dreamed about it many times.

As a sort of compromise, I have left the the tree and altered my design for the side garden.  I decided to leave the square garden in the middle, a grass path around the edge, and finish the strip of garden around the outside.  Ok, so this photo is not pretty, but it's temporary.  In order to complete the strip of garden around the outside I have to finish killing the grass (mostly crabgrass) left along one patch in between some plants I put in the ground (where the grass did not survive last winter) and the garden edge won in a battle over property lines with the next door neighbor.  Because I'm low on ambition, I threw down some newspaper on the grass to be eliminated, rather than dig it up.  To keep it in place, I used bricks and broken up pallet pieces.  Over the winter, the grass will die (and it hadn't bloomed so seeds should not be a problem) and in the spring I'll be able to put in some extra plants I have around the yard (and remove the newspaper as it will have done it's job).

If you choose to use the low ambition/newspaper method and you don't like the way it looks, you can throw down some mulch over it to cover the newspaper and go ahead and plant by cutting a holes in the newspaper.  Eventually the newspaper will disintegrate, but can easily be removed if it doesn't.