Garden Designers Roundtable: Harmonize art and sculpture with your garden

July 24, 2012


Garden Designers Roundtable talks art today. A discussion of art in the garden can go in so many directions: Plants as art. Homemade garden art. Making sure your art is the proper scale for the site. Child-safe installation of heavy sculpture. Functional garden art. What is art? Entire books could be—and have been—written about using art in the garden, but since this is just one post I’m going to focus on harmonizing your art with your garden.

First, however, I do want to spell out my three very strict rules about using art in the garden. Ready?
1. Display what you love.
2. Use what you have. Make your own art! Why not?
3. Less is more. Except when more is more. You know which type you are—go for it! Art is a personal expression.

Easy, right? And no matter what kind of garden art you gravitate toward, finding the perfect spot for it—or making the perfect spot for it—is easy when you harmonize it with the plants or hardscape in your garden. Let’s look at some fun examples.

Play up a theme

In this Asheville, North Carolina, vegetable garden, flowers made of forks and spoons are a sly accompaniment to the salad greens.


So are salad plates “growing” among the chard, as seen in Lucinda Hutson’s Austin garden.


Lucinda also has a mermaid-themed garden, in which this iron mermaid is paired with coral-shaped succulents and Sanseveria to create an under-the-sea garden scene.

Echo the texture of plants or hardscape in your art

In Helen Yoest’s Raleigh garden, green ivy scales the brick wall of her house, echoing the pattern of scales on the metal fish that hangs there.


Likewise, a stone Buddha head matches the texture of the limestone wall behind it in Jeff Pavlat’s Austin garden. It’s almost as if the rock has come to life.

Emphasize a plant’s shape or color by repeating it with garden art

This idea is masterfully illustrated in the Middleton Farm Garden in Dallas, where a vertically stacked pebble sculpture echoes the shape and color variation of black bamboo growing behind it.


A blue, spiky-haired figure echoes the spiky, blue leaves of an Agave ovatifolia in my own former garden.


Yellow and orange glass globes harmonize with the sunny leaves of Japanese forest grass in the Lane Garden in Seattle.


And a blue gazing globe reflects the blue stems and leaves of ‘Bath’s Pink’ dianthus in my current garden.


A white pot is a natural choice to brighten a shade garden, especially if you plant a white-variegated plant in front of it, as in the lovely Birrell Garden in Seattle.

Humorously riff on the nature of your plants with garden art

Art can be beautiful, colorful, eye-catching, and thought-provoking, but it can also be funny. In my garden, a bottlebrush-style bottle tree, strategically placed, stands in for an agave bloom spike, which will not occur until the plant has reached the end of its life. I’m not in any hurry for that to occur, so it’s fun to enjoy this fantasy bloom spike until then.


And when I found this toothy, Audrey-style plant stake, I knew it’d be a perfect match with a similarly dangerous plant with “teeth”—in this case, a spiky Agave stricta. Feed me, Seymour!

This is my contribution to today’s posting on Art and Sculpture in the Garden by Garden Designers Roundtable. Click for links to other designers’ posts from around the U.S. and England.

Susan Cohan : Miss Rumphius’ Rules : Chatham, NJ

Jocelyn Chilvers : The Art Garden : Denver, CO

Mary Gallagher Gray : Black Walnut Dispatch : Washington, D.C.

Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK

Jenny Peterson : J Petersen Garden Design : Austin, TX

Deborah Silver : Dirt Simple : Detroit, MI

Rebecca Sweet : Gossip In The Garden : Los Altos, CA

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

19 responses to “Garden Designers Roundtable: Harmonize art and sculpture with your garden”

  1. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    I appreciate your encouragement of people being themselves in their garden. I like all the examples you have set out there. Art is so personal.

    Thanks, Lisa. So much can be written about using art in the garden, but for me it’s about displaying what you love. For me that meant culling a lot of garden tchotchkes, when I moved, that I’d somehow accumulated over the years. They didn’t speak to me anymore, and the new garden was better without them. —Pam

  2. I love a little whimsy in the garden and you have shared some good examples! For me, the mermaid would be looked at very seriously (I do have a thing for mermaids!)

    Then you’d love Lucinda Hutson’s garden, Janet. She has a mermaid theme going on, and she’s definitely a more-is-more kind of gal. Check out my post about her garden for more inspiration (I think I took a few more mermaid pics there). —Pam

  3. ChrisG says:

    Pam – you know I’m all about the garden art. I’m still working on my ‘backyard boudoir’!

    I know, ChrisG, and I’m going to need another look at the creative and tongue-in-cheek boudoir soon! —Pam

  4. Randy says:

    The mermaid and succulents was just pure genius! I just don’t have the kind of eye for detail like that.

    Isn’t it fun? I’ve seen a number of California gardens that play up the underwater look of succulents, which of course they can grow with abandon. Lucinda just stepped it up a notch with her playful mermaid. —Pam

  5. Great examples of art pieces that are small and whimsical that still pack a lot of punch! The plantings of harmonious color and forms are beautiful and/or entertaining. Thanks!

    Thanks, Jocelyn. Most of us can’t afford fine sculpture, but we can all create something personal and meaningful from everyday or homemade objects. That’s the beauty of art—it’s what you make it. —Pam

  6. Mary Gray says:

    Pam, these are just fantastic examples of art that is unique and personal, but not pretentious or really expensive. The way the art echoes or complements the surrounding plants is totally genius. I adore the Audry sculpture!

    Thanks, Mary. Appropriate placement of art is, I think, more important than the kind of art you have. It’s all about the setting. —Pam

  7. Your photos are always so delightful, Pam! I just love the stacked pebble sculpture with the bamboo behind it – a perfect example of repetition in a most creative way. Great lessons for everyone, and sure to help many decide just how and where to place their art!

    I hope so, Rebecca. I’ve learned a lot from seeing the harmonized placement of art in many gardens I’ve toured over the years. —Pam

  8. Alison says:

    I love garden art, and I’m definitely in the “more is more” category. But that can sometimes come off as tacky rather than tasteful, so I try to restrain myself. These are excellent tips for integrating great art into the garden.

    I tend to be a more-is-more person myself, Alison, and I struggle to restrain myself sometimes too. But I’ve met many a gardener who has “let it rip” to great effect (Lucinda Hutson and Wamboldtopia come to mind). I think it’s all in the owner’s confidence to display art creatively and in the right setting. It’s a wonderful expression of personality. —Pam

  9. I love ‘art’ in the garden….perhaps a bit too much. But, it adds that extra touch of interest. Love your new Audrey.

    Isn’t it a hoot, Linda? I can almost hear it laughing when I see it. —Pam

  10. Helen Yoest @ Gardening with Confidence says:

    Oh yea. Love that I’m mentioned in your post. I heart garden art! H.

    I know you do, Helen! I thought of your garden immediately when I was writing this post. —Pam

  11. Pam– I love the piece from Middleton Farm Garden. You are right about it echoing the verticality of the bamboo behind it. What happened to your little sun faced sculpture? Is it in your new garden?

    You bet, Susan, still sitting in front of my ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave, which I also brought with me—only it’s MUCH bigger now. —Pam

  12. I was lucky enough to tour several gardens owned by sculptors this past weekend, and almost titled the blog post about one of the gardens “more is more”, so I know EXACTLY what you’re talking about. I’ve always considered myself more of a minimalist, but slowly that seems to be changing…

    More can sometimes be very appealing, Susan. Did you ever see the Meryl Streep movie One True Thing? Her character believes in “more is more,” and in the process she created a beautiful life for her family. —Pam

  13. peter schaar says:

    To Alison: A pink flamingo in a lawn is tacky. A river of several dozen is magnificent! To Pam: Where did you get the thing from Little Shop of Horrors? It takes me back to the ’80s, when Theatre Three here in Dallas did a splendid version of it starring Akin Babatunde, a well known local actor and blues singer, as the thing. Your eye for this stuff is laser sharp! I learned so much and laughed so hard. History teachers, take note!

    I love your analogy with the flamingos, Peter! I got the little Audrey from The Great Outdoors here in Austin. When I bought mine last year, they carried a variety of sizes, including some very large ones that were a bit menacing! —Pam

  14. Hi Pam!
    Thought your bottle tree and the agave juxtaposed was THE biz! Such FUN!
    Really liked your harmony point.
    Thanks and Best
    R

    Isn’t that fun? Thanks for dropping by, Robert. —Pam

  15. Laura says:

    I definitely agree that “art” is in the eye of the beholder. I have a big space so I don’t think I’ve tipped the scale toward over-doing it yet. I finished my “Masterpiece” mosiac chicken but then ended up hiding it under a vine because it didn’t go over as well as I hoped it would. 😉 Your three rules are right on target.

    Oh, the poor chicken, relegated to holding up a vine! Ha! Thanks for your comment, Laura. —Pam

  16. Ruth says:

    I love the idea of echoing the plants with art. Perfect.

    Harmonizing plants with art (or vice versa) makes such an impact, Ruth. —Pam

  17. Mamaholt says:

    Woo hoo. Now you’re talking right up my alley!

    And HOW did I miss that Middleton Farm Garden in Dallas?!?!!? Oh my gosh THAT is my dream yard – having it all. Was that a giant yard, Pam? And, do you know how they mounted those stones together to make the vertical stone sculptures?

    Bossy with the questions today, aren’t I?

    SO glad to be home and happy to be reading Digging!

    The Middleton Farm Garden really does have it all. No, it was not a huge yard, but it felt bigger because the owners had created three distinct rooms: pool/terrace, edible garden, and shady lawn/hammock garden. I do not know how the stone art was constructed (but I bet you’ll figure out a way to do it). I followed your traveling adventures, Mamaholt—what fun you all had! Glad to have you back in Austin though. —Pam

  18. Oh, great examples! I especially like the plates with the Swiss Chard. Thanks for the inspiration!

    My pleasure, PP. The plates in the veggie garden are a fun touch, aren’t they? —Pam

  19. Jay says:

    OMG! I LOOOOOVE the Audrey II garden stake! Where can I get one! I am desperate for one!

    I found it at the Great Outdoors in Austin last year, Jay. You can call to see if they still carry them. —Pam