Garden Whimsy

Maisy and Daisy amongst the Ash leaves - November 2007

My dictionary defines whimsy as self-conscious semi-humorous sentimentality. And I feel a little self-conscious today in presenting some of the more whimsical features of my garden. After all, what makes me laugh will probably be judged by some others as pointless tat, kitsch and in bad taste.

It's this big!

A whim is defined as a sudden impulse or thought and all the whimsical features in my garden are testament to that. Unlike most of my garden's other features (excepting plants, and we all have impulse bought at least one for our garden haven't we?), no thought or plan went into the purchase of these objects. They simply made me stop and giggle (or think), then buy them. Here's a small selection of some of the objects that form the finishing touches in my garden.

Pig pig pig alternates between peering cheekily round our central steps and a bookcase in our hall. As you can see he's in an outdoor phase at the moment.

The Mexican is perched on our patio wall and forms a focal point leading into the garden from the garden's side entrance, where he is framed within a pergola. I'll be showing you the side garden and pergola next month as part of a very exciting blogging project I'm working on at the moment.

I love the sea and a lot of my pots are blue, so this starfish was a must have.

The garden is on a limestone bedrock and I often find fossilised corals in the brashy stone when digging. Therefore a replica ammonite was a natural addition to my finds from the garden.

I also have a number of wild animals, some of which also occur in the garden in their natural form, such as frogs. Most of these are hidden and my niece loves to find and count them all when she visits. Some are hidden so well, I couldn't find them when taking the photographs for this piece!

Not all of my objects are 'natural' garden ornaments. This is one of a pair of finials I picked up cheaply at an auction. Normally they would be fitted on a gatepost pillar, but I thought they'd make a different 'full stop' to the narrowing borders either side of the steps down to the lower patio.

Most of my garden whimsy serves absolutely no practical purpose at all, except to amuse me. However, the decorative trellises below are being used to add interest to the vast swathes of fencing we have bordering our property where there is no soil available to grow plants. These are down one of the sets of side steps off the patio.

Below is another practical example used to protect some wooden posts from rotting and reminds me of the Arabian Nights.