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.
I love plant markers in the garden. If some plant catches my eye (and when doesn't one?), I want to know its name. Gardeners can't be expected to remember every plant they ever planted.
In the past, plant markers have been sorely lacking in sturdiness, durability and aesthetics. They've been made from plastic (ugly!), terra cotta (too bulky and heavy), flimsy tin mounted on tall legs and cheap wooden things that look like big popsicle sticks. None last reliably. And when they're so unattractive that the gardener hides them out of sight, well, what good is that?
A new option has surfaced this year–a plant marker that is sturdy, durable and attractive. These plant markers are made of teak, the same classic, beautiful and long-lasting wood that much garden furniture is manufactured from. The markers are about one inch wide and in lengths of 6", 8" and 10". Permanent markers and soft lead pencils are options for writing on the markers.
It is among my favorite Christmas presents–rating right up there with a cashmere sweater, a nice bottle of wine and a very practical otic scope to look into dogs' ears. The butterfly has translucent, purple forewings which are adorned with twin blue glass balls. The hindwings are created with iridescent glass in light lavender.
This butterfly is special for two reasons: the extraordinary skill of the artist and the artist herself, Maureen. In addition to her color and style sense, what sets Maureen's work apart is her attention to detail. It is exquisite! The delicate antennae are formed of thin wire with a tiny spot of lead at each tip. Fine lines and curlicues that decorate the wings are perfectly formed, and throughout the piece, each solder is a flawless bead of lead.
In our former house, I created a special room just for my plants and me and called it the Garden Room. I painted the door a bright purple that reminded me of lilacs. How could one not smile when entering that room?
Provide the same sense of frivolity and gaiety in the garden. After all, gardening should be fun! Save serious, profound work for your job.
First, choose a favorite vignette that looks just as you envisioned…perhaps the bed with the perfect combination of peonies, bearded iris and baptisia. Next, and this is the key part, find a chair. A chair is welcoming, relaxing and an invitation to stop and sit. Any chair that's charming, cheap or both will suffice.
Now, paint the chair a fabulous color–maybe some outrageous shade not found in the home. (Be different! Be daring!) Try shell pink or bright salmon to set off the peonies and a 'Beverly Sills' iris. One of my favorite colors, bright blue, would complement the vibrant color of the baptisia.
Whatever color you choose, have fun! And remember, paint is cheap. Next year you might want a buttercup yellow chair to match your daffodils!
Do you need to provide shade in your garden this season? Designers have many tools at their disposal and should choose with considerations for aesthetics, style, exposure, use and budget.
?جŬê Plant a shade tree, like a honeylocust with its dainty foliage, or a smaller ornamental tree. ?جŬê Add a pergola, a roof-like structure that extends from the home, and plant vines. ?جŬê Install a canopy of weather-resistant fabric draped artfully like a tent. ?جŬê Build a simple wooden structure and mount woven wooden shades. ?جŬê Purchase a dining table with center-mounted umbrella.
Here, though, is my new and current favorite option. What about a stainless chaise upholstered in Sunbrella fabric with its own round, very cute, matching umbrella? See for yourself at www.modernica.net.
As I write this piece, my windows are open to catch a warm, late summer breeze blowing from the south and I can hear my wind chimes. Even though I like many styles of wind chimes (keep reading), I chose the subtle, tinkling sound of glass chimes for my own garden. From a slender twig of smooth gray driftwood hang 23 (an uneven number!) rectangular pieces of stained glass in saturated colors of green, navy blue, cobalt and azure.
As a garden feature or a piece of garden art, wind chimes are available in many sizes, sounds and colors and in styles to suit any garden design scheme–from cottage to contemporary to kitschy. They add an additional level of sensory enjoyment. The sound they produce can be just as evocative as the whiff of a particular fragrance. Wind chimes can also add that element of whimsy to the landscape–the quirky touch that makes you smile when you see it.
I've noticed and admired wind chimes for many years and remember some of my favorites. When I worked at Bachman's in Minneapolis, a long, elegant (and expensive!) set hung in the shady perennials area. If I happened to walk through that part of the nursery on a breezy afternoon, the sound of those chimes was at once haunting and soothing and I always wanted to sneak off and practice some zen-ish yoga.
Colleen, a local artist, recently displayed her amazing collection of beautiful, earthy creations at the Sandstone Area Farmers Market. Her lovely wind chimes were fashioned of copper and wire and produced a delicate sound.
I remember the set of Gregorian tenor wind chimes that one of my brothers gave me for my 40th birthday and which hung in my garden for years. It was beautiful! Eight anodized aluminum tubes in varying lengths were tuned to an incredibly harmonious and melodic medieval sound.
At our family's lake cabin, we had a "sort-of" wind chime that looked like the head of an owl–complete with eyes, nose and mouth parts that moved in the breeze. Since it was made of rustic, rusty metal, the sound of those moving pieces was not particularly melodic; rather they jingled and jangled with the wind. But even now when I hear that particular sound, I can close my eyes and be immediately transported back to those fabulous summers at the lake.
Water is mesmerizing to me anywhere but when incorporated into a garden, the sight and sound provide an additional level of sensory appreciation and enjoyment. A rain chain is an easy, economical, practical and earth-friendly way to introduce a water feature.
Rain chains, which originated in Japan, are an ingenious combination of function and art. The idea is simple. Instead of rain flowing from gutters into ugly metal or vinyl downspouts and off to who knows where, rain chains attach to gutters and decoratively guide the flow of rain water into some sort of catch basin below.
Rain chains are available in materials and styles to suit any garden design. They are usually made of copper, which ages to an attractive patina, or brass and are offered in either link or cup styles. The links are beautifully simple, available as single or double links, and the cups come in cool shapes of bells, tulips, lilies, lotuses and others.
There are several options for the catch basin at the bottom of the rain chain. I've seen little decorative rock pools, shallow, round vessels made of stone or copper, rain barrels (neat eco-friendly choice) and even a bird bath. The basin can also be as simple as a wooden frame filled with river stones.
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. 
