Garden Decor

Sometimes despite your best efforts, those stubborn neighborhood birds just refuse to frequent your yard.  Even if you have bird baths, feeders, and houses there doesn’t always seem a good reason for the lack of feathered friends.  To help in attracting birds to your yard, consider squirrel baffles over your feeders.  Birds won’t go near a bird feeder that’s occupied by a squirrel.  For your bird bath, a water wiggler will help to attract birds to the moving water, and also prevent bacteria and insect infestations.  Birdhouses should be placed in locations with a bit of cover, and also ensure wasps or termites haven’t made their homes inside. 

It’s best to implement these solutions in spring or summer when birds will be looking for new locations to build their nests.

Though the spring season is a while off, receiving a holiday gift with a winter theme doesn’t seem all that appropriate with winter half over.  Here are a few fun gift ideas in preparation for spring.

~Bird Baths; great for attracting migrating birds to your yard, combined with a bird feeder and they just might build a nest. 

~Garden Decor; stepping stones, statues, and fountains are all great ways to celebrate ways and add aesthetic flair to your yard. 

~Kites; the spring is a great time for flying kites and getting outdoors. 

     Now that autumn has arrived, the trees are gorgeous, leaves are falling, and the days are getting cooler.  We’re busy cleaning up our yards and the wild bird population is changing into the winter variety.

     The best foods to provide in your birdfeeders are black oil sunflower seed, peanuts, and especially suet. These enable our wonderful colorful feathered friends to build their fat reserves and hoard seeds for later use.

     Keeping your suet birdfeeders stocked supplies the ultimate cold-weather food for birds.  Suet is loaded with the fat and calories birds need to maintain their energy levels when the weather is cold.
  

     …….Just doing what I can to help keep our winter birds fat and happy and healty and airborne!

When thinking about the sensual experience of a garden, deck, or veranda, most people will focus on the visual appeal of the space.  Adding sound to an outdoor space will add to the sensual experience, and also provide a lasting and complete sensual memory to visitors or the owner.  The most common ways to add sound to outdoor spaces are through fountains or windchimes.  Fountains offer the soothing sound of running water.  While windchimes, depending on the material of which they are composed, can clink, click, plunk, and make beautiful music in harmony with other windchimes. 

In any outdoor location, remember to create a serenade for all the senses; this will ensure a desire to be a regular part of it.

Many people still think of birdfeeders as the standard sunflower seed feeders that most birds seem to like.  However, there are a wide variety of birdfeeders available that will attract not only all the traditional birds, but birds you’ve probably never seen in your yard.  Thistle feeders for example will attract finches and smaller birds, and also deter squirrels because of the small size of the openings.  Suet birdfeeders are loved by a wide variety of different birds, including larger species like Flickers, Jays, and Woodpeckers.  Peanut feeders are another favorite of larger birds. 

There are also birdfeeders which use mixes of seeds and nuts that will succeed in attracting multiple species to the same feeder.

If you’d like to add variety to your garden this year, you can introduce a unique garden decor accent in it to add interest amongst your plants and flowers.  You will be tickled to see your latest garden decoration personalize your garden during the growing season.  You can also add a planter box or two and extend your garden onto the patio.

   Many gardeners will utilize a planter box if they do not have enough land for growing their flowers.  Anyone can grow a garden! It takes some time to figure out which part of your yard yields the appropriate amount of sunlight to make sure that all of your plants and flowers grow throughout the season.  You also may want to add some garden stepping stones to make it look more inviting.  These garden stones can be used to create a pathway, or spread throughout your garden, if that would be your preference.

   I have found that garden accents really individualize my little garden.

     Got a gazebo out in your back yard? Then you have the makings for spectacular Outdoor Garden Decor!
 
     Just build your garden around your gazebo!

     For optimum accentuization, shrubs and plants should never be more than 1/3 the height of the gazebo.

     Adding lattice or trellises on your gazebo provides a place for vine plants or flowers to grow and climb, bring your the gazebo to life!  Now you have a wonderful aromatic garden in which you can sit and delight in the fragrance!

YEAH!

I actually found one!  At 6 am, the day after the nor’easter ceased, I walked out onto the beach and surveyed the damage.  And there was the bottle that had travelled for 300 miles and almost 2 months, bringing greetings to North Carolina from New Jersey!

(Can you think of 2 states much more dissimilar, though being separated by only 3 hundred miles?)

My garden was certainly delighted to welcome this unique garden decor item.  A genuine message in a bottle from the Atlantic to embellish my own little piece of real estate!

Do you feel like your garden is a little lackluster? It’s winter time, and the majority of your plants have died. Or, it’s summer and you’re just not impressed with what you have. You’ve added decorative rocks and stepping stones and nothing is turning out quite right.

What are you missing? Garden signs. These cute little signs will bring a smile to anyone’s face with sayings such as, “Vegetables in training” and “pray for rain.” They also come in vibrant colors and shape to spice up the look for the garden. Climbing plants can use them as poles, and smaller plants can use them for shade. You can even swap out your regular signs for holiday-themed ones at the right time of the year. So next time your garden doesn’t feel quite right, browse and assortment of garden signs and you’ll find the perfect one to set the tone.

Wind chimes have long been used in feng shui to round out a house and promote certain energies. Not only that, but the sound is relaxing, and the look of wind chimes is very inviting.

Bamboo windchimes have been gaining popularity for their gorgeous sounds and symbolism. Bamboo is a symbol of good luck, and when this is correctly incorporated into a feng shui setting, you will be introducing luck into your life.