whimsy and interest to your garden
Want some gardeninspo? Read on for 6 creative ways to add personality, flair and interest to your garden. These ideas will help elevate the look of your yard, and more importantly, how it feels to be in it!
Close your eyes and picture a lush garden at sunset. As the last rays of the sun kiss the colorful vegetation, the twinkling tiki torches begin to light one by one as a water fountain slowly approaches. Gardens can be absolutely magical. With an abundance of food, flowers, habitat and beauty, they are capable of immense joy and peace – especially if you put a little effort into improving your space beyond the basics! It's time to create your own paradise at home.
I should mention that I am not a professional landscape designer, but our gardens always have enough style and beauty! Plus, the tips we'll explore today can be applied to any size garden. Below you'll find plenty of photos of both modest and grand spaces. We spent years gardening in our old ⅕ acre urban homestead; By the time we moved in it was full of charm! We are still weaving whimsy into our big brand new garden… slowly but surely.
1) Mix textures, materials and patterns
Use a variety of plant textures, ground cover and hard materials to create balance in your garden. For example, I like to incorporate curved lines, round stones, large boulders, logs or interesting branches, potted plants and wine barrel planters into our landscape. A combination of gravel and bark or wood chips (near, but not together) creates a nice mix of old and modern. Check with your local bulk yard delivery company to see what products they offer.
Play with height and add interest to your garden by adding a mix of raised beds and ground planting areas. You can arrange your garden beds in an interesting pattern like a U-shape or a herringbone layout. Raised planting spaces don't have to be traditional wooden garden beds! We have created terraces and large raised perennial garden beds using stone blocks (shown below). Galvanized steel raised beds also add a unique flair. Check out this article for more ideas on alternative raised garden bed materials.
In perennial landscapes, mix plants with different heights, leaf size or texture, and flowering times. Add flowing plants like native ornamental grasses or ferns to balance out the more structured. On the other hand, we like to incorporate the majestic cactus and agave to complement all of our other delicate plantings. Trees create the most majestic vibes of all. Finally, don't be afraid to experiment! You can always change the plants later.
2) Play with color
In addition to plants and flowers, there are many ways to add color to your garden. Incorporate colorful ceramic pots, yard art, outdoor pillows and patio furniture, shade umbrellas or an outdoor rug. Heck, you can even paint your fence or arbors! Black fences and arbors have been particularly trendy lately.
Hard materials like flagstone or gravel can create a color statement. In our old garden, we used stunning pale stones that looked great against the blue-green gravel. Yet the stuff in our new garden is a little rustic and natural. I love them both for different reasons!
Decide whether to stick with a limited color scheme or mix and match several colors for a more playful space. For example, we grow annual flowers in every color of the rainbow, but I usually choose purple, pink, and yellow flowers in our perennial landscape. I gravitate to blue, green or purple pots, pillows and other accents.
3) Light it up
Solar lights are one of my favorite ways to add interest to the garden! In the evening, our outdoor spaces are absolutely magical. We use a combination of solar path lights and amazing glowing solar tiki torches (they look like real flames!) that have held up wonderfully for years. Our curved trellis is decorated with solar fairy string lights that we have strung around fences and garden beds over the years. Overhead bistro lighting is always fun and adds even more functional bright light to entertaining.
Of course, don't forget a fire pit! In addition to lighting, fire pits provide warmth and a cozy atmosphere. We absolutely love our low profile round gas fire pit, perfect for warming your feet by the fire. Other ways to add mood lighting to the garden include tabletop lamps, citronella candles, or landscape spotlights under trees. I absolutely love the way they light up our oak canopy! See below for more details.
4) Decorate with art
Add personality, flair and interest to your garden with outdoor art. Decorate the space with metal sculptures, statues, a beautiful sign, garden flags, murals or other artistic accents that suit your style. Try picking up an old wagon wheel, some small mushrooms, or baby chicks. Make your own crafty art or shop around your local garden centers. I've also seen some creative flower beds made from old clawfoot bathtubs or wheelbarrows.
Gardeners Supply Co has some beautiful yard and garden decor options - metal sculptures, weather vanes, wind spinners, statues and more. Don't forget to add a cute hummingbird feeder for our little friends! Learn how to make hummingbird food at home here.
We have a variety of decorative metal flowers, birds, leaves, suns and butterflies, plus some fun windmills and this adorable antique steel hummingbird. Our old home garden was called "Beach Jungle", so I made a sun mural out of sand dollars. I also found a fun "Garden" sign at our local nursery and then constructed it with small copper pipes to form a rising sun. We also built a Rod Insect Hotel (which honestly serves more as an artifact than a functional bug hotel at this point. Lol.)
5) Define boundaries and paths
Define your space by accenting borders or transition areas with edging, decorative rocks, walkways, logs, attractive fences, arbors, arches, low-growing shrubs or other materials. This may include the edges of a path, around a flowerbed, a central patio area, the perimeter of an entire garden, or a statement at the entrance to a space. Adding some stepping stones between the garden beds makes the space more interesting and complete. It's amazing how big a difference a few details can make!
6) Grow vertically
A wonderful way to add interest to your garden is UP. Use vertical trellises, arches or arbors to create dimension – and maximize your usable growing space! In the vegetable garden, beans, peas, vining squash, and cucumbers all love to climb. Passionfruit and Kiwi are two perennial fruits. Jasmine, wisteria, bower vines, trumpet vines, black-eyed Susan or trailing roses are other beautiful ornamental plants that are well suited for climbing.
There are also some fantastic vertical garden towers that are perfect for small or urban spaces (and not just for trailing plants). Finally, don't forget about hanging baskets – especially around your porch or patio garden!
Want trellis inspo? Check out our step-by-step tutorial on how to make an inexpensive DIY (flat) trellis. As for the curved trellis, we found ours at a local nursery - but I know many people make similar ones with cattle or pig paneling! Or, check out these beautiful arches and arbors from Gardener's Supply. I especially like their round "Moon Gate" or the modern Crazy.
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