{"id":425,"date":"2008-07-20T07:39:23","date_gmt":"2008-07-20T14:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.remarc.com\/craig\/?p=425"},"modified":"2008-07-20T09:01:30","modified_gmt":"2008-07-20T16:01:30","slug":"garden-bloggers%e2%80%99-design-workshop-garden-whimsy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/?p=425","title":{"rendered":"Garden Bloggers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Design Workshop &#8211; Garden Whimsy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"images\/whim_blue_bot_flowerx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_blue_bot_flowerx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nBlue bottle &#8216;flower&#8217; (with boat augers and lamp fixture).  Blue bottle tree in background.<\/p>\n<p>A couple weeks after Nan announced <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gardeninggonewild.com\/?p=1272#more-1272\">this round of the Garden Bloggers&#8217; Design Workshop<\/a>, Steve Orr&#8217;s New York Times Q&amp;A column in The New York Times (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/07\/17\/garden\/17qnaa.html?ex=1374033600&amp;en=15c9ce61b1a651f4&amp;ei=5124&amp;partner=permalink&amp;exprod=permalink\">Picking Accessories for the Plants<\/a>) offered good advice on garden ornamentation that applies equally to whimsy.  His advice:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Don&#8217;t go overboard.<\/li>\n<li>Use found objects.<\/li>\n<li>Use surprise.<\/li>\n<li>Make ornaments focal points, but don&#8217;t distract too much from the plants.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>Even in a very lushly planted yard, a visitor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eye usually will go straight to any nonplant feature. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best not to have several ornaments visible at a glance, competing with each other, since the most interesting landscapes have a little mystery. Place one object half-hidden in a leafy shrub and position another around a corner, so that its discovery is a surprise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Did I mention don&#8217;t go overboard?  If I have a problem with whimsy in the garden, it&#8217;s probably that my eye gets too accustomed to whimsical elements.  Before you know it, my yard will be filled with crap.  Hopefully I&#8217;ll notice before the neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>For those of you who aren&#8217;t in the neigborhood, here&#8217;s what I&#8217;ve got scattered around.  (The camera exercise once again reveals to me I&#8217;ve got way more than I thought.)  I&#8217;ll also include some shots from other gardens at the end.<\/p>\n<p>Floating bowling ball on bent rebar.  Long story of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.remarc.com\/craig\/?p=316\">midnight bowling ball accident of 2003<\/a> from a previous design workshop post.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_bowling_ballx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_bowling_ballx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sugar and flower canisters make great pots.  So do olive oil cans.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_canistersx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_canistersx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>How could I not buy a bottle of Chilean brandy when the bottle looks like an Easter Island statue?  It was all I could do to drink the brandy.  But I earned a container ornament for my efforts.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_easter_island_guyx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_easter_island_guyx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jade checks out the happy turtle.  Not so visible in the pot is an ancient hand-made Chia head that I remember from childhood.  It split a few years ago so now I have two profiles looking up at me from the pot.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_jade_turtlex1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_jade_turtlex500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Someday I&#8217;ll make a pilgrimage to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.remarc.com\/craig\/?p=177\">the local pink flamingo factory<\/a> and get a real one.  But for now I like the one I have with its spinning wings.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_pink_flamingox1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_pink_flamingox500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sloggers still work as hanging container for succulents.  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.remarc.com\/craig\/?p=183\">Back story<\/a> and my infamous <a href=\"http:\/\/www.remarc.com\/craig\/?p=125\">garden footwear review<\/a>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_sloggersx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_sloggersx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Spilled trough with hypertufa balls.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_troughx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_troughx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Glow-in-the-dark tree guy.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_treefacex1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_treefacex500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>My mini-water-garden probably counts more as ornamentation than it does as whimsy.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/wg_containerx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/wg_containerx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I float blossoms in this old cattle waterer.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/bowl_o_tulipsx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/bowl_o_tulipsx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>My friend Marcia has a pretty whimsical garden.  She does it with a lot more class than I do.  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.remarc.com\/craig\/?p=390\">More pictures of her garden here<\/a>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/mes_columnx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/mes_columnx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Shirley G. has the best whimsical garden in these parts.  Shirley is a member of our local <a href=\"http:\/\/acnargs.blogspot.com\/\">Adirondack Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society<\/a>.  The group toured her garden back in 2005, when I took these pictures.<\/p>\n<p>A salvaged canopy bed that I picture now covered with vines.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_girton_bedarborx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_girton_bedarborx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The family.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_girton_familyx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_girton_familyx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Best shoe garden I&#8217;ve seen.<br \/>\n<a href=\"images\/whim_girton_shoesx1200.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"whimsy\" src=\"images\/whim_girton_shoesx500.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Shirley also had a cool heart-shaped water garden tub, a Wizard of Oz garden and lots of other cools stuff punctuated by some great plants.<\/p>\n<p>Have at it.  Just don&#8217;t overdo it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blue bottle &#8216;flower&#8217; (with boat augers and lamp fixture). Blue bottle tree in background. A couple weeks after Nan announced this round of the Garden Bloggers&#8217; Design Workshop, Steve Orr&#8217;s New York Times Q&amp;A column in The New York Times (Picking Accessories for the Plants) offered good advice on garden ornamentation that applies equally to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/?p=425\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Garden Bloggers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Design Workshop &#8211; Garden Whimsy&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,41,15,20,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-bummers","category-containers","category-design","category-other-gardens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellishollow.remarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}