It's a very personal thing, isn't it, ornament in the garden? How often has a neighbour enthused about their latest concrete cat or ethnic flowerpot person and inside you've gone 'Yuk.'? Still, each to their own.

Whatever your choice of decoration it must please YOU. The whole idea is to make your garden a place where you enjoy sitting and looking at the things around you.

Deciding where to site large objects takes a little time to achieve a good result. If it's heavy, then to avoid putting your back out, use a similar sized lightweight object to move around the garden to get some idea of what it would look like in situ. A garden chair is not bad or a wooden pole for a statue. You may want to line it up with a view between plants or at the end of a path as a focal point.

Some items work particularly well emerging from foliage, giving the impression of having been there a long time. Which brings me to another sticky matter... to scrub or not to scrub. Personally I go for objects growing lichens and mosses rather than pristine clean and I must confess at this stage to owning two concrete pigs that have a fine crop of both. Birdbaths stuck out in the middle of lawns are not only a pain to mow round but always seem a little lost and I think they work well with foliage around them.

Don't shy away from the quirky and interesting items that make your garden individual. OK maybe the planted toilet is a bit of an acquired taste but I've seen other things that work well and reflect the owner's character. Old garden tools, tin advertising boards and old fashioned agricultural equipment can really compliment a country style or rustic garden. Old buckets or big cans painted in bright colours work well in town gardens. Mosaics are very popular made from old tiles, stones or even redundant crockery!

Temporary decorations have their place too. My youngest son is an avid collector of 'things' when out on countryside walks and my patio often has interesting displays of pine cones, bark, sticks and, a little disconcertingly for the postman, animal skulls. The best display lately was a collection of cuttlefish which he laid out on a slatted bench, the effect was surprisingly artistic. The only downside was that the dog kept trying to make off with them!

Whatever style you decide is 'you' try to keep to your theme. Sometimes you see a garden which just can't seem to make up it's mind. It has a bit of this and a bit of that and ends up just not very...well, restful. It becomes confusing and jars the eye. Shamelessly crib ideas from books, magazines and other people's gardens. They don't, after all, have a monopoly on a theme. If you try something and you don't like it, change it. Above all make your garden a place you want to be.

By

'er Outdoors