vintage garden – MarvinGardensUSA

Add Some Storybook Charm to Your Garden

unique garden accessories — Source: Marvin Gardens Facebook

A great garden can turn an average home into a spectacular one, and a well-appointed garden space is an ideal place to spend time alone or with friends and family. To really put your garden over the top, try adding some charming pieces that are right out of a storybook. You’ll never want to leave your garden to go inside!

Add Charming Seating

Many backyard gardens don’t have any seating at all, which prevents people from enjoying the garden up close. To make your garden more appealing, try adding some interesting or whimsical seating to your outdoor space. Wood benches are ideal for an outdoor garden space because they’ll blend seamlessly with the nature around them, but other materials like stone and concrete can work just as well.

Create Unique Pathways

A garden that isn’t broken up by pathways is hard to navigate and may look unorganized. To make pathways, you don’t need fancy pavers–you can make pathway dividers from a variety of materials, including these decorative fish from Marvin Gardens, which give the garden a whimsical, fun look.

Contact Marvin Gardens for more information and for all your garden design accessories.

Keep Weeds Under Control With These Easy Tips

Get Rid of Garden Weeds — Image via Fine Gardening

When spring has finally sprung, you’ll want to enjoy the sunshine and beautiful weather, not spend your time pulling weeds out of your garden. Here are a few easy things you can do to prevent weeds from ever becoming a problem, courtesy of The Farmer’s Almanac.

Mow them down. Keep your lawn well-manicured; mowing regularly (particularly along your property’s edges) to help keep the weeds at bay and stop them from ever invading your garden.

Mulch, mulch, mulch. The benefits of mulch cannot be overstated. It provides your plants with important nutrients and enhances garden design tremendously, but, perhaps most importantly, it can block sunlight from reaching the weed seedlings, thus stunting and preventing growth.
Stay together. Try planting your seeds closer together than you normally would. The more spread out your plants are across your garden design, the more room you leave open for weeds to sneak in.
Ready the guillotine! If weeds have already invaded your garden, one easy way to remove them without spending an entire morning is to just cut off their heads before they get a chance to flower.

Have any other helpful tips for beating back weeds? Share them on our Facebook page!

“Falling Garden” Immerses Guests into a Garden of Whimsy

The stunningly showcased “Falling Garden” art installation aims to uproot ones traditional perception of botanical beauty and we just love the wonder it creates. By suspending various plant life from around the world, modern Swiss artists, Gerda Steiner and Jorg Lenzlinger, enable one to experience flora in a new way: from the ground, looking up. The viewer participates by lying on the floor and gazing above. There, surrounded by a floating sea of color and whimsy, the experience is meant to transport one into a state of peaceful tranquility.

The installation of the piece in an Italian 17th-century mausoleum further adds to the spectacle. By juxtaposing the presence of death below the viewer with the abundant life and promise of renewal above, the exquisiteness and harmony of the suspended flowers is made much more significant.

Overall, the mix of garden life with a unique historic backdrop creates a dreamlike vision. “Falling Garden” can be seen as inspirational in bringing vintage or antique repurposed tokens into your own garden. In doing so you can capture a whimsical feel that makes your garden a truly special place.

What do you think of the installation?

Images via Garden Design

Creative Outdoor Living Encourages More Homeowners to Stay Home

You can increase the square footage of your home if you know where to look – simply open the door and there it is! The search for luxurious outdoor spaces is on the rise as plans for “staycations” increase due to the lagging economy and the need to de-stress.

Whether it’s an antique bird bath, waterfall statue, steaming hot tub or sparkling pool, your own yard can be transformed into a relaxing retreat. The backyard of your dreams can become a reality with a few pieces of freshly refurbished wicker. Then, add side tables plus an outdoor rug and you’ve created a comfortable living area under the stars. Fashion an outdoor dining space as simple as a picnic table and grill, or as elaborate as an outdoor kitchen and stone fireplace.

Perk up a front porch with vintage rockers, grandma’s braided rug and planters with lush greenery. Suddenly that long-abandoned porch becomes a comfy place to unwind.

Need help imagining your outside oasis? Marvin Gardens is brimming with unique and vintage pieces to make your outdoor space “staycation” worthy.

Outdoor Living Areas — Outdoor living is perfected when you have just enough to make the space comfortable and inviting.

Celebrate the Inspiration Behind the Work of Richard Hartlage

The incredible thing about landscaping is that it can involve much more than flower arrangements and patios. With the right inspiration and the right tools, a property can become a vivid, architectural dream. Just take a look at the exemplary work of a client of ours, Richard Hartlage, who was one of the distinctive landscape architects behind the design of the Chihuly Garden & Glass Exhibition at Seattle Center.

At the recent grand opening of the exhibition, guests were greeted with an exceptional entrance for the glass art. AHBL Landscape Architects worked for three years to complete the design and construction for a garden full of vibrant colors and plants. Scarlet daylilies, old-growth Wesern Cedar logs, Aster Prince, and a huge planting of handkerchief trees were just a few of the items used to construct the exhibition’s grand entrance.

Chihuly Garden and Glass Rendering — From the beginning of the project...

Chihuly Garden and Glass Complete — ... to it's completion, the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibition is simply stunning.

As we can tell from the garden images published online, the scene is absolutely stunning! Be sure to take a moment to browse through the incredible garden design and let us know what you think.

Happy Memorial Day from Marvin Gardens!

This time of the year is certainly something to be celebrated. With the warmer spring weather and exciting events around every corner, we trust that you’re enjoying the Memorial Day weekend and the spring season so far.

As we celebrate Memorial Day, we thought we would take a look back at some of our most popular posts from the Marvin Gardens Blog. We enjoy using this method of communicating with our clients and friends, and we hope you do too. Simply click on the links below to see our most popular posts.

Prepare Your Garden For Fall Succulents

With a Vertical Garden There is No Excuse for No Space

5 Festive Winter Plants

Add a Touch of Cottage Style to Your Home

Do you have a favorite? Leave a comment and let us know about it. We wish all of you a Happy Memorial Day!

Add Architectural Interest with Garden Obs & Spheres

Along with the fabulous accents and blooming flowers in a garden, your outdoor arrangement should include a few statement pieces that ground the design and provide a focal point. Creating this sort of arrangement doesn’t come easily, which is why we are so enthralled by the use of architectural elements in a garden.

Architectural garden additions are distinctive pieces that add visual interest while providing a dimension of artistry. As you can see from our installations below, the orbs and spheres can be used in large, open areas or alongside a property’s fine landscaping.

What do you think of the orbs? Have you seen them in person yet? If not, we encourage you to stop by Marvin Gardens. Even if an orb may not work for your home, the structures are striking to see in person.

The Beauty of Growing a Garden Vertically

Though the organization in perfectly arranged rows of garden vegetables is endearing, there are many more options for vegetable gardening than you might imagine. One of our favorites is to bring in vertical interest by using an arbor or trellis.

These structures have offered a sort of sanctuary-look for decades. They make a garden feel like a special destination or enclosed room, even when they’re dressed with simple vegetable plants rather than blooming flowers. These structures also make a lovely display for gardens that are tight on space, bringing the eye upward and taking advantage of new angles.

So, what grows best on trellises? Consider using vining crops that have tendrils for clinging – peas and beans are perfect for this. Another idea for non-climbers such as squash, melons, or tomatoes is to coax them upward using twine.

The process is simply incredible. A trellise begins as a beautiful visual anchor, then transforms with the growth of lush plants, and later becomes a beautiful harvest.

Source and image via Garden Design

Looking for Local Garden Artistry?

Garden Accessories at Marvin Gardens — Pushing your creative boundaries for gardening is exciting here at Marvin Gardens.

Sometimes the best design items are the ones that are closest to home. We know this because we search high and low, across the country and beyond for the rare and unique garden accessories that you find at Marvin Gardens, yet many of our best products are brought to us by local artists and dealers.

In being an outlet for this sort of design, we’re able to offer the best of both worlds! For the artist, we’re able to provide a location for them to showoff their work. For our clients, you’ll find items that are truly one of a kind and fashioned close to home. From innovative ideas to re-purposed items, these selections are lovely accents to outdoor spaces.

Have you found your specialty garden accessories yet this year? If so, we would love to hear about it! We enjoy hearing how our clients find ways to reinvent and decorate their gardens each year. If you haven’t found these items yet, take a moment to stop by Marvin Gardens this week!

New Garden Elements Arriving Daily at Marvin Gardens

Marvin Gardens - Teak Driftwood Rhino — This teak driftwood rhino is a fabulous example of the specialty pieces you'll find at our shop!

You guessed it – May is one of our favorite months of the year here at Marvin Gardens! As our clients are getting their gardens primed and ready for spring blooms, we are busy making sure that our shop is stocked with one of a kind garden elements that complement those blooms like nothing else.

We already shared with you how our selection of custom cast iron urns is second to none, but we also take the same approach to the entire inventory at our shop. To create a unique garden, you need unique garden décor, so we search high and low for these one of kind pieces. We’re also thrilled to custom design and custom make pieces to suit your garden perfectly. And since new pieces are arriving daily, every time you stop in for a visit you’ll find new inspiration.

If you have an eye for outdoor style or you’d like to learn more about it, we invite you to experience Marvin Gardens this spring!