by Sammy Stein

Created on: February 09, 2010

Decorative touches in the garden can really make it a special place and one which reflects the characters of its owners. It need not cost the earth to do this as there are lots of ideas and areas in which you can add those special touches to make the garden an extension of your living space.

In the garden itself you can have a theme running through. If you have travelled, for example, little touches of places you have visited will speak volumes to your mind, evoke memories and make the garden a real delight. Shells from beaches, little china sombreros from Mexico,  terracota figures from Latvia, anything which sparks a memory of a place you visited. You can link things in the garden to the home. For example, if you love music and your house is full of instruments or you simply love the sound and delights of all things musical then you can have references to this in the garden. Chair backs shaped like notes, fences in the form of staves, all these touches speak to the heart and make the garden ours.

Accessories really make a garden special and add individual decorative touches. For example, bottles hung upside down can be used to grow trailing plants, baskets and urns make great flower containers and even chimney stacks from your old house will make containers if you put a plastic tube in their centre to cut down the volume of soil needed.

Simple things like painting a wall in a color you like or even adding a mural can do wonders in the garden. An Italian freind of mine has one small wall painted to look like a field of olives going into the distance. It reminds him of Tuscanny and really makes the seating area different and special.

Edging, buildings and paths can be colored and tailored to suit your tastes in decorative materials which enhance and show off other features. If you like blue plants, use tones of blue in your hard landscaping so there will always be blue in the garden even when the flowers have faded and died down for the winter. Mulches of colored glass or gravel can add color and decorative touches to borders,pots and beds and containers themselves can create their own dazzling display, with or without plants.

Shevling can be chosen to reflect your character - shelves in metal for the minmalist and shelves in basket weave for the cottage gardener. Even the materials for greenhouses can be decorated with paints and need not stay their original color.

Decorative touches in the garden are all about making it the owner's special place, stamping their character in a gentle yet definite way and allowing the garden to become an extension not only of their living space but of their character.

Such a delight!

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