A full page in the June 2010 issue of Elle Decor was dedicated to lanterns, or, as the editor poetically titled the piece, Evening Stars. Lanterns in green, red, blue, brown, white, silver and gold were pictured and in several styles. Some were rustic; others romantic. Some were angular and modern, another resembled a lighthouse (!?!) and some were just odd.

But I love the notion and agree with the theme that lanterns are great garden furnishings and a keen way to introduce an artsy-fartsy element.

My own lantern is classic in looks, style and size. It's square and made of rusty brown metal. It's also a hurricane lantern with glass panes and one side has a cute hinged door. Including the round handle/hanging ring, the lantern is 14" in height. I think it's a Pottery Barn offering from several years ago.

The lantern is part of my landscape year round. For many months it hangs on an iron stand at the entrance to our driveway. As soon as the weather is conducive, I swap a hanging basket onto the stand and move the lantern to our covered front porch. The flickering candlelight is beautiful at night.

P.S. Restoration Hardware got into gardening goods in a big way this spring and among the various items are lanterns. Many RH products seem over-sized to me and their Grand Duomo Lantern is no exception. It is 46" high. Yikes! Proportion and scale are always crucial in landscape design...but especially so in this case or the lantern would look silly. A castle perhaps? Hmmm. It's summer and Minnesota is the land of 11, 842 lakes. That lantern would be spectacular at the end of a long dock on a big lake.