Um... nothing. I know the topic of your post was garden decor, but I have to comment on how much I like your gardens. The ferns and brunnera (I have to get some of that.), and is that itea behind the ferns? It's all very lovely and natural looking.
Christine

Do not have that set up yet, but I like your style. I am a great believer in achieving a "long view," if at all possible. Not just in the daytime, but at night at well. Overall illumination is not good for ambiance, it is good for parking lots and shopping centers only. Lighting sure can hide a multitude of sins, and draw the eye to what you want folks to see, even if you do not want them walking over to it.

In your garden, I'm seeing a lot of depth, and it is so tropical and beautiful. With all that shade, do you think that somewhere in the distance, you might have an uplight to mark a tree trunk, and then arrange to silhouette an object which is smaller than the Oriental figure in the foreground? This forces perspective, fooling the eye into thinking it is a larger object and the distance is greater than it is. One thing I like would be to find and hang a child-size hammock, or a child-size Adirondack chair and side table. Strictly for eye candy, not for anyone to approach.

If you can possibly find a copy of a book by George Little and David Lewis, link below, who had a great garden in Bainbridge Washington, it will show the art work they created, and were selling, don't know if they still do it or not, since they reportedly moved to Mexico. I feel so pleased to have a hanging piece of their work,White Dove, which is the name I gave my white stucco cottage here in Mobile.

Today my DH is out in our Back Forty digging holes for a shade structure so my container hosta can have a proper home with some shade and protection from falling leaves.
The space was brush cleared less than 2 years ago, so it is still filled with old azalea stumps and tree roots.

Really like they way you are "layering" your garden. It is very well dressed and stylish. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Little & Lewis: A GARDEN GALLERY

Your garden is absolutely stunning -- so lush and healthy looking. I do hope the people you entertain are appreciative of your talent and effort. If not, and you need a fillin for one of your gatherings I could arrange to be available lol.
Jan

Aww thank you all. I appreciate the suggestions. I have a large lot and I did luck out with lots of mature tree. The shade garden is about an acre so I am trying to get a sense interest as you sit on the patio and look out and interest as you walk through the area. I am going to set up some seating along the way.

Jan you are welcome to come and join the fun. I have 4 hen parties a year. We can always add another if you can take our foolishness. I am the gardener of the group they always walk through my gardens and ask for names of the different plants.

New Addition, a coneflower I can't kill-

Paul

lol Paul, I killed the one coneflower I tried. Sun plants and I just dont click.

marquest, your garden is so lovely and peaceful looking! I don't have a ton of garden art. There are three things I made- a glass ball, a statue of one of my dogs (still working on the second), and a fountain made from hypertufa. If you don't have a water feature, that would be my suggestion. The sound is so nice, and I think it would be great in the background for entertaining.

Here is my glass ball- more of a space filler, really

Here is my fountain, which is really the centerpiece of my garden

Christine, if you want to add brunnera, my suggestion would be to look for it in the nursery in August. Many, many of them have nematodes, including mine. They show up as dark splotches on the leaves towards the end of summer. So if you can find any in the nursery that look clean, buy those!

Marquest, so Zen. So peaceful. If I were a a Wee person, or a gnome, I would live there. BEAUTIFUL!

Coll,

Wow I love that fountain. Can you tell me where you got it or who manufactures it. I assume it's all one piece with a pump underneath the ground and the water returning to it. Do you run electricity to it or is it solar powered.

Steve

WOW you all have such beautiful gardens. I am green with envy. I want to be you when I grow up.

Paul, I totally understand the dead coneflower syndrome. I have killed my share. But I do not know what the lure is anyway. They look like nothing more than a under nourished Sun Flower. Who cares if we cannot keep them alive. I love your sunflowers better.

Coll, I love the levels with the stone. I plan to replace the ties that are in my garden now. The reason for the baliwood is to hide the ties in that spot. Just purchased the house and making changes your pic has confirmed the stones needs to be moved up on the list. Love your decor also that water feature is a very nice natural touch. That is a idea steal.

Alexis thank you, I appreciate your comment that encourages me that I am getting to my objective. It is a work in progress.

Steve, I made the fountain myself out of hypertufa, which I have worked a lot with in my garden. I like it because it blends well with the natural rock we have so much of.

The top is sort of like a millstone, which I carved a pinwheel design into. If you google millstone fountain, you will find a lot available. That sits on top a hollow cement cylinder and the pump is inside that- all sitting in a reservoir of water topped with some rebar, hardware cloth, and pebbles.

Here is a view from the top

For power, I have a cord which connects to the pump, then snakes through about five feet of Lily of the Valley, then is buried under the lawn until it reaches the corner of our deck and the exterior power outlet- about another twenty feet, I guess. I don't think I have enough sun to power a single christmas bulb!!

this is the view from the deck

wow! What lovely and inspiring garden photos! I would be happy spending time in each of them.

Alexa

Coll,
What do you do with the hypertufa items during winter?
Cj

Cj, I don't do anything with them. I've never had one break. Most of the bigger ones are bottomless...so they are "rings". I leave a couple hosta in their hypertufa containers every yearend would NOT rcommend doing that. Every year those hosta get cold damage. This year I vow to not do that.

Last year I made a retaining wall out of hypertufa over concrete forms I cast and that worked out great. I made a few more this year. Hard work, but easier for me than constructing a real stone wall. My husband is better at stacking rocks nicely than I am, but has no interest in the garden.

Oh, do not malign coneflower. Perhaps you have never visited woods in the Ozarks or Ouichita mountains in the summer.
Christine

A curiosity rather than decor -- many years ago my husband stage managed a production of The Secret Garden at the school where he taught. It didn't break even, so when he submitted some bills for out-of-pocket expenses they offered him this stage prop instead of cash! He was ticked off. I was thrilled. It has been in the garden ever since.
Jan

{{gwi:983792}}

Coll, thanks for your photos. I enjoyed them a great deal. You are an artist.
Christine

Love your gardens,Coll! I like the natural look,too,and have very few chotskies in my garden. I just added a concrete statue of St Francis to my garden,and planted a new Japanese maple in the new part of the garden. Lots of natural rocks,as they are everywhere in my property,with native ferns and Trilliums,and false Solomon's seal. Phil,on a mountainside in NC.

Love that hypertufa millstone fountain! Love that glass gem gazing ball too. Lovely gardens all in this thread. :)

Do rocks count?
And the lantern.

I've got a decent sized rock for decor.

Sorry for the fuzzy pics. It's raining.

Steve

That is a mighty big rock! I have a big piece of ledge in my garden that I landscaped around and on top of, too. It used to be completely buried by brush and saplings before I took an interest in gardening.

Harry, that looks very nice.

Christine, thank you. I am an artist by trade and I definitely consider a garden another artform. Funny that it took me so long to realize it and become interested in gardening. Now I'm obsessed.

Phil, I think it's all subjective, as far the addition art/decor/chotkies goes....it's all about whatever pleases ourselves in the end.

I forgot about this guy- a large snail sculpture I bought at a nursery. I thought he had a kind face, lol. And sometimes you have to show the enemy some respect ;)

Hmmm. Big snail. Kind of like a watchdog - keeps away the competition eh?
Jan

Jan, I love that house, and the garden is exactly where it should be!

Harry, everything counts! Rocks, lanterns, statues, etc.

chris

Cute snail I agree the art has to speak to you.

Jan I would have been happy to get that piece of art too.

Steve,
That rock has to count. Did you use a hand truck or carry it by hand?

Oh boy, I still have serious rock envy. I tried to get the sewer guy to move some of the big rocks he unearthed when connecting us to the city system up in MA. He said they were too big for his small equipment to move, and the big thingy was not able to manuever into position for it. So I had him line em up down by the road. When we packed up a PODS to move lots of stuff south, rocks were part of the load (along with the hosta). Down here we have roots but no rocks--not even a small gravel anywhere. DH could not believe my focus on rocks, but I told him it costs a lot to get a load of rock delivered and PLACED. Free is always better. And already on location is the best yet!

A fountain is something I'm set on having. And a flower pot pond for mosquito fish. I have the pot, just need to seal it and add the fish and water plants. No pump.

Harry,

The last glacier put it there. At least that's what I'm told. But I did climb to the top to plant montana f. macrophylla.

Steve

Speaking of rocks, I forgot about this one. My husband hasn't contributed much to the garden (not his thing), but he is really good and stacking and balancing rocks. When we moved in, long before I took an interest in gardening he found this rock in the yard and turned it into a standing stone.

coll - what a pretty vista, the rock, the pots, the lily-of-the-valley, all the healthy hostas and heucheras - your husband's contribution is a great addition.
Jan

Coll, I see you have thousands of lily of the valley growing around your standing tall rock. They look good that way. I had to dig some out of the vinca and move it up the hill to the base of the ledge which is actually in the neighbor's yard. But he cannot get down there to it, a sheer drop of about 10 feet. So I decided to let it naturalize at the no man's land. Now I call it the woodland walk. This is not in AL, it is in MA on the way to Nashua NH.