Garden Art Anyone Can Create

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Try Japanese Inspiration

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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Decorate Sheds

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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Contain Your 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.

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Create Elegance

nick and allison grain bin toolshed gazing orbs — Silver gazing balls dress up Nick and Allison McCullough’s rustic grain bin toolshed. 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

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

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

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Try a Headboard Gate

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

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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

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

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

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

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Theme to Your Interests

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

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

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

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

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

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Hang It Up

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

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.

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Blend Art and Landscape

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

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

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