I Ain’t Got No Whimsy
Here’s an observation based on absolutely no empirical evidence: Gardeners frequently add some number of trolls, gnomes, butterflies, bumblebees, fairies, gargoyles, dragons, mushrooms, angels and cherubs, signs, statuary of all kinds, and wind sculpture/ spinners to their gardens as whimsical garden décor. I think I may have missed rain gauges and birdbaths. According to Oxford, things that are whimsical are “playful, quaint, and fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way.” I’ve never paid attention to any of this stuff because I’m a Type A Gardener, and I’m proud to say, I ain’t got no whimsy. I just don’t think I’ve ever been a whimsical type of guy. But (gosh this is hard to admit) lately I’ve been thinking that my garden could use a little something to dress up those areas that can’t support more plants. Something to lighten the mood. Add a little humor. Maybe coax a smile from someone who is otherwise having a bad day. I want my garden to be “appealing and amusing,” if not necessarily “quaint and fanciful.” And so, in just another surprising turn of events, I’ve started to research how to add some whimsical garden décor to my garden. I’m going to come out of my whimsy closet and embrace my whimsical self. Prepare yourself; this might be a little awkward, if not downright embarrassing.
I should note that I already have one piece of whimsy in my garden, although I didn’t have anything to do with acquiring it. There is a pretty blue orb circled by flames (like rays of the sun) on a rusted metal stake in my No Longer Ostrich Fern bed. Linda says it was a gift from a girlfriend years ago. There is also a whimsical stone in the front garden, which is Linda’s territory, that was also apparently a gift from days long gone by. Here’s what they look like.
The first step on my whimsy journey was to hop on Amazon to see how much it was going to cost me to be whimsical. As you might guess, whimsy is available in a wide range of price points, anywhere from $20 to more than $200 for each piece, depending on how seriously whimsical you want to get. Fortunately, a limiting factor in purchasing whimsy is that too much of this crap, er ... whimsical garden decoration ... will turn the garden into something that looks like a junk sale, or the warmup to a Disney attraction. I’m not certain how many gnomes, fairies, etc., is the correct amount, and I certainly haven’t found any commentary about this in my gardening literature, but I’m hoping I will know the correct amount of garden décor when I see it. My guess is four or five pieces spread throughout the garden is probably appropriate. If I stick to the less expensive pieces, that makes the budget for adding whimsy somewhere around $100 - $150.
It hasn’t escaped my attention that the cost could be as little as $0 if I was a creative and artistic person with a little talent for crafts. Apparently, talented gardeners repurpose old stuff lying around the house into whimsical decorations for the garden all of the time. Turning old pieces of wood furniture into garden décor seems to be very popular. How about mailboxes, wheelbarrows, garden tools of all kinds, lamps, and anything else found in the dark corners of the basement? If you are interested in getting some ideas, just google Pinterest DIY Garden Décor. In my case, since I have even less skill with crafts than I do whimsy, I’ll stick to finding my whimsy at Amazon, or Etsy, or wherever else they sell it online.
Another critical decision is narrowing down the many categories of whimsical garden décor. From my short perusal of what’s available, my first cuts are: trolls – NO, gnomes – YES, butterflies – YES (my mom loved butterflies so they make the cut), bumblebees- YES, fairies- NO, gargoyles – NO, dragons-NO, mushrooms-MAYBE, angels and cherubs- DEFINITE NO, signs- YES, statuary- YES, DEPENDING. There are other decisions to make in addition to categories, perhaps the most important of which is how the décor will be displayed in the garden. I can have butterflies on stakes that seem to hover above the ground, or I can have butterflies that hang from trees or other hooks that are suspended in the air. The same goes for just about any insect or animal that you can imagine. Another category is garden décor that lights up at night. If I wanted to go there, I could have cute (yes, I used the word, so shoot me) bumblebees with fat little bodies that glow in the dark. In fact, most all of the categories have glow-in-the-dark options, usually powered by some kind of solar cell, or batteries. I guess the question is, if you add plastic, glow-in-the-dark whimsy to your garden, do you immediately lose all sense of communing with nature when you spend time there? Or do you instead introduce a troubling element of crass materialism, not to mention commercialism, to your garden experience? This is an existentially important issue, especially when considering whether or not to add a $20 plastic butterfly in one of your flower beds.
I will wait until spring to install whatever I finally decide on. Which begs the question, does one install whimsey, or does it just magically appear? Not sure.
There was a time, not too long ago, when I spent my creative energy imagining how the garden would look if I added new and beautiful perennial plants to my flower beds. I was consumed with color, texture, soil type, plant type, sunlight, and other issues that have been part of my painful education as a Type A Gardener. I will now add whimsical garden décor to the list of things I’m obsessing about.
I’m going online shopping shortly, but first I have to stake up my Pampas grass, which seems to be tipping over, hopefully due to the weight of the seed plumes at the top of the stems. I say hopefully because it could be tipping due to other nefarious reasons I don’t want to consider right now.
I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of whimsical garden decorations. Based on the hundreds of requests I received, well, maybe a dozen ... actually none ... next week might be time to revisit our Plant of the Year nominations. I can’t wait, but of course, I find myself endlessly entertaining. If you care to share this scintillating content with others, you can click on the SHARE button in the text or send them a link to kensolow.substack.com. If you are losing sleep needing more Painful Education of a Type A Gardener content, you can find it in the archives. Click on the small image of me at the top of the newsletter and it should take you there. Thank you, as always, for taking the time to write me in the comments section or to LIKE a post. It is very much appreciated.