Most gardens are a beautiful work of art on their own, but sometimes you can make them even better by adding a few carefully chosen art pieces. Combining garden decor with your planting can take your garden from pretty and peaceful to a secret garden sanctuary. Art adds personality, provides 4-season interest, and expresses your personal style.
You don’t need to be artistic to add art to your landscape, although it can be a great way to display your own artwork if you are. There are many different garden art styles available, so if you start hunting, you’re sure to find something you’ll love!
Here are a few helpful tips for how to incorporate art and decor into your landscape.
1. Let the piece choose you. Look for a piece of garden art that really speaks to you. Gather inspiration from other gardens in your area, botanical gardens, public art, or online. Make a note of the types of art that you love and the art styles you’re drawn to.
2. Identify your style. While some gardeners can manage the eclectic cluttered look with many different styles and pieces, it’s challenging to pull off. It’s much easier to decide on a general style that you like. For example, you can go for a modern industrial look with concrete planters, a more rustic aesthetic with garden gnomes or art made from beautiful pieces of wood, or something more eclectic with candy-colored pieces like garden spinners and hand-painted ceramics.
3. Less is more. When it comes to garden art, it can be easy to fall into the trap of picking up new art and decor pieces whenever something strikes your fancy. But art clutter in the garden can become overwhelming and distracting. Limit yourself to a few pieces here and there.
4. Choose a large focal point piece. It’s fun to have small pieces tucked into corners for a surprise here and there, but having a large main focal point, like a water feature, will really set the tone and atmosphere for your garden.
5. Plan your art around garden focal points. Garden decor attracts the eye, so place your decor near areas of the garden you want to draw attention to. Well-placed pieces of art near beautiful groups of plants create “vignettes” that will capture a viewer’s attention.
6. Consider multiple views of your garden art. Before you install your art piece, think about the possible viewing angles. You may want to be able to see it from a specific window in your house, or while sitting on the patio. Choose the location so that you can enjoy the view of your art from multiple places.
7. Take the scale of your garden into account. It can be hard to imagine the scale of an art piece in your garden when you’re looking at it in a store surrounded by other items. A piece might look quite large in a store, but then it might seem to disappear into the landscape when you bring it home. Chances are, you can go bigger than you think.
8. Play with color echo and contrast. Color echo is when a certain color is repeated throughout the garden or certain areas thereof. For example, several yellow flowers planted throughout the garden can make their respective colors seem more vibrant. Try “echoing” some of these theme colors with garden art in the same color, or a color that contrasts beautifully. For example, a piece of royal blue statuary will make your yellow roses pop!
If you’d like a little more help and guidance with adding art to your garden tastefully, ask our professional designers and gardening experts for advice. They can help you identify your style, find perfect pieces, and help you decide where and how to install your new investments. Stop by our unique garden center in the heart of the Quad Cities metro area for some inspiration, or to chat with our professional designers.
