Essential Garden Decor items

Here is a very short list of some of the more popular garden decor products that are available today. We will touch on each briefly and hopefully drive into each in greater detail soon.

Garden Decoration

• Statuary- There are many kinds of garden statues that are appropriate for your garden area. They range from concrete all the way up to bronze. Recycled yard art has become very popular in recent years.
• Wildlife accessories- There are many kinds of wildlife enhancing items that you can add to your garden not the least of which are the plants and flowers that your grow there. We will dig into this more in a future article, but for now we are going to focus on the many varieties of birding devices.
• Bird baths – From simple do it yourself recycling projects (which are some of the best) to elaborate works of art, a bird bath can become a fantastic center piece to your garden.
• Birdhouses – If most of the cutting and power tool preparation work is done ahead of time, building a birdhouse can be a great project for the kids in your family. You will want to get a birdhouse the is made for the specific types of birds you are interested in attracting because birds of different species like different types of homes.
• Bird Feeders – These are great at attracting birds (and other animals) to your garden area. You will need to watch out for squirrels stealing all of your bird food. There are some pretty ingenious anti-squirrel feeders around and we hope to cover them soon.
• Wind Chimes – One of the best audio and visual items that you can add your back yard garden or patio area. There are many different styles, materials and sounds to choose from and most wind chimes are pretty reasonable in price.
• Garden Features – Garden features include things like garden row labels, structures for climbing plants
• Other decorative items like flags, signs and plaques.

Another great idea is to give away garden decor gifts. they can be used indoors or out and you can match them to the style of the person that you are giving them to.

As you can see, there are many avenues for sprucing up your garden décor. We hope to cover many of these items and other great garden décor ideas soon.

First lets cover the many materials that garden statues are made from today. Yes, the concrete and stone models are probably the most prevalent but resin statues have become very popular as well. The advantages of resin are that it is more durable and weather resistant, they hold their color longer and have a more finished and detailed surface. Resin garden statues also come painted and they can look fantastic. Stepping up the ladder in materials brings you next to the metals (iron, copper, bronze) and then to the high end with marble. Marble statues will erode if left outdoors some many people keep their indoors.

Not sure if there is a garden statue that will appeal to you? Well, there are statues for just about any garden decor. The most common themes include:

• Animals
• Dog
• Cats
• Lions
• Bunny
• Frogs
• Children
• Children with Angels
• Children with Animals
• Sports Statues
• Children at Play
• Religious
• Angels and Cherubs
• Madonna
• Jesus
• Sacred Heart
• Statues of Saints
• Mythical Creatures
• Gargoyles and Goblins
• Mermaids
• Gnomes
• Leprechauns
• Elves
• Wizards and Witches
• Unicorns
• Greek statues
• Venus
• Neptune
• The Four Seasons
• Diana the Huntress
• Hebe
• Daphne
• Persephone
• Oriental Statues
• Asian
• Buddha
• Pagodas
• Lanterns
• Dragons

The sizes of statues can by any size, but most commonly fall in the 6” to 2 feet tall range. The primary reason for the smaller size is to maintain cost and to make sure you can move the statues around when you want to modify your garden decor.

One of the more compelling sets of garden statues are garden fountains and water features. Garden fountains provide an additional delight to your senses with the visual and sounds of running water. By adding water to your garden area you will also attract more wildlife. From simple and small in size to large and elaborate garden fountains run the gamut in size, materials and costs.

Adding garden statues to your outdoor living spaces can add just the right touch to your garden decor. While it might take you a while to choose just the right piece, you are sure to enjoy your statues whenever you visit them in your garden.

Common Types of Bird Feeders

• Hummingbird Feeders: These are specifically made to attract humming birds with their long bills and insatiable desire for nectar. Hummingbird feeders are usually bright in color to attract the hummingbirds and hold a simple mix of sugar and water as the food source.


Garden Decor - Tube Bird Feeder

• Tube Feeders: Tube feeders are long square or cylindrical tubes that hold a large quantity of feed. They usually have many feeding stations place around the tubes so they can service many birds at the same time. Some of the more ingenious tube feeders have spring loaded squirrel cages that drop down over the openings when the weight of a squirrel is placed onto them.
• Platform Feeders: Platform bird feeders have a small ledge around them for the birds to stand on while feeding. Platform bird feeders come in many styles.
• Suet feeders: Suet feeders are often very simple cages that are design to hold suet blocks. Suet blocks attract slightly larger birds like Jays and Mockingbirds.

Squirrels can be quite a problem with raiding your bird feeders. If you have squirrels in your area, you can be sure they will make regular visits to your feeder unless you get good at denying them their treats. Hanging your bird feeders in ways that the squirrels can’t climb to them is your best bet and a wrought iron hanging stand/stake is a good option. There are do-it-yourself solutions like using a 5 gallon water bottle with its bottom cut out to act as a climbing shield around a post. I am not sure how well these work, but yes, I have seen a couple of them in place.

Here are a few more bird feeder tips: Once you start feeding your local feathered friends make sure you keep it up through the winter months to not place undue hardship on your local population. If you get a wood bird feeder, make sure it isn’t made from treated lumber. Make sure the bird feeder is easy to refill so you will do it when it needs it. Find a good outlet for bulk bird food, you will be surprise how fast you go through seed.

One of the more important things to know about birdhouses is that a house that is good for one type of bird can be terrible for another. In other words, know what kinds of birds are in your area that you want to attract and make sure you get birdhouses that are matched to them. There are also general birdhouses that are geared toward song birds that might work well in your area.

Birdhouses should be place where predators won’t have easy access to them. Perches on bird houses can also aid predators so you should think twice about having perches.

Birdhouses also make great do it yourself projects. They can also be a great project for the kids if you do most of the power tool work ahead of time so you are ready for assembly. You want to make sure that there are a few small holes in the bottom of the birdhouse for water drainage and a couple of more near the top of the birdhouse for ventilation.

There are a couple of mounting systems to choose from when installing your birdhouse. The can be installed on posts or stakes directly in the ground or hanging from a tree or special stand. Some bird houses can be mounted to your roof as a cupola.

Birdhouses range in price from under $10 to well over $1000 for large and elaborate models.

If you choose the right style, a birdhouse can add a great deal of charm and inspiration to your garden decor.

Bird Bath heaters work wonders in cold climates. Some bird baths have the heating elements built right into the baths and other heaters are drop in models that can be added to any bird bath.

Bird baths also come with a variety of stand and mounting systems. Many have the own matching stand so that they are free standing units that can be placed any where there is flat ground. Others come with mounting stands that act as stakes so they can be placed anywhere there is ground that is soft enough to accept them. Another option is to use a deck railing mounting system. There are also hanging systems that are similar to hanging planting pots.

Prices range from $20 to $100 or more depending on materials and size. Elaborate water features can also be designed to accommodate a bird bath and the sky is the limit on prices if you choose this route.

With such a wide array of choices, you should be able to fins just the right bird bath to complement the rest of your garden decor!