Skip to content

Top Navigation

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Home
  • Garden
  • Holidays & Entertaining
  • Videos
  • Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Midwest Living

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Simmering Soups and Stews

      Dish out a steaming bowl of comfort food with 50 of our favorite recipes for soups, stews, chowders, chilis and bisques. Read More Next
    • Midwest Living's Best of the Midwest Winners 2021

      Read More Next
    • Sparkling Spring Dessert Recipes

      The flavors of lemon, lime, berries and more sparkle in our recipes for pies, cobblers, cookies, cakes and puddings. Read More Next
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel

    50 Midwest Resorts We Love

    Our favorite Midwest resort destinations range from cozy lakeside lodges to indoor water park behemoths. Dive in to check out our top picks for a fabulous Midwest getaway.
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Missouri
    • Nebraska
    • North Dakota
    • Ohio
    • South Dakota
    • Wisconsin
    • Around the Region
    • Free Travel Info
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food

    Midwest Living January/February 2021 Recipes

    • Comfort Foods
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Quick & Easy
    • Chicken
    • Soups & Stews
    • Midwest Favorites
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Fish
    • Grilling
  • Home

    Home

    See All Home

    Easy Organizing Solutions for Every Room

    Organizing the clutter of our lives doesn't mean relying on boring boxes. Think out of the box for clever ways to store necessities throughout your home.
    • Quick Decorating
    • Featured Homes
    • Organizing & Storage
    • Outdoor Living
    • Seasonal Decorating
    • Room Decorating
  • Garden

    Garden

    See All Garden

    10 Trendy Plants for Midwest Gardens in 2021

    • Container Gardens
    • Flowers
    • Featured Gardens
    • Midwest Gardening Calendar
    • Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  • Holidays & Entertaining

    Holidays & Entertaining

    See All Holidays & Entertaining

    50 Easy Spring Decorating Ideas

    Add pretty spring flair to your home with our ideas for centerpieces, table settings, door decorations, Easter egg displays and more.
    • Easter
    • July 4th
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine's Day
    • Christmas
  • Videos

    Videos

    See All Videos
    • How to Make an All-Butter Pie Crust
    • How to Make Pumpkin-Spice Icebox Cake
  • Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

    Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

    See All Spring Getaways Sweepstakes
    • Best Vacation Sweepstakes
    • Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Midwest Living
  2. Garden
  3. Featured Gardens
  4. Garden Tour: Creative License in Wisconsin

Garden Tour: Creative License in Wisconsin

April 09, 2013
Skip gallery slides
Pin
The fantasyland in this wooded Wisconsin garden reflects the owners’ joy in indulging their imaginations by creating colorful mosaics and reusing old objects.
Start Slideshow

1 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Ordinary to extraordinary

"We don't even know how things will look next week," Douglas Henderson says jokingly about the quirky art and collections that define the Hendersons' fanciful gardens.Doug and his wife, Barbara, both Master Gardeners, live on a heavily wooded 1-acre lot on Wisconsin's Door County Peninsula. Under the canopy of green, hostas and other shade-loving plants blanket the land. Within this potentially dim and staid setting, they installed their singular artwork to create a color-infused wonderland.Here, an urn of flowers towers above mosaic stepping-stones. The pedestal material? Decorated concrete septic rings. Nearby, a cut-in-half fireplace screen forms a garden gate. 

1 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Artful highlights

Salvaged posts frame the homeowners' fused-glass masks. A curlicue gate opens to a courtyard filled with hostas and ‘Annabelle' hydrangeas.Initially, Doug and Barbara haunted flea markets and salvage yards for unique items to place around their cottage. They used some of the 80 bowling balls they've collected like exclamation points, piling up "totems" for accents of black, cobalt blue and other colors. This use is emblematic of the couple's goal: "We just try to have fun," Doug says. "That's the philosophy behind everything we do."Then Barbara began creating mosaics. She soon expanded to fusing glassworks, and when Doug retired in 2005, he followed suit. Today, they own eight kilns, and their detached garage has been converted to a studio and guesthouse.

2 of 13

3 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Rescued delights

Barbara and Doug collect old signs from Door County businesses and use them as folk art. "We like the look, and we're telling the history of the area," Doug says.In front of their studio, eye-catching bowling balls bring to mind traditional gazing balls. Fused-glass flowers ring green trellises beneath a rescued Door County restaurant sign. 

3 of 13

Advertisement

4 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Fanciful creation

Barbara used a glass-blower's cast-off bits to craft the brilliant feathers of this mosaic swan.

4 of 13

5 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Sprite sculptures

Primitive fused-glass sprites with bright red hands stand sentry in the undergrowth.

5 of 13

6 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Star treatment

Boosted by a decorated pedestal and reflected in a mirror, a mosaic planter gets star treatment in front of a recycled, arched window frame.

6 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Repeating colors

Perched on green-painted poles, simple planters showcase trailing flowers and add vertical interest.In an expansive wooded garden with so much to look at, a consistent palette creates visual harmony. "We used the same shade of red and green on just about every object we painted," Barbara says. Annuals continue the red-and-green theme. The house, studio, pergola and stairs wear the same warm, neutral gray stain to provide a quiet backdrop. 

7 of 13

8 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Seeking serendipity

Barbara and Doug relax under a pergola made from salvaged columns and covered with flowering trumpet vine. The Hendersons take a whimsical approach to design. It's all about finding something delightful by accident. Just about any castoff that catches Doug and Barbara's eye is ripe for recycling or redesigning. "Doug and I like to collaborate.  I come up with the really wild ideas, and Doug figures out how to make them work," Barbara says. 

8 of 13

9 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Preserving memories

A mosaic bench covered with salad plates that once belonged to Doug's parents brings fond memories. "I like it when things tell a story," Barbara says. Painted pinecones accent the featured plates.

9 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Sparkling touch

Barbara used a coat of thin-set mortar to secure sparkling glass pebbles to this resin planter.

10 of 13

11 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Vintage signs and birdhouses

Old signs and birdhouses populate the garden. 

11 of 13

12 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Mosaic birdbath

Even bathing birds get to enjoy the Hendersons' creativity.

12 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 13

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Shade-loving annuals

The Hendersons fill pots with what they call "thrillers, fillers and spillers" in a bold palette of red and chartreuse. In the pot pictured:• ‘Garden Meister' fuchsia (thriller)• Fancy-leaf coleus (filler)• ‘Marguerite' sweet potato vine, yellow calibrachoa and variegated potato vine (spillers)

13 of 13

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 13 Ordinary to extraordinary
2 of 13 Artful highlights
3 of 13 Rescued delights
4 of 13 Fanciful creation
5 of 13 Sprite sculptures
6 of 13 Star treatment
7 of 13 Repeating colors
8 of 13 Seeking serendipity
9 of 13 Preserving memories
10 of 13 Sparkling touch
11 of 13 Vintage signs and birdhouses
12 of 13 Mosaic birdbath
13 of 13 Shade-loving annuals

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Login

Midwest Living

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Contact Us
  • Help
  • Free Newsletters this link opens in a new tab
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Renew this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Affiliate Program
  • Free Travel Info this link opens in a new tab
  • Special Promotions this link opens in a new tab
  • Sweepstakes this link opens in a new tab
  • Video
  • Home Advisor this link opens in a new tab

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Midwest Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.midwestliving.com

View image

Garden Tour: Creative License in Wisconsin
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.