6 Expert Tips To Choose Lawn And Garden Accents

The myriad of lawn and garden accents on the market can be bewildering, so let's start by laying down some general principles.

• The first is that your lawn and garden accents should reflect your own personality and the style of your home. If you don't like formal sculptures in your home, there's no reason you will like them in your garden. If you have a playful, artistic personality rather opt for a couple of lovely wind chimes, garden gnomes, and fountains.  

• Secondly, the lawn and garden accents you buy should match the style and ambiance of your garden. If you have a very formal garden with neatly trimmed edges, adding gnomes and fairies might not be the best idea. Mosaics, fountains and statues will most likely look more at home.

• The colors of your lawn and garden accents should blend in with the colors of your existing garden. Of course, that doesn't mean they should always be the same color. You don't want to surround a green lawn with little sculptures of equally green frogs. Use a mix of similar and complementary colors to create variety and to keep things interesting.

Strong garden accents like obelisks, urns and sculptures can be used to draw a visitor's attention along a specific path or line, in the process creating the illusion of a longer space. This is an easy way to make small gardens appear bigger. It can also be used to create an interesting view where there otherwise isn't much to see.

If you are buying lawn and garden accents for the first time, opting for something that will not be difficult to move later is a good idea. The reason is that a week or two down the line you might decide that beautiful wind chime will look better on the other side of the lawn. Choosing easily movable decorations will allow you to try them out in a couple of different spots before deciding on the final location.

Secondly, as you buy new accents you might want to move one or more of the old ones to a new spot. And finally, what looks good in a specific spot during spring or summer, might not look so good during autumn or winter.

Water features are not only beautiful and calming in any garden, but they also serve a dual purpose: they attract wildlife to your garden. Birdbaths, fountains and even ponds form a source of water for not only frogs, but also birds and insects such as pollinators.

You could also add one or more birdhouses in your garden. These are not only calming and extremely interesting, but it's also an educational experience to watch parent birds raise their offspring. And during winter storms birds will be able to use the birdhouse as a shelter.

There is no universal answer to this question. It depends on various factors, including:

• The style of your home and garden. If you have a cottage-style home with a quaint country-style garden, wooden accents would certainly look nice. So would antique-looking copper or brass accents. Just remember that wood does require periodic treating and/or painting.

  A more modern home and garden could get away with a couple of plastic accents without looking kitsch. In this regard think of something like a rain gauge featuring a green frog with a red umbrella. In the right surroundings this will look modern and playful, but in the formal garden of an historical manor it will simply look out of place.

• Durability. As mentioned above, wooden accents give a beautiful artistic appearance to your garden, but they are certainly not as durable as e.g. stainless steel accents. Glass creates a stylish, modern appearance, but as is the case with wood its lifespan is undoubtedly shorter.

  For birdbaths, fountains etc. stone or cement remain old favorites because they last nearly forever and against the right background they can be quite beautiful, e.g. surrounded by lush greenery.

• Maintenance requirements. If you are not the type of person who has the time or the inclination to regularly spend long hours maintaining your lawn and garden accents, wood might not be your best choice. It has to be treated and/or painted on a regular basis, which is a time-consuming job. Metal, glass, stone and cement accents require much less maintenance.

If your garden has a specific theme, it makes sense to buy lawn and garden accents that fit into this theme. Theme gardens are one-of-a-kind places where all the various parts support one single purpose. All the plants fit into that particular theme, and all accents and accessories (including containers and plant supports) should generally speaking also fit the theme.

Traditional examples of theme gardens include vegetable and herb gardens. More modern versions often include fairly exotic options such as nautical gardens and fairy gardens.

If you have such a garden it makes sense to purchase lawn and garden accessories that continue this theme. For a nautical-themed garden, suitable accessories could, for example, include a decorative garden lighthouse lantern or a mermaid kisses garden sign. For a fairy garden accents such as a fishing fairy boy will undoubtedly pique the interest of nearly every visitor.

The bottom line is that your lawn and garden accents should be as unique as you, and as such they should say something about who and what you are, about your interests and also about your dreams.