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  1. Midwest Living
  2. Garden
  3. Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  4. Garden Art Anyone Can Create

Garden Art Anyone Can Create

By Midwest Living editors Updated March 23, 2023
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Garden Art

Create instant interest in your yard with garden art made from recycled or inexpensive materials.

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Contain Your Art

Garden Art

Highlight small garden art pieces—homemade, recycled or purchased—by setting them in a container. This galvanized tub contains two sculptures, petunias and other plants in a graceful arrangement.

Related: 25 Creative Containers for Your Garden

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Try Japanese Inspiration

Backyard Japanese meditation garden

A backyard Japanese garden uses art and design to make a peaceful setting where you can relax and meditate. Here, stones create a dry riverbed; smaller rocks at the back of an area and larger ones in the foreground create the illusion of distance.

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Create Elegance

nick and allison grain bin toolshed gazing orbs
Credit: Gabriela Herman

At his Ohio farmhouse, Nick McCullough creates order and elegance in wide-open spaces through both plantings and art. "I like gardens to feel really natural," he says. "But what people don't realize is what makes them feel loose and welcoming is actually good structure and organization." 

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Salvage Style

Scour for salvage

Enliven a landscape with recycled materials. Check salvage shops, garden centers, even curbside giveaways. Use materials just as you find them, or give them a fresh coat of paint so they stand out in the garden.

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Make a Mosaic

How to make mosaic garden projects stepping stone

Mosaic stepping stones, benches and other projects are easier to create than you may think. Surround with colorful flowers to highlight your work.

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Fill a Wagon

Garden art -- fill a wagon

An old wagon becomes an inviting and whimsical setting for container plants. 

Related: Container Gardens Just Right for the Midwest

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Decorate Sheds

Creative salvage for garden art

Found items and decorative planters dress up the wall of an old building at Northwind Perennial Farm in Burlington, Wisconsin. You can adapt the same idea for a garage, shed, or other wall at your home.

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Try a Headboard Gate

Headboard gate

An antique wood headboard, trimmed to fit, becomes a gate between the front and back yards.

Related: Great Garden Gate Ideas

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Play with Your Art

Play with your art

A checkerboard painted on an old stump sits ready for action next to twig chairs.

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Create a Scene

Garden art scene
Credit: Kimberly Cornelison

Make an eye-catching vignette just by turning a pot on its side. This Troy, Kansas, garden features 'Sikes Dwarf' oakleaf hydrangea at left, 'Glauca Globosa' Colorado spruce behind the pot, 'Blue Spruce' sedum inside the pot and spiky Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold' in front.

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Step it Up

Garden art stepladder

Turn a short stepladder into a focal point with a coat of bright paint, then decorate the steps with your favorite potted combinations. Look for old ladders at garage and estate sales, thrift stores and flea markets.

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Reuse Old Chairs

Reuse an old chair

A coat of paint turns an old chair into a colorful perch for a flower container.

Related: Easy Annual Flowers That Deliver Summer-Long Color

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Theme to Your Interests

Collect inspiration

To inspire your garden art, think about what you love. If it's cats, for instance, maybe you create a cat garden with cattails and a cat sculpture. 

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Add Some Whimsy

Add some whimsy

You'll garner grins from both kids and adults by adding whimsical elements. In this Lincoln, Nebraska, garden, an imp nestles in the crook of a tree above a grapevine wreath nest of plastic dinosaur eggs.

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Decorate a Door

Decorated door

Recycle an old ceiling tin by cutting an initial from it. Half-depth columns frame an M on this toolshed door.

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Paint Scenes

Paint scenes

A whimsical fairy painting in blues and purples on a garden shed forms a pretty backdrop to the many colors of lilies in a Janesville, Wisconsin, garden.

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Use Birdhouses as Decor

Birdhouse decor

A collection of old birdhouses and a vintage shutter dress up the side of a shed.

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Hang It Up

Garden art -- hanging plant

Just as you arrange garden plants to grow at different heights, you'll want garden art to appear at different levels, too. Try placing something high, such as in the trees, at eye level and down low item to await discovery. In this garden, an old birdcage stand elevates a hanging plant. Even simpler: Hang a painted birdhouse from the stand.

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Make a Birdbath Planter

Birdbath planter

Damaged and broken items may no longer be useful for their original purpose, but they make great art. A damaged birdbath becomes a succulent container garden here. Add a base of soilless potting mix, plant with succulents and finish with a mulch of Spanish moss. Decorate with your choice of accessories, such as this candy dish planter, compass and spoon.

Related: Make a Living-Roof Birdhouse

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Blend Art and Landscape

Coordinate your art

Try using the shape and design of your garden art to accent plants. In this South Haven, Michigan, garden, the fanciful, delicate curls of an old iron chair look just right with the profusion of tiny white flowers from sweet autumn clematis and alyssum.

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Line up Collections

Line up collections

One small item may not catch your eye, but a collection of them can be striking. Children's antique watering cans provide a colorful display on a ledge in an herb garden in Troy, Kansas.

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Balance Vertical and Horizontal Accents

Simple sculpture

Nestle vintage newels throughout flowerbeds for vertical accents to balance a horizontal landscape.

Related: 20 Secrets to Landscape Success

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By Midwest Living editors

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    1 of 22 Contain Your Art
    2 of 22 Try Japanese Inspiration
    3 of 22 Create Elegance
    4 of 22 Salvage Style
    5 of 22 Make a Mosaic
    6 of 22 Fill a Wagon
    7 of 22 Decorate Sheds
    8 of 22 Try a Headboard Gate
    9 of 22 Play with Your Art
    10 of 22 Create a Scene
    11 of 22 Step it Up
    12 of 22 Reuse Old Chairs
    13 of 22 Theme to Your Interests
    14 of 22 Add Some Whimsy
    15 of 22 Decorate a Door
    16 of 22 Paint Scenes
    17 of 22 Use Birdhouses as Decor
    18 of 22 Hang It Up
    19 of 22 Make a Birdbath Planter
    20 of 22 Blend Art and Landscape
    21 of 22 Line up Collections
    22 of 22 Balance Vertical and Horizontal Accents

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