My garden accessories, great elements for any flowerbed garden...

Metal Storks, sundials, or welcoming stone pineapples...

What about garden accessories?

My expertise or love besides the planting, is garden accessories. What women doesn't like to accessorize? Before and throughout the season I keep a lookout for understated, charming pieces of pottery, ironworks or willow.

I tuck the unassuming pieces throughout my garden. Under a leaf, huddled in between a mass planting or at the ponds edge. Adding these smaller elements gives another dimension to the garden design. Most people visit my garden three or four times to catch a glimpse of my hidden treasures.

Most gardeners have some form of a birdbath. Have you ever thought of a 'sand bath' for your birds? My birds just love fluttering and cleaning themselves in sand. I have also used birdbaths as planters for my over-flowing annuals.

Whether it's a simple stool tucked in between shrubs or a watering can left to catch rain water, each piece has its purpose in my garden. Even the hedge hogs help hold up the delicate new shoots growing from the Jacob's Ladder.

I love erecting new birdhouses in my front and backyard. The more the merrier. My dad Karl-Heinz builds and paints them for me.

To prevent squirrels from becoming 'squatters,' simply put metal around the opening. This stops them from chewing the opening larger.

This tip comes from my son-in-law, Adam Rasmussen a welder by trade and an avid bird watcher/feeder. And as such, he forms metal pieces the size of the opening and inserts them. This can also be done with softer metal such as copper pieces. Please visit For The Birds Page.

I will admit to one, ok, two rather whimsical objects...my two pink flamingos, Moe and Josephine. Now, before you snicker here's the story... My cousin visited from Germany and heard that I loved metal garden ornaments. With love in his heart, he purchased the metal bright pink flamingos as a birthday gift to me.

Moe and Joe reside next to my Butterfly Bush.

The Legend of the Welcoming Pineapple

Whether is was the Spandiards, British or the Carib, the Pineapple symbolized hospitality.

Arriving home from trips arboad from tropical islands, seafaring captains impaled the fresh pineapple on top of the porch rails of their homes as a symbol of a welcome home-coming.

In colonial time, a US family would place a fresh pineapple as a centerpiece at a festive meal signalling a warm welcome and hospitality to all guests.

Today, the pineapple is still used as a symbol of hospitality and welcome. Many home have pineapples painted on their front doors, have finials on stair-rails, pineapple welcome mats and brass door knockers.

My two stone pineapples sit at either end of my flowerbed gardens, welcoming all.

The Legend of the Garden Gnome

Based on local German myth, gnomes, often depicted with beards and are typically male, are said to be a gardener's helper in the garden at night.

The garden gnome quickly spread across Germany and into France and England, and wherever gardening was a serious hobby.

Most gnomes usually wear red hats, are known to smoke pipes and pose in pursuing various pastimes, such as fishing or napping. However, the first gnomes were characterized as gardeners

Today gnomes have become controversial in serious gardening circles in England, and have been banned from the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show. The organizers claim that they detract from the garden designs. Gnome enthusiasts accuse the organizers of snobbery because they are popular in working class and suburban gardens.

Orginally made from terracotta clay slurry poured into molds, the gnome is removed from the mold, allowed to dry, and then fired in a kiln until hard. Once cooled the gnome is painted.Today the decorative garden gnomes are made from resins and similar plastic materials.

Although I am of German heritage, I do not have gnomes in my gardens.

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