Country Garden Decor

A beautiful garden lantern – Photo Courtesy: Stéfan

Whether your backyard is the size of a small postcard or you’ve got the largest acreage in the county, all gardens can benefit from a few added decorations and flourishes.

Learn how to accessorize your outdoor space to its fullest potential – from planters and pots to feeders and lanterns. Use your garden decor in a practical way – and create the most beautiful Eden paradise.

There are so many different styles you can develop, depending on the particular ‘look’ you want to go for and how strict your budget is. Decor can give you a subtle country cottage style or a grand Grecian palatial feel – the choice is yours.

English Cottage Garden Decor Ideas

Create this pretty theme through the use of rustic, vintage homewares as well as items you’ve picked up in a garage sale or auction. The best way to achieve this look is to place together seemingly mismatching objects in a haphazard manner, with little care for design. Use an old wellington boot as a planter, and a broken teapot for your prettiest flowers.

Place little ornaments among the flower beds – creating stories amongst the herbs. Pick up random ceramics at craft stores and vintage shops, in the shapes of little animals, vegetables or fairies. This will create a quintessentially quirky English garden look, as you invite your visitors to discover the little trinkets hidden in the bushes. A great haven for budding little explorers, and adds a personal touch to your outside space.

Of course, no English garden would be complete without a bird feeder or bird bath – two necessities to encourage pretty little wild birds to interact and enjoy your lawn. Choose natural colors and simple, honest designs to best highlight the natural appeal of the space and so you can truly appreciate the many colors of the birds that visit.

Garden Lights and Candles

One of the prettiest decor items you could purchase for your garden is some clever and cute garden lanterns or solar lights.

There are plenty of options for you – large roman candles are perfect for evening barbeques or huge candle holders with big church candles placed along the pathway can create drama as well as being practical for a garden party. Little lanterns hanging from a trellis look pretty and are great for use in windy climates. Solar lights can helpfully light up the borders, so you can appreciate your flower beds from your bedroom window.

Sculpture and Art in your Back Yard

Create a stunning garden through the use of beautiful works of art – from life-size statues that serve as a perch for birds, to a modern water feature that is used as a gallery worthy centerpiece for the rest of your landscaping design.

Water fountains can often be a great way to introduce art to your garden – some of the most famous royal gardens use water fountains to add height and texture to the space. Choose wisely – there are lots of stylish environmentally friendly options.

Left: Cieneguilla Fountain – Photo Courtesy: Luis Tamayo

Ornaments and Accessories for the Country Garden

Other cute ideas for your country garden:

• Place wooden chairs on your patio, and store your seat covers for the furniture somewhere nearby, so that you use your garden as much as possible – creating a practical, useable space.
• Keep your lawn clear of decor, so it’s easy to mow over – and use the edges to fill with decoration.
• Pop to different garden centers for inspiration, and don’t be afraid to copy design ideas at home.
• Use your natural resources – driftwood and pine-cones are two very useful objects in creating garden decor items.
• If you are fortunate to have a large area to use, consider creating a games area, with a giant chess set or space for croquet.
• Use walls to their best advantage. Hang pretty baskets filled with simple flowers, and create your own welcome banners to tell the story of your garden.
• Use clever white accents to transform your garden for a wedding reception or party – set up a marquee on a lawn, or obliging piece of grass, then add white balloons with along the pathway to guide people.
• For a French style, consider a few garden gnomes (just like the film Amelie) and let your choice of accessories be determined by their usefulness – a simple rusty spade can show how well you look after the land.
• Use signs around the garden to mark the plants for visitors, or use random tall signposts to add character and height.