Garden Statues: Liven Up Your Lawn!



Posted: Thursday, February 17, 2005

by lorien1973
Online Discount Mart Home & Garden Decor

Everyone wants to make their lawn stand out from their neighbours, a reflection of their personality and lifestyle. And one easy and inexpensive way of doing it is with garden statues!

There are as many types of statues as there are books in your local library, of every shape and size and color that you can imagine. From rabbits to gnomes to religious statues you can personalise your garden or front lawn to express yourself with three-dimensional dioramas of every shape and description.

The first place to start your shopping is actually before you leave your house. Look over your lawn or garden and decide exactly how many garden statues you can put in without cluttering up the area or overwhelming the senses. Too many times avid gardeners or landscapers parachute in statue after statue and the effect can be both distracting and detracting from the beauty of the garden overall. A good rule of thumb is to allow approximately one square feet of bare space around each statue's base for each square foot of statue. Obviously this is up to each person's taste, but many gardens end up looking more like a museum's storehouse than a lawn or a garden with a flurry of statues every few inches. Decide before you walk out the front door how many statues you want and stick to it. You can always add more, but having extra models can be bothersome as you stick them either in the garage or in another area of the lawn, a constant reminder of your mistake.

Now that you've established boundaries, let's talk about a theme for your statues. Unless you plan an eclectic display of gnomes beside religious statues next to sundials, you may want to consider a general theme for your lawn.

Religious statues usually are limited to those of the Virgin Mary, painted and unpainted. Available in a variety of sizes, this statue is usually used in a religiously themed garden in a small enclave with specific flowers and herbs planted around it. These gardens can be beautiful displays of one's faith and provide a spiritual treasure to the eye.

A fantasy theme can be delightful to create as well. Fairies, gnomes and angels fall into this category, with mythical creatures such as dragons and unicorns making up the larger models. Garden gnomes are an entire category into themselves, with avid collectors creating a sub-section of displays and storylines that can enrich the simple experience of placing a gnome in your small garden. Eager collectors exchange tips on maintenance, placement and mythical histories back and forth and if you wish to start a gnome garden you would be well-advised to take advantage of their knowledge to create an experience unlike any other.

Wildlife statues are the most common and easy to work with from the baby bunny tucking his nose out from under a leaf to the full-sized lifelike deer that would be well-advised to move inside when hunting season starts. This is often the most popular category when dealing with children, as the variety of sculptures provide for every type and size of animal and many of them are small and inexpensive. Most are painted, but you can also purchase unpainted statues that your family can personalize with a splash of color and make truly their own.

There are also those statues that fall outside of most catagories such as sundials, bird feeders, bird baths and artistic creations. Again, if you wish to place these in your garden be sure to prepare for the maintenance they'll need. A birdfeeder will provide hours of enjoyment for the avid birdwatcher, but if it's empty you won't see much. And if the water is dirty in the bath, no feathered friends will visit. As well, some sculptures don't deal well with extreme types of weather - be sure to check on the restrictions of these types of statues when you purchase them. Placing that freestyle sculpture into the garage might be bothersome, but losing it to a snowstorm that might topple the fragile creation or chip the ornate sundial is worse.

Using lawn statues in your garden can create a visual experience that will be uniquely yours alone and provide hours of fun and entertainment for you and your family. And with a little planning beforehand, you can sit back and enjoy the results as your neighbours look on in envy!

by Sheryl Nantus
Lorien1973 writes articles about home decor and garden decor for such sites as Online Discount Mart.
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