July 2013 – MarvinGardensUSA

Decorating With Desert Rose

garden design accessories — Source: Marvin Gardens Facebook

Desert Rose is a unique and beautiful stone that provides a great alternative to living roses. Today, we’ll explore some of the many ways this alluring stone can be used in your home’s rock garden.

Using Desert Rose stones that vary in size and shape will stand out when they are used to accent a walkway made with square stones or tile. Rigid geometric lines and smooth, flat textures will contrast with these unique stones in a beautifully striking way.

To create more contrast, surround the stone with colorful garden arrangements. This will bring out the vibrant color of surrounding stones, plants, or other garden design accessories, while also bringing attention to the Desert Rose’s interesting texture.

A Japanese style garden can incorporate these rocks with flora and water features to create a tranquil, comforting outdoor area. Try lining the bridge of your Japanese tea garden with Desert Rose stones, or use them to line walkways like we previously mentioned.

For more tips and trends on garden design accessories, contact us at Marvin Gardens. We’re equipped to help you incorporate any idea into your home garden, so visit us online or call 203-544-2020 today.

Create a Stunning Container Garden With These Tips

If you are looking for different garden design ideas, consider creating a stunning container garden to add new life to your existing garden. Container gardens can work both indoors and outside, and a well-designed container garden is like a miniature landscape of its own.

The first step is to get creative and choose an interesting container to act as your planter. The container just needs to be large enough to house your plants and give their roots the space to grow, and it needs to have a drainage hole to prevent over-watering.

The next step is to choose your plants and soil. You need potting mix for container gardens; regular garden soil doesn’t give your plants what they need when they are contained in a pot.

Select an interesting-looking taller plant to place in the middle of your chosen planter to act as a focal point. Choose trailing plants that can be planted around the sides to spill out of the planter. Lastly, select a filler plant that can cover the remaining spaces. Make sure all the plants you choose have similar watering and sunlight needs so the whole container garden can thrive.

For more interesting garden design ideas, contact us at Marvin Gardens.

Add Classical Beauty and Strength to Your Garden

garden accessories — Source: Marvin Gardens Facebook

Give your garden a classical Mediterranean look with stone and bronze sculptures from Marvin Gardens. These garden design accessories, which are inspired by ancient sculptures, are built to withstand severe weather while adding timeless beauty.

Add a statue of a strong Roman or Greek male on a pedestal base holding up an urn or column as a symbol of strength. This theme, popular throughout Europe for centuries, can also enhance your pool house as it once decorated the Roman baths.

A statue of a maiden balancing a flowering urn on her head can respresent the Caryatids of ancient Greece, who supported the columns of the Erechtheum temple at the Acropolis.

Statues and elegant Doric or Corinthian columns can be placed at the entrance to a garden, a courtyard, or near a water element. The classical statue can be included in a recirculating fountain design with water streaming from the hands of a young woman or Neptune.

Statues carrying urns or various urn-shaped containers on pedestals are garden design accessories that can hold flowering plants and trees. Urns, flowers and statues can be artfully arranged in groupings by professional landscape architects.

Find the perfect statue to accentuate your garden at Marvin Gardens.

Uses for Decorative Bird Cages in the Home and Garden

Decorative bird cages are popular in the home, but they can also be used to decorate your garden or patio. Repurpose cages that you no longer want inside the house to create cost effective decorations with vintage flair. Here are a few ideas to help you fluff up your garden.

Create fairy tale lighting for your next nighttime garden party. Hang birdcages from above, either from trees, trellises or overhanging plant hooks. Place several electrical tea light candles in each birdcage and voila–beautiful, subtle lighting for your party! For added sparkle, spray the cages with glitter glue before inserting the tea lights. You will have the magic of fairy lighting that is perfect for your summer garden party decor.

If you have a collection of mismatched wire bird cages, bring them back to life by painting them all in a single hue. Use inexpensive spray paint for a quick fix. White bird cages are a classic hue, but you can create a whimsical look with bright colors. Take your design a step further by rubbing away some of the wet spray paint to reveal the original coloring, and you will create instantly antiqued pieces. For a modern take, layer the antiqued birdcages inside one another to create an intriguing piece.

Come by Marvin Gardens to find more garden design accessories for your next project!

Hiding Charming Animals in Your Garden

A novel outdoor design idea is to incorporate animal statues into your garden layout. Unlike real animals that are never around when you want to show off your garden or that eat and dig up your plants, no-hassle replica animals safely create the illusion of a populated habitat.

At Marvin Gardens, we carry a wide array of birds, woodland critters, and larger beasts made from high quality materials designed to outlast the elements of nature. Our sculptures range from meticulously detailed and elegant models to quirky and delightful folk-art style creations.

It’s easy to create vignettes full of character and humor with our farmhouse animals or add a bit of exotic mystery with creatures like elephants and koi. If you prefer a natural look, woodland creatures appear as though they just wandered into your garden.

If you’re considering adding an animal display to your garden, be sure you choose statues that are appropriate for your space, taking into consideration both size and visual appeal. To fill your garden menagerie with animal statuary, visit us at Marvin Gardens today and see what we have in stock!

Succulents Can Help Keep Your Yard Fire-Safe

Local conditions can have an enormous effect on how fire spreads and the rate at which it spreads. For example, arid regions are more prone to wildfires than their humid counterparts because dead and dried-up plant matter ignites more easily and burns faster. You might be interested to learn that the same principle applies on a smaller scale and that plants such as succulents can help reduce the risk of fire.

As their name suggests, succulents are plants with thicker and fleshier parts than other plants. These plants are frequently found in arid regions, where they have adapted to store water; some succulents, such as Haworthia store the water in their leaves, but others store water in their stems and roots. Gardens often feature succulents because of their beautiful appearance, which can be used to highlight their surroundings.

Succulents are slow to burn, making them a beautiful way to make your yard more fire-safe. Similarly, concrete decking are also resistant to fire, meaning that their combination with succulents can help you further fireproof your yard. However, be sure to clear away dead plant matter such as fallen leaves as soon as possible.

For help planning your garden, speak to an expert at Marvin Gardens.

Yoga in the Garden: Creating a Peaceful and Healthy Outdoor Space

yoga-garden — Source: Freedigitalphotos.net

If you’re looking for a way to relax and live a healthier life, yoga is wonderful for both of those things. Not only is yoga very calming, it also helps improve your flexibility, balance, and strength. It can be extremely beneficial to gardeners, who have to spend a lot of time in uncomfortable and damaging positions to care for their plants.

You can do yoga at any time inside, but when the weather’s nice it’s an incredible experience to perform yoga exercises in the fresh air and surrounded by the scent of flowers. When you’re designing your yard or garden, it’s easy to include a space for yoga that’s large enough to fit your mat and maybe another mat for a friend. Just make sure you choose a relatively flat area of your yard so that you can perform the exercises safely.

Two things should dictate the design of your yoga area: privacy and serenity. After all, it’s difficult to relax if you feel like people can come by and watch you attempt some of the more challenging poses, and you want this to be as calming a place as possible. If you don’t have or want a fence around your yard, consider shielding your yoga area with some tall plants.

It can also help to bring some Asian design influence into a yoga space. The Asian garden design suggests three levels of plants, rocks and/or water to represent heaven, man and earth, and a Japanese sand and rock garden is a great addition. Also consider choosing soothing fragrant plants near the area.

Waterfalls, fountains and ponds are always soothing. You can add a waterfall or fountain to your pool area or build a small serenity fountain on your patio deck. A small pond bordered by a shade tree with an aerator recirculating the water creates a relaxing place for yoga.

At Marvin Gardens you can find some soothing and beautiful garden accessories to create your yoga haven. Visit us today to see what we have in stock!

Why Add a Garden Gate?

If you don’t have a pet that roams outside and you aren’t worried about deer wandering into your garden and eating your plants, a garden gate may seem like an unnecessary addition. However, even if you don’t have a practical use for one, garden gates add character and mystery to your space.

Gates add a frame to the garden, increasing the organized and intentional appearance of the design. Whether your garden is in the front or the back of the house, you should consider how people will approach the gate to decide the best placement. It’s also a good idea to have a path weave from the gate entrance through your garden.

If you like the Secret Garden appeal, grow tall bushes and leafy plants in front of your fence and around the gate’s interior side so people can’t resist wondering what lies beyond the gate. Vines also add to that naturally overgrown look that creates the impression of a mysterious and old garden.

If you prefer a more orderly and stately garden design, use your gate to frame an impressive sculpture, a classical fountain, or a particularly beautiful plant. Design a pathway to travel from the gate and circle your garden focal point for a very deliberate and well-planned appearance.

Visit us at Marvin Gardens to see our selection of garden gates and accessories to create a beautifully designed garden of your own.

Plan a Garden Tea Party This Summer

Summer is upon us, bringing beautiful weather to New England. Why not take advantage of the warmer temperatures to create a garden tea party with friends? Here are some ideas to inspire you:

Light afternoon tea: This easy to plan idea takes little effort on your part, as all you will need is traditional English tea and a few light snacks. Let the flowers in your garden provide the decoration.
The fancy tea party: Adorn a small table with bouquets, floral napkins, tiered cake stands, and vintage china for an intimate gathering.
Signature drinks: Use crystal glasses that will sparkle in the sunlight to serve a beverage such as Arnold Palmers. Glasses do not need to match; flea market goblets are a perfect way to add to the charm of the event.
High tea: Host a high tea offering guests a four to five course meal along with a range of teas and condiments.
Mix matched teacups: Gather a selection of vintage teacups and teapots and let everyone have fun choosing theirs.
Themed tea time: Choose a fun tea-related theme, like Alice in Wonderland, and have guests dress the part.

Stop by Marvin Gardens to take a look at our collection of garden accessories to inspire your tea party this summer.

Raise a Glass to Gardening

One of the nice things about many small low-maintenance container plants is that you are not limited to the conventional terra cotta pot. If the container of choice is large enough to accommodate soil and the roots of the plants, it can be just about anything.

Glasses make beautiful containers for miniature plant and succulents. From wineglasses to martini glasses, these delicate containers bring some delightful and eccentric class to a garden or home interior.

The size and versatility of glass container gardens give them plenty of applications in your home. You can use them to decorate your outdoor patio table or to arrange them into beautiful centerpieces for a wedding. They can line a mantel or the center of a dining room table, perhaps interspersed with tealight candles to create beautiful sparkling effects on the glass. You can create individual pieces or group several together for an interesting effect.

The first thing to do is find glassware you love, whether it be wine glasses, champagne flutes or even margarita glasses. The size and style of glass you choose will determine the size of plants you will be able to grow.

Consider using some colorful accents in your glassware, such as colored gravel lining the outside of the soil or tiny fairy gardening accessories to add some whimsy to your pieces. Most importantly, have fun as you create these miniature masterpieces. As your plants thrive and grow, the time you invested will be well worth it.

For more inspiration for your garden and home accents, come visit us at Marvin Gardens and take a look at our fun and quirky garden accessories.