Art in the Garden

Today I've been working on a new program that I'll be offering. (You can see my list of programs and descriptions I currently offer, on my website). This new program is one just for fun, sort of a "Don't take the garden too serious, have some fun, too!" Here are a few of the photos I'm considering. I have hundreds to choose from, so if any of these aren't that much fun, tell me.

Dr. Art Tucker

The title slide, "Art in the Garden" has our friend, Art Tucker, framed in in a moss frame of sedums, at the Huntsville, AL Botanic Garden. Since he's one very inspiring guy, I figured he fit right in.

Blue Bench, Toledo Botanic Garden, where I spoke for the Maumee Valley Herb Society last March.

Bonsai in January, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

A garden needn't be large to be artful. This one's only 24 inches wide.

Not everyone likes cattle roaming their front lawn.

If you've made your fortune raising cattle and you have a mansion in  Dallas, then a yard full of big beefy cattle is art you want to show off. That's the front door behind the bovines. I think Texans like to put their art right out front for all the world to see.

Glass table from recycled materials.

This glass table was in the garden of a very posh house, also in Dallas. Personally I like the cattle slightly better, although the owner of this gets credit for trying. Art is in the eye of the beholder, after all. It may be art but I wasn't impressed.

The mermaid tub.

Lucinda Hutson, our prolific writer friend in Austin, TX, scatters great, surprising spots of color throughout her gardens. She's a colorful lady and a fantastic cook, too.

Adam decided a blank slate deserved some creativity last summer.

This chalkboard is by the front door to our Herb Shop. Adam, who was here for the summer has a degree in art and can't stand to see blank canvasses going to waste. While it's not his typical kind of art, it remains a cheerful welcome to the front porch.

Bell tower atop our shop at Long Creek Herb Farm

I think we have the only privately owned bell tower in the Ozarks. You can view the garden from the bell tower deck.

Garden gate made of mesquite limbs.

Another substantial house with art in the garden everywhere. So simple, yet a nice touch to the vegetable garden, this gate also functions to keep the family dog out of the plants.

This simple gazebo, just steps from the gate, above.

Rocks on sticks.

I especially liked the effect of these round rocks in metal frames set above the greenery. There were 3 collections of them leading up to the front entry of the house, in Seattle, I believe.

Weird art.

Half lion, half woman, by any standard this is bizarre art. However, the setting was the lawn of the Barnum-Bailey mansion in Florida, so, seeing as how they made their fortune from the circus, it makes sense.

This one's more traditional, more contemplative. Given the choice between this and the lion-lady, this one doesn't give me chills.

Color in the garden at Yucca Do.

The one above I like a lot. It's on the grounds of our friends at Yucca Do Nursery in Texas. Yucca Do is a specialty nursery that introduces newly discovered and recently named, heat tolerant plants into the plant world.

Anyone want to guess?

Art can be simple. This was on the grounds of a botanic garden I visited last  year. Art doesn't need to be expensive, it can be as simple as this. Or as simple as a gate made out of twigs. Or it can be a herd of  bronze cattle scattered throughout the lawn. However you do it, put some art in the garden this year.