Windchimes and other Garden Decor

Young people fall in love while sitting under a big elm tree on a swing with windchimes blowing in the breezes, serenading them as they gaze deeply into each others eyes while quietly talking of a future together. While listening to the windchimes, they are taken in by the flight of the hummingbird at the hummingbird feeders and marvel at his business. However, they must shake off the serenade of windchimes go tell their parents and get busy for now they have set their hearts on a life together. They go into the kitchen late in the evening to declare to the son's parents their love for each other and their intention of getting married and starting a life together. And they want to get married in our beautiful backyard, under the graceful elm tree with its huge umbrella canopy of green as their cathedral serenaded by windchimes. And, by the way, "We would like to have the reception here, too." Well, if that doesn't call for garden decor, especially new windchimes, that speaks of love what does?

Well, I think that is wonderful! But it is just grass up there. "What's the matter with grass?" my husband would say and maybe you would too, but they want a nice flat surface to set the head table on and to have their first dance on, too. "It will be a little patio under the tree where we can hang windchimes and it will feel so romantic." I suggested to my husband, who doesn't have a romantic bone in his body. "We already have a patio!" he retorted. "And you already have enough windchimes for a symphony." True as that may be it was never a really nice patio and the windchimes are pathetic.

The patio is plain old concrete used for basketball, roller skating and patio tables. It had a huge crack that ran the full width from house to retaining wall. A particularly ugly just-concrete retaining wall that kept the upper levels of the backyard from falling on the ugly concrete patio. The only a place for hanging windchimes was the basketball standard. Not exactly wedding material. And the windchimes that hung on the roof overhang were so old that the wooden clappers had long since turned grey, broken in two or fallen off. Windchimes needed to be replaced with shiny new ones that would sing a cheerful windchimes melody for the happy couple and their guests. I needed this to be spectacular. Beautiful and spectacular for my oldest son and his beautiful, much loved bride-to-be. For some incredibly musical windchimes go to:

http://gardendecorwindchimes.totalwarehouse.com

http://keys-windchimes.totalwarehouse.com

http://woodstockchimes.totalwarehouse.com

DANCING WATER FOUNTAINS

All throughout the gardens of Hearst Castle you will find garden statues and water fountains that pour forth dancing water all of fantastic proportions designed to represent great seated nymphs, and ancient roman gods in abundance throughout the grounds of this gorgeous residence of the newspaper magnet, William Randolph Hearst. Now part of the California State Parks system you can visit this amazingly gorgeous estate that rivals the glory of any castle in Europe. Most, if not all, of the garden statues on the grounds and in and around the many water fountains are great art treasures bought from throughout Europe in Hearst's heyday. If he had not brought them here to decorate his home/castle many of them would have become the victims of the desolation that lay waste much of Europe during WWII.

Art is an important part of all our lives and we should try to incorporate it in every way possible in our homes and gardens. Placing water fountains in your garden can create a sense of serenity and calm as the sound of water rippling out of the top spout trickles down from level to level until it is recycled through the pump to renew its journey. Artfully designed garden statues can add touches of elegance and beauty to not only your garden but to your home. One of many water fountains and garden statues available should find its way to your garden. Few people live in the grandeur of Hearst Castle but we can all add the elegance of lovely garden statues and well crafted water fountain. Look at this favorite at: http://DANCINGWATERFOUNTAINS.totalwarehouse.com

CELESTIAL DECOR

We have always looked to the heavens and our own celestial decor for direction. While at sea to find our unmarked way in the open oceans we mark the rising of the sun and seek the stars to guide our way at night, when hiking on a lonely mountain we look first to the "big dipper" to then find Polaris, that points north. So, in our home or garden we too can symbolically look to the heavens by using art. Wall plaques and angel garden statues can focus our minds on heavenly things. The celestial guides, the sun, the moon, and the stars, can take our minds to greater horizons when we use them as decoration. Light weight resin plaques can hang on a family room wall or garden fence. Garden statues can add a sense of comfort tucked into a group of flowers. The sun rising in your garden can reflect on unique gazing balls held by garden statues. The stars and moon of this wall plaque can quietly watch over your garden during the night time hours as the stars and moon glide through the night sky.

Many religions use the sun, moon and stars as guides or symbols. The ancient Mayans worshiped the sun god; while the Celtic tribes welcomed in the summer solstice and autumnal equinox using the cycles of the moon as their calendar markers. Garden statues decorated the parks of the wealthy mansions in Renaissance Europe. The Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah has all three celestial decor motifs on its exterior walls. The royal sun marks the highest floor, with the full glorious moon marking the next floor down, and the bright stars of the night marking the ground floor. There are garden statues all about the grounds of the temple to recall our minds to higher things. Each exterior sign and each of the garden statues are symbolic to those who look to the temple for inspiration as they are reminded to strive for greater heights.

All three celestial bodies are represented on a lovely resin celestial wall plaque that is available at: http://CELESTIALDECOR.totalwarehouse.com

STONE WATER FOUNTAINS

I love the sound of water fountains as the water musically falls from one level to another in its cycle of the movement of the water as it falls off of these lovely cherub garden statues. I have a beautiful water fountain that soothes my stress and calms me at night into gentle quiet sleep. When we went looking for a water fountain we looked in local nurseries and online at sites that sold fountains but in the end we chose one from a website that offered fiberglass fountains which were light weight fountains that offered more intricate detail of garden statues. We were looking for a renaissance look for the corner of our garden that felt just a little bit like the Italian Gardens of the Butchart Gardens. We have a miniature box elder hedge that is valiantly filling in to pruning status that sides the corner where the fountain sits with stone like orbs next to it. Of course, the water fountains and garden statues in the incredible Butchart Gardens are so far over and above what most people can afford or have the space for that I was quite happy to find my pretty little garden statues cherub fountain.

This summer the economy is not allowing many of us to take our vacations and we are instead taking staycations a time at home enjoying each other and our local sights and events. What better way to spend a summer! Go to your local concerts in the park, county fair, city parades and visit local gardens where you will likely find garden statues tucked into unlikely corners or front and center in the downtown park. These are the places that you only go to when company comes from out of town. And spend some timeown in your garden to make it just a little more special. Highlight it with water fountains and garden statues so that when you return home from your day exploring to your own comfy bed for the night, you can rest and relax to the musical sound of water falling down in your own stone water fountain. I found mine at: http://STONEWATERFOUNTAINS.totalwarehouse.com

GARDEN FAIRY STATUES

I always felt like there was a fairy at work in my grandmother's garden. Grandmother had the most incredibly magical garden with several angel garden statues. She had a variety of glorious annuals, petunias, marigolds, or cosmos, mixed with regularly reappearing perennials, gladiolas, hollyhocks, tulips and brilliantly colored calendulas, lining the driveway; apple, peach, plum and cherry trees offering up their delicious fruits in a small orchard behind the house; and a vegetable garden that provided fresh vegetables for lunch and dinners daily. Her garden gloves were always on the side porch with a trowel ready for the daily tending she would do in her garden. She was truly a garden angel. And in her garden you found several of her little angel garden statues as friends.

Gardens today usually don't see that kind of love and care because our lives simply don't give us the time. We are too busy trying to make ends meet in this economy and before the economy took a nose-dive we were too busy chasing the dream. But angels can still watch over our gardens in the form of garden angel statues and garden statues bringing a special feeling to any garden corner or nook. Garden angels give us the feeling of protecting us, watching over us from above and garden statues can lead us to magical kingdoms of wonder just as I felt in the wondrous gardens of my grandmother. What better garden companions could you add to your garden. There are wonderful garden statues available and one offers a message of the love my grandmother was sending in her garden "Love blooms here". You can find this beautiful fairy a: http://gardenfairystatues.totalwarehouse.com

GAZING BALLS

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GAZING BALL

The absolutely most incredible of all gazing balls garden statues that I have ever seen was in the Butchart Gardens on Victoria Island, British Columbia, Canada. We wandered all around this incredible garden discovering featured garden statues and artwork that began as the passion of one woman, Jennie Butchart, who refurbished the black pit that was created when her husband, a successful cement manufacturer, exhausted the limestone quarry in the hillsides of Victoria Island. Mrs. Butchart kept herself busy gardening and improving the grounds of their home and business. There are gardens of all kinds with garden statues galore now in the fabulous Butchart Gardens where millions of tourists visit annually. You'll find shade gardens filled with camelias, gardenias, ferns, hydrangeas and the sun filled rose gardens that will blow you away with their variety and fragrance. And there at the entrance of the huge, circular rose garden is a bench to rest on and a giant gazing ball that reflects the glory of the gardens surrounding it. Sitting and looking at the perspective of the gardens as reflected in the gazing ball is a transporting experience. Gazing balls are an incredible way to multiply the beauty in your garden and are available on stand alone pedestals or incorporated into the sculpture of garden statues.

Gazing balls as art are found in many garden decor shops and websites. One particularly lovely gazing ball is held by one of many angel garden statues that gives you a sense that she is reflecting love and safety into your garden. She is found at: http://GAZINGBALLS.totalwarehouse.com

FUNNY GARDEN GNOMES

"Amazing Race", the reality show of couples racing around the world, always has its little Travelocity gnome garden statues hidden on one of the challenges. A gnome may be hidden in a Buddhist temple in China or a village in Russia that needs homes painted. There are prizes that are attached to the garden gnomes and an absolute necessity for the contestants to check in. Contestants running around cities of the world with funny garden statues tucked under their arms has g0t to be quite a sight for the locals.


Collecting garden statues, especially these little garden gnomes, can be a little addicting. First you find one at a local garage sale and then there is one at the garden shop that just seems to look at you with those little "please take me home" eyes. Little miniature garden statues can appear as gnomes that are now salt and pepper shakers who have moved onto the kitchen table. The little ones actual remind me of the good luck Danish dwarfs that I have seen in Solvang, CA. Then funny garden statues pop up everywhere...in your local garden section of Wall-Mart, Home Depot, your neighbors yard...everywhere.

One of my favorite little garden gnomes is found at a website where you can order him: http://FUNNYGARDENGNOMES.totalwarehouse.com

CHILDREN GARDEN STATUES

MY CHILDHOOD AND GARDENS

My mother always had some sort of a garden. She was the worker gardener, and we were the playing little ones. Sometimes we hid under the tall cosmos playing hide-and-seek and sometimes we were the garden statues that had frozen in place when our brother swung us around when we played freeze statues. There was such an abundance of beauty around us as the results of her hours of gardening work. We all knew she loved gardening, even though a day of gardening left her pretty tired. Sometimes she grew vegetables but always there were flowers. And we played in amongst the flowers. There were hollyhocks that turned into dancing ladies when turned upside down. My sister and I made whole villages for our lovely ladies in the grass and under the shrubs. There were, of course, wonderful balls for our dancing hollyhock ladies to attend with their full, flared, frilly dresses in all of the pinks, purples, reds of the hollyhocks that grew high on their stalks in her garden. She had a few garden statues set off by a special background of gladiolas.

A favorite garden playtime activity was laying on the cool fragrant ground under the cosmos and pretending it was a house with a ceiling of hot pink flowers that opened to the sun waving in the gentle summer breezes.
Any garden is a happier place when it is inhabited by children. Children garden statues can bring that feeling even if they are quite still and make no mess, nor noise. We were always very careful to make no messes and take care where we stepped but we were as welcome in the garden as any silent children garden statues would have been.

You might love these two children sitting on a garden bench with their own little basket of flowers found at: http://CHILDRENGARDENSTATUES.totalwarehouse.com

RESIN WALL PLAQUES

Windchimes and Birds bring Welcome!

One of the most special areas of my home and as well as the homes of my friends are the gardens that surround our homes. Spending quiet visits and happy meals brings us together as family and friends as we are serenaded by windchimes hanging overhead.

There are lots of ways to welcome your friends to your garden. Using Garden Decor can make a friendly, welcoming statement. Hanging windchimes always adds to the ambiance of your garden making friends feel relaxed. Accents in your garden always add a special touch. Often an accent piece such as a wall plaque or windchimes is just the thing to complete a lovely tended garden spot. Whether your garden is small or large decorative wall plaques and windchimes add a finishing touch.

I love birds in my garden, especially the music that song birds bring. Musical windchimes bring music and a reflective atmosphere to any garden space. One particular garden wall plaque has four happy birds to brighten the gate area of my yard to welcome visitors. Windchimes brighten the yard all year round when they are hung about the garden. Windchimes can turn a sudden rainstorm into music. When I was a child growing up in Colorado my mother had two white flying seagulls on the front outside wall of our home and a set of windchimes to welcome everyone who came for a visit. As I grew up, left home and had children of my own it became a fun game for my California children to find grandma's house because there were the seagulls and windchimes welcoming them for a visit.

Find a place outside on a wall of your home to hang a wall plaque and a beam or branch for windchimes that will add a touch of decor. The welcome friends garden plaque that I like so much is found at http://RESINWALLPLAQUES.totalwarehouse.com. You can also find lovely windchimes at http://gardendecorwindchimes.totalwarehouse.com.

Yard Stepping Stones

Garden Spaces accessed with Yard Stepping Stones---

In California, where I garden, water is at a premium so I have turned off our watering system and instead hand water each of my plants. I also hang hummingbird feeders where they are easily found and refilled. Not all of my neighbors are trying to keep their gardens alive so I want to keep hummingbird feeders full and keep those lovely little birds going. I could never get to each of my plants and hummingbird feeders without the strategically placed stepping stones that I use to navigate the garden. Stepping stones give me a safe place to step so that I don't step on any of my precious plants while watering and checking hummingbird feeders. This can be daunting work during the long California summers with no rain fall, however, this strategy works well for both flower and vegetable gardens, as well as, checking hummingbird feeders. Stepping stones can be very functional or decorative and whimsical. I tend to lean towards whimsical. They add charm to the garden.

Hand watering and filling hummingbird feeders may seem like a boring task but I find it can take your mind off of the problems of the day and give you a breather before dinner or even a great way to start the day. Stepping stones will also let you work your way through your garden as you pick your beautiful flowers for your home or office or harvest the vegetables. Weeding and wandering about filling hummingbird feeders is much easier if you have steeping stones for sure footing as you work your way through your gardens.

I happen to like roosters in my kitchen and my garden....No, not the roosters that wake you early in the morning but the kind who eat little to nothing and make no noise at all...my roosters are all either ceramic or stone and sit quietly and quaintly decorating their individual little spots. My stepping stones are whimsical roosters that jauntily wind their way through my garden leading me to my next task. My hummingbird feeders are often lovely little flowers with hummingbirds perched at the top.

If whimsical stepping stones sound fun to you, you can find these Jaunty Rooster Yard Stepping Stones at http://YARDSTEPPINGSTONES.totalwarehouse.com......They are a favorite addition to my garden.

Garden Decor Windchimes

Unique Windchimes

Friday, May 22, 2009

Let Unique Windchimes help relieve stress!

Are you feeling the stress of daily life?

I can't even imagine a garden or a home without a set of windchimes. When ever I am wound up from the pressures of life I love to go out into my garden and take a few minutes to focus on clearing my head. The random notes that the windchimes create allow my brain to regroup and find my inner garden of peace. Hang windchimes in any open window where the wind can create a sense of peace and tranquility as it gently blows through the windchimes. And suddenly you are transported to another place, your happy place, where the stresses of life can't touch you and you can breathe deeply, clearing out the garbage that has filled your mind for hours of the day.

No garden is complete without the quiet tinkling sounds of windchimes that you have hung on the arbor just below the climbing vines where the wind can quietly blow through the leaves and create a little symphony of serenity for your frazzled senses. You will immediately unwind, relax and go to that place of peace and quiet where you can regroup to tackle the next of life's projects or problems.

My favorite windchimes are hand-tuned to perfection, made out of metal alloy and precision cut. These windchimes have a Bubinga wood top and wind catcher that create the melody of serenity as the wind blows through your window or garden.

I would encourage you to take a minute and look at these beautifully windchimes at my web site--- http://gardendecorwindchimes.totalwarehouse.com. I think you will like what you see.