Garden decor: types, rules of selection and application

Even the simplest, but lovingly created and well-kept garden pleases the eye and looks very good. But every gardener strives to decorate his brainchild to the best of his ability and creativity, coming up with various decorative options for landscape design. How can we ensure that these efforts benefit the garden, make its space more harmonious, and not demonstrate a lack of sense of proportion and good taste among its owners?

You can involve a fashionable professional designer in arranging your garden, who will complete your order in a short time and do it beautifully and efficiently. But such services will not be cheap. And most importantly, such a garden, the design of which was made by a stranger, is unlikely to fully reflect the character of the owner and his preferences. Therefore, it is better to take a longer, more complex, but interesting path: immerse yourself in the world of garden design, explore various decorating options, and gain the experience of famous design gurus. And then process the acquired knowledge and create your own project that reflects your individuality, and gradually turn it into reality.

Each person has a different idea of what a beautiful garden is. For some, it’s enough to place funny plastic figurines of animals and gnomes under the bushes, others are aiming for larger-scale changes - building gazebos, installing arches, and effectively decorating terraces. Very often, evergreen forging is used for this purpose. Elements of forged decor on our estates usually also perform a practical function. These can be beautiful gates and wickets, elegant outdoor furniture, in which forging is perfectly combined with the texture of wood.

Modern garden decor has become much richer. Today, many types of decorative elements are used for decoration. They can have small forms or be larger in scale and carry architectural significance. The use of various decorative elements allows not only to make the garden space more beautiful, but with their appearance, the estate also becomes more comfortable and functional.

It is important that all elements of garden decor line up into a single style concept. At the same time, their shape and size are secondary, the main thing is that they are all combined into a complete, complete picture, in which every detail is harmonious and in its place. When walking through your garden, you should not get the impression that it looks like a repository or a warehouse of things and objects alien to each other, who knows where they came from.

To beautifully design a garden, you need not only good taste, but also a sense of style, as well as knowledge of at least the basics of landscape design. For example, the rules for compatibility of materials used in garden decoration. For example, you should not combine wood with plastic or glass parts in decorative elements. But natural stone or metal will be in complete harmony with wood. Knowing these rules and applying them in practice will allow you to avoid annoying mistakes and achieve the desired goal - to turn your garden into a real work of art, a beautiful blooming oasis.

Types of garden decor

All types of decorative elements used to decorate the garden are divided into four large groups:

natural decor;
functional decor created by human hands;
small architectural forms;
elements of landscape decor.

Elements of natural decor include various trees, bushes and flowers, with which you can create spectacular compositions. This decor can be a free-standing large bush that blooms beautifully in spring or summer, or a spreading tree that attracts the attention of guests with its bizarre shape. Natural decor also includes all types of hedges and living sculptures created by the hand of a master from ordinary bushes using electric shears and a hedge trimmer. Such natural decor requires constant attention and care, regular adjustments, but it looks no less impressive than artificial decor made from the most expensive materials.

Decorative elements created by human hands include benches, swings, deck chairs and other garden furniture options, as well as umbrellas and sunshades. They can be made from a variety of materials or a combination of them. Artificial decor items can be both stationary and mobile and portable. The location for placing stationary decorative elements is chosen very carefully, taking into account all factors and conditions, since changing their location in the garden after installation will be problematic. Portable ones can always be rearranged if the initially chosen place turns out to be unsuccessful for one reason or another.

Elements of small architecture include sculptures and arches, pergolas and bridges, trellises and small gazebos. They can be made in different styles and shapes, setting the desired atmosphere in your garden. It is only important to think through the composition well, and then implement the project as accurately as possible.

Landscape decoration includes such popular elements as artificially created ponds. They can be very tiny or large-scale, imitating a forest pond or stylized as a park fountain. Often ponds are successfully combined with garden decor of other groups. For example, on ponds and streams, natural or created by the owners of the garden, spectacular bridges are often installed, sun loungers are placed nearby, and beautiful bushes or trees are planted nearby.

Let's take a closer look at the options for placing different types of garden decor.

Artificial pond

It is quite possible to arrange an artificial pond in a garden plot with your own hands. You can even get the expected result if you adhere to basic building codes. The main thing is to choose the right place to prevent direct sunlight from hitting the water surface. The size of the reservoir is directly dependent on the area of the land and the ambitions of the owner.

First, a foundation pit of arbitrary shape is prepared, the depth of the lower tier is up to one meter. Strengthen the bottom and edges of the pit. Reinforcing bars are placed at the bottom and filled with concrete mixture. After the concrete has gained the necessary strength, you can refine the concrete surface, decorate the banks of the reservoir, and fill it with blessed water. A floating flower bed or a house for waterfowl would not look bad in a pond.

Alcove

Today there are gazebos in almost every garden, but not everyone manages to harmoniously fit this structure into the garden landscape. To do this, you need to choose the right size and style of gazebo. Its dimensions must correspond to the area of the site. In a garden laid out on four acres, a large structure will look too pompous and ridiculous. But in a spacious area there are no such restrictions. Gazebos are made from different materials. Most often they are wooden or forged, complemented by interior textiles. The placement of the gazebo is determined by how you intend to use it. If this will be a place for reading and privacy, then it is better to install a gazebo in the depths of the garden. And if frequent friendly meals with barbecue will take place at her table, then it is better to place it next to the barbecue area.

For fun leisure – wooden “Tic-tac-toe”

What to do after a hard day at your dacha with family or close friends? There are, of course, a lot of options, but we suggest remembering everyone’s favorite game, which many people symbolize with childhood, tic-tac-toe. It would seem that what’s special about this game is that we ourselves will make not only a field with markings, but also chips for moves! So, we will need:

One large saw cut;
18 small cuts:
Varnish;
Burning device or paint;
Hacksaw;
Sandpaper.

A large saw cut will serve as a playing field. to mark it in the form of a field of 3 × 3 cells. This can be done using a wood burner, or you can use acrylic paint. After the paint has dried, it is necessary to coat the surface with varnish. Now you need to prepare the chips.

A branch about 3 cm thick is suitable, which needs to be cut with a hacksaw into circles about 1 cm thick.
In general, six “crosses” and “toes” are enough for the game, but chips may get lost, one may not work out in the process, etc. Therefore, it is recommended to do it with a reserve.
The “toes” do not need markings, but on future “crosses” you need to draw the corresponding symbol on both sides.
First you need to level the surfaces after the hacksaw by rubbing it on sandpaper.
When you are finished burning or painting icons on the chips, protect the surface with a layer of varnish. You don’t have to do this, but this way the game looks more civilized and is pleasant to pick up.

After the varnish has dried, you can enjoy the unusual stylization of the game everyone is familiar with.

Arches, pergolas and trellises

These small architectural forms are indispensable as supports for vines, flowering or simply green. They curl beautifully along the bars of metal arches, especially if they are climbing roses. But what if it is difficult to grow them in your region due to the unfavorable climate? Frost-resistant virgin grapes will look just as great on arches, especially in the fall, when its leaves turn red.

A trellis is a structure consisting of a roof and beams along which vines are allowed to form a spectacular canopy. You can even place garden furniture under it; it will be convenient to relax here, sheltered from the scorching heat, or drink a cup of tea in the evening.

Structures such as arches are often placed in corners or at the entrance to the garden. They can also serve as a separator for functional areas. They are usually made of metal, but there are also wooden or wicker models. The classic design is a metal lattice, curved in the shape of an arch, which is densely entwined with vines, creating a beautiful flowering vault. Climbing roses and clematis look especially impressive on arches.

Pergolas are made on the same principle as arches, only they have a simpler shape, reminiscent of a lattice wall entwined with plants. Pergolas do an excellent job of zoning the garden. They can be installed individually, but their group use looks much more impressive. Entwined with vines, they form a beautiful green tunnel through which you can walk, for example, from a house to a recreation area.

Collapsible garden arch Pattern-1 120x30x250cm metal green

Vases

Flower pots have a number of significant advantages. They are mobile and can be moved without much effort in adverse weather conditions.

Flowerpots are a wonderful decorative and practical decoration. To create it, various materials are suitable for every taste. A strong and durable stone flowerpot can be made in European, oriental, avant-garde or modern style.

An inexpensive concrete flowerpot can be decorated with broken porcelain, then it will look more stylish and expensive. You can use tree stumps and tree cuts as wooden flower stands.

Fountains

They are increasingly appearing in our gardens. They are installed next to a pond or even on the surface of the water. They can be quite pompous or, conversely, small, reminiscent of a forest spring that you can stumble upon in a remote place in the garden. The use of fountains as decoration for gardens, the design of which is in the English or Greek style, is especially relevant.

Often in this case, the classic option is chosen, which is a beautiful stone bowl from which a vertical stream of water bursts out. Such a fountain can be installed even in a small area. And if you have free space and financial resources, you can also set your sights on a fountain composition that will become a landmark in the area.

Outdoor fountain Pair of flamingos 49x37x72cm

DIY garden figurines (photo)

If you decide to decorate your garden yourself, remember that here you need to finely feel the line between the stylistic direction of the garden and a sense of proportion. Because when decorating a garden, going too far with the number of figurines or choosing the wrong type of decorative figurines can easily ruin the aesthetic appearance of your site.

After all, you will agree that figurines of Little Red Riding Hood, Baba Yaga, Kolobok or another fairy-tale character would not look entirely appropriate in a Japanese garden. A green lawn decorated with a large number of artificial palm trees, under each of which there will be a figurine of a gnome, will look even more strange.

Based on the requirements of landscape design, try to choose images of figures in unison with the main direction of the style of your site.

Beautiful plaster figurine of a girl carefully watering flowers

The most beautiful figurines for the garden are those that are made by hand.

Decorative garden figurines in the form of two funny rabbits will add personality to your garden

Crafts for the garden from tires (photo)

Using old car tires as a material for making garden decorations has long become a common practice for many people. Absolutely all tires of any diameter are suitable for this.

Having a number of fresh and practical ideas in your head, as well as certain skills in using piercing and cutting tools and devices, you can turn a boring piece of rubber into a beautiful art object, thereby decorating your garden in an unusual way.

There is nothing complicated in this work and, as practice shows, it takes less than one hour to make crafts for the garden with your own hands from car tires, even for a novice craftsman.

To make a country swing from old car tires you will need paint, a strong rope and a special anchor with a loop.

An original table made from a tire will ideally complement an existing set of garden furniture

A little imagination and an old tire found a new life in the form of a children's swing "overweight"

Products made from tires are exactly the case when you don’t need to spend too much time on DIY garden crafts and invest a lot of money in purchasing expensive materials.

The scope of application of old car tires, where they can be used as a material for making crafts, is huge. Starting from the design of ordinary flower beds and flower beds, ending with full-fledged playgrounds for your children. Crafts made from tires for the garden are simple, cheap, well-proven products, the design forms of which know no boundaries.

Step-by-step instructions for making a garden ottoman from an old tire

Original flower bed made from a car tire

A stylish car for the modern summer resident

Crafts for the garden from scrap materials (photo)

In order for the DIY garden crafts you create to retain their original appearance for as long as possible, try to choose the right source material for them. It is also important to thoroughly prepare the surface for applying paints and varnishes.

Modern synthetic acrylic paints, which are characterized by reliable resistance to constant changes in air temperature and ultraviolet radiation, are ideal for open air.

A wonderful birdhouse made from scrap materials

A unique decorative well in the shape of a flower pot will become a real decoration for your garden.

By decorating ordinary cones with soft decorative balls you will get an original decoration for your garden that will delight you all year round

In such an important task as decorating a garden with your own hands, absolutely any little thing that has been gathering dust on your property for years without use can come in handy. As experienced gardeners say, there is nothing unnecessary and nothing superfluous in the dacha!

To add special chic to your creations, experienced designers recommend using various sparkles, beads, beads, colored glass, etc. as decoration. With their help, you can create an original image of fairy-tale characters, gnomes, small figures of animals or insects. Well, if you add a little magic to the surface of the products, in the form of fluorescent paint, you will be able to enjoy the beauty of your garden not only during the day, but also at night.

Glow in the dark tree stumps will look magical and mysterious

Fluorescent paints have long been widely used in the manufacture of garden furniture for dachas

By screwing a pair of strong wheels to an ordinary stump, you will get a beautiful and mobile coffee table for your garden

Unusual bird feeder made from a tea saucer

New ideas for the garden that will inspire you (photo)

Everyone wants their space to look beautiful and cozy. It’s so nice to admire this beauty during warm summer evenings. To do this, you need to spend a lot of time and money, because often purchased decorative items are not cheap at all and, unfortunately, not everyone can afford it. And yet, even from this situation there is an excellent budget way out - to make crafts for the garden with your own hands.

First of all, of course, you should take care of landscaping the site:

Pay due attention to paths, paths, trees, flower beds and flower beds;
Also, don’t forget about the recreation areas ( gazebos , terraces ), where you often like to relax on warm summer evenings. They must look perfect.

If we talk about more interesting projects, then you can aim at creating a decorative mini-garden or other decoration . The miniature will look best surrounded by small figurines and various figures.

A miniature “dugout” reminiscent of a Hobbit house will become a real decoration for your garden

Beautiful composition of a fisherman, made from scrap materials

A little white paint and an old bicycle has found new life as a garden decor item.

A pond decorated with artificial lilies or swans will look no less beautiful. If it is difficult for you to make waterproof garden crafts with your own hands , then you can easily purchase them in specialized stores. There you will certainly be able to choose suitable products that will harmoniously fit into the landscape design of your garden .

It is important to remember that some products (especially those made of cheap plastic) are susceptible to severe temperature changes. Therefore, if necessary, in winter, all the decor can be moved from the street to a more secluded place where it will not be threatened by the cold.

Decorating a pond or reservoir with your own hands is quite a responsible task. Try to approach this issue extremely thoroughly.

Even a very small pond can radically transform your site for the better.

DIY master class - everything for the garden (photo)

Many people decorate their garden using classic techniques - beautiful figurines of little gnomes, unusual birds, as well as funny and funny little animals. This style of design for a site is very popular, especially for those who have small children. It has been proven that the fabulous atmosphere created in this way in the garden has a beneficial effect on the development of the child.

If you add a water bowl or bird feeder to your garden, then in addition to improving the aesthetic beauty of the area, you will make a significant contribution to saving starving birds in winter. Thus, you will teach your kids to love all life on earth from a very early age.

Beautiful wooden bird feeder in the appearance of a house

In order to make a feeder with your own hands, second-grade lumber is also suitable.

Easy and quick to make glass jar feeder

It will look very beautiful if you decorate the bird house with sea stones and shells

If you put your heart into it, you can get original crafts even from an ordinary pumpkin.

Garden decor - photos of the best DIY crafts

If there has been construction or renovation on the site recently, then some building materials, such as cement, are likely to remain. With the help of concrete, you can create excellent decor for your garden with your own hands .

To do this, you need to find the largest leaf; a burdock or water lily leaf is perfect;
Then you need to apply a layer of cement on this sheet, not very thick, but not thin either. In order for the leaf to subsequently stand, the top must be level and smooth, otherwise the leaf will have to be dug into the ground;
After this, you need to wait about 5-6 hours until the solution dries completely, turn it over, remove the sheet from the cement and voila - the decor is ready.

To prevent your DIY concrete crafts from looking too gloomy, you can glue colored pebbles in the middle or simply paint the sheet any color.

Despite the fact that concrete is considered a rough material, it makes quite interesting artistic crafts.

The presence of certain artistic skills and abilities allows you to achieve amazing results when painting concrete products

A wonderful flower pot made from an old rag and cement mortar

By cutting up an old barrel and placing shelves in it, you can get an excellent wine storage cabinet

Making a grill with your own hands from an iron barrel is not at all difficult, the main thing is to be good at using a grinder and a welding machine

Grills and barbecues

Even an ordinary barbecue can become an effective element of your garden decor if a blacksmith makes it, for example, in the shape of a carriage or a frigate rapidly sailing with its sails inflating. And it’s even better to arrange a whole area in the garden where you can cook food outdoors and have dinner or lunch in the warm company of loved ones. A barbecue area can become an important part of landscape design if it is designed and correctly integrated into the garden landscape. For this you can use stones, large boulders or, for example, gabions. The choice depends on your preferences and the overall style of garden design.

Flower beds

Of course, it is difficult to imagine a beautiful garden design without flowers. Today there are many interesting variations in the design of flower beds. Among them we can highlight a picturesque border of flowers, a traditional rectangular ridge with plants of various colors.

Along the walls of the house, the area is often decorated with a mixborder with continuous flowering and correctly selected floral patterns. With the help of vertical flower beds you can transform even a very small area.

The original shape of such multi-tiered flower beds is obtained using mesh frames, which are constructed from wire, covered with film and filled with soil mixture.

Stairs and steps

If your garden is located at different levels, you can emphasize its natural topography by using beautiful and original stairs and steps for this purpose. For their construction, you can use different materials, but it is important that these decorative objects are in harmony in color and style with the existing garden paths. The difference in levels is beautifully emphasized by stone steps. But if in the rest of the garden the paths are made of wood, then the stone steps will not fit harmoniously into the overall composition of the garden.

Original, unusual flower beds

Planting flowers is the most popular way to decorate a plot of land. There are tulips, peonies, asters, cornflowers and other plants at every dacha, but pay attention to how they are planted.

The original design of a flower garden, beautifully planted plants, decorated with small lanterns or animal figurines is a simple way to make the area even more attractive and interesting.

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To create a flower garden, it is not at all necessary to make expensive purchases and purchase high-quality flowers. You just need to sort through the old, unnecessary trash, select suitable plants from the available ones and use your imagination.

Pour fertile soil into any unnecessary dishes, old chest of drawers, unusable wheelbarrow and these items will immediately turn into beautiful flower beds.

You can decorate your garden plot with a traditional flowerbed, that is, flowers planted directly into the ground, and you can fence it around the perimeter with plastic bottles, logs, branches, bricks and other available materials.

Artificial stones, broken tiles, porcelain cups and much more that at first glance may seem like rubbish will be used.

When creating unique varieties of flower beds, you should take into account the general design style of the site, the facade of the building and, of course, taste preferences.

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Sculptures

Garden sculpture has not lost its relevance since ancient times. The figures of people, birds, and animals do not carry any practical load, but give the garden landscape a special chic and grace. Large sculptures are better suited for decorating the front area of the garden, which is located near the main object: a mansion, cottage or house. Small sculptures are placed near ponds, in different parts of the garden. It is only important not to oversaturate the garden space with them; here, as in everything, you need a sense of proportion.

Garden figure Shepherd Dog 85cm

We focus on plants

Expanding the flora of your front garden will give it a new, incomparable look. Various types of trees, varieties of flowers, and ornamental shrubs will turn the garden into an interesting place.

As an option, zoning the garden using various plant characteristics. For example, flowers can be planted according to shades, in one corner there will be scarlet roses along with red dahlias and gladioli, but white asters, daisies and tulips will occupy the opposite side. Or, conversely, mix all the shades around the perimeter of the area, turning it into a bright, juicy mixture of flowers of various shades and colors.

You can do the same with trees. Set up a fruit corner (apple trees, pear trees, apricot seedlings) in one side, conifers, for example, in the other, various fruit-bearing shrubs in the third.

This will ensure the convenience of harvesting; in the cool coniferous shade in the summer you can hide from the sun and relax, without fear of insects that will certainly pollinate fruit trees.

You can replenish your garden green collection with both new, previously unknown plants, and those that you have been growing for a long time. Carefully study the market and choose those seeds and seedlings that you will be happy to care for.

Lanterns

Even the most beautiful garden with carefully selected and correctly installed decorative elements cannot do without competent and thoughtful lighting. Lanterns are needed in every garden. These can be full-fledged lighting fixtures with electrical wiring or solar-powered lamps. Now there are many models that, charged with solar energy, can burn for a long time in the dark, illuminating the garden area all night long.

Some of them look very impressive, for example, constantly changing the color of the glow. Antique-style models also amaze with the beauty of their design. You can even buy lamps made in the shape of torches for the garden. They are also solar powered, but their glow flickers, simulating a live fire. Installed along the paths, such torches in your garden will look very beautiful and exotic.

Homemade products from unnecessary equipment

Damaged teapots and containers, old buckets, watering cans, wheelbarrows, and all those things where you can place flowers in a minimalist decor will become a wonderful decoration for the garden. Small vessels can be placed on the porch of a house or gazebo.

Such homemade pots are harmoniously combined with figures of animals and fairy-tale characters. Chairs, beds, a broken bicycle and even a car can become bright elements of country decor.