Garden Decor and Seminars

Yesterday I attended a gardening seminar at Urban Earth garden center in Memphis. The topic was garden decor. The presenter talked about using pots, statuary, metal art, and a variety of other non-botanical means of adding interest to the garden. He also talked about "tacky" garden art. I won't say what he gave as examples because I think that tacky is in the eye of the beholder. Besides, as the presenter mentioned, we sometimes change our minds about what we consider to be tacky-- what I consider tacky today may be in your garden now and in my garden next year.

The first piece of garden decor I bought was an antique lead birdbath bought for our garden when Jack and I lived in Virginia. I wasn't looking for a garden ornament--it was more like it found me. I bought it, not because it fit with our garden style or because I had a spot that needed some hardscape, but because I fell in love with the little cherub. We moved it into our garden here, and he quietly "shushes" visitors as they enter our garden path.

I suppose this little birdbath would be considered formal European garden style. My garden style is eclectic, and nothing else in our garden could be considered formal. 

I am often drawn to Asian garden decor. I like Japanese lanterns and Buddhas of various sorts. Here are a couple of new Buddhas I purchased a few days ago, found in the clearance section of a local store. They will remain in our sunroom over the winter while I decide on just the right spot for them.

But back to the topic of garden seminars. I learned recently that Urban Earth offers seminars periodically, and they gave out their schedule for 2016 yesterday. I was delighted to see that they offer at least one or two seminars per month during the winter. If I can't get out in the garden, the next best thing is gathering with other gardeners to talk about gardening. I had hoped to find a link to the schedule on their website, but I could not find one. Maybe I overlooked it so I'm posting a link to their homepage here.