The Garden Décoratif



Do you decorate your garden?

I have a weakness for garden ornaments. They bring another dimension to the whole feel about a place, just gelling things together.

This stone bust sits snug in a window recess ready to welcome guests if I'm not around.

I guess he's pretty formal, very classical but the reality is that in no way is the garden or Le Banquet formal. Sure there are elements of formality, clipped box for example, but the bust is a nod in the direction of humour.



Some years ago I found this terracotta urn in a salvage yard near Oxford, England. I think its beautiful. Very Italianesque (or should that be Italianate) and its aged really well.

Quite how old it is I don't know. It probably qualifies as second hand rather than antique but that's neither here nor there, it looks great.

Even better with an Asparagus fern.



It seems that the whole garden antiques sector has grown in recent years. Millers publish a guide dedicated to it. In the relatively short time that I've lived in this corner of France I've seen more and more garden statuary and structure appearing for sale.



Pictured is a French 'Gloriette'. An iron structure ideal for planting climbers up. Imagine a variegated ivy clothing it or perhaps a climbing rose such as 'Pierre de Ronsard'.

I've seen this kind of structure looking simply stunning sitting in a gravel garden.

This one was for sale at a salvage place just down the road from here. The price tag was a couple of thousand euros!

Oh well, I can dream on....

Comments

  1. tina8 February 2009 at 14:47

    I hear you-dreaming is all I can do sometimes with the garden decor in my garden. Every now and then flea markts offer up some good deals. I do like your classic elements too.

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  2. F Cameron8 February 2009 at 15:30

    How about shipping some of those gorgeous European garden accents over there? :-)

    I am truly envious of the European style of garden decor -- because, it actually works in your setting where as in my garden, it must be carefully managed or it will look too contrived.

    One day, we're coming to the Dordogne!

    Cameron

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  3. RURAL 8 February 2009 at 16:48

    Absolutely beautiful. That aged patina, the structure....

    Ah to live in France.

    Another photographer in the blogsphere this is wonderful. I can't wait to see her photographs. She will have some amazing countryside for a subject.

    Jen

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  4. Rob (ourfrenchgarden)8 February 2009 at 20:18

    Hi

    Tina, there's always a bargain out there.

    Cameron, I'll happily ship one over if ever the pound recovers against the euro.

    Jen, If Karen follows through on the photography then I'll post some beautiful sepia pics

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  5. Catherine@AGardenerinProgress9 February 2009 at 00:34

    Your garden decor is much nicer than mine :) I like the antique garden decor, very nice!

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  6. Nutty Gnome9 February 2009 at 16:57

    I love the urn - and am fighting hard to resist the temptation to do the Morecambe and Wise joke about "what's a greek urn?"
    I've got a couple of statues to go in my Japanese garden - they look very pretty covered insnow, but they're not a patch on your gorgeous goodies!

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  7. Nutty Gnome9 February 2009 at 16:58

    Ps....." about 20 drachmas a day"!!

    sorry!

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  8. Bay Area Tendrils9 February 2009 at 17:55

    Lovely, Rob! Thank you for sharing these lovely ornaments. Alice

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  9. VW10 February 2009 at 02:49

    Well, some garden decor is rather tacky. But your pieces are all beautiful. And I laughed at the greek urn joke :-) VW

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  10. nilla|utanpunkt11 February 2009 at 01:11

    Bonjour monsieur! First time I see an English blog from a French garden! Garden ornaments are lovely, particularily those old, aged ones. I had the idea to fill my garden with them...until I saw the price tags. I still go to garden ornament salvage yards though, stroke theri surfaces, and arrange them in my garden, in my head...

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  11. Benjamin Vogt11 February 2009 at 01:31

    Happened to find my here from somewhere, but glad I did. Your blog reminds me of my semester abroad, and a few travels later, but not since 8 years ago. Who doesn't love France. I'm enjoying strolling through your posts. Merci (that's 10 years of French classes hard at work).

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  12. Tatyana@MySecretGarden14 February 2009 at 22:40

    I would weed a garden for that bust! As for the urn, what wonderful salvage yards you have there... I shouldn't complain, although, since I myself got several great pieces almost for nothing. Maybe I should write of them one day. Thanks for the idea!

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  13. Phillip Oliver2 March 2009 at 20:50

    A weakness of mine as well! You have some awesome pieces. I'm just catching up on your blog and I love it.

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  14. viagra online22 May 2010 at 00:23

    What kind of methods can be used to make this happen an innovative decoration in your garden?

    ReplyDelete

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