The garden decor in my neighborhood is mostly...

Voted other. On a mountain in a Natonal Forest,God is the landscaper and i like what he's done. But it's kinda undescribable in human terms.
My nook in the woods is as natural as i could make it and have what i wanted.One half acre cleared area for veggies,tho unused these last few years. My various flower beds in heavy to little shade are a mix of everything from roses to wildflowers and weeds i like. Had to go to town to get some dandelion seeds. LOL

I've several angels scattered in nooks and crannys around the house. fairly small stone realistic looking animals,turtles,frogs,squirrells, and rabbits around.Three park benches in nooks and crannys. Took awhile to collect these but i love them.
Have muscadines, Wild grapes, Virginia creeper, climbing trees. Have local neighbors coming through frequently. Deer,squirrel,rabbits, turkey,and bear are the usual flow of traffic. I pretend snakes and poison ivy don't really exist even if i have to watch for them. I may be a little partial, but i think i have the best of landscaped neighborhoods.: )
Vickie

You know Vicki, I have to agree with you. You have the best landscape I have heard of, though I would have skipped the dandelions. Congratulations on having found paradise.

I voted "nonexistant", but then realized that it's not true. My neighborhood has a large variety of yard art. There's the two young boys who bought the house across the street. They have a giant eagle shaped, painted totem pole in the center of their front yard. The neighbor next to them on the north has never had anything in his yard, not even a leaf until just this past summer, he bought a small fountain for the front walk. The neighbor to the south of the boys has whirligigs and things. The neighbor to my east decorates her yard with fake flowers and little signs that have faded in the sun. Up the hill a little ways from me, I'd say the yards look less interesting - more cookie cutter - except for the few renegade gardeners here and there.

i voted other as we live in a rural area where what ever grows grows. lee

At this time it is "nonexistent". I am in a neighborhood where the houses were built in the mid 50's and still have a lot of the bushes the developers put in and now are overgrown and invasive types.
There are a few of us that are changing the minds of some people by ripping out the old straight lines and adding natives and blooming plants like we did. I got yard of the month last year and so did another person in my neighborhood that had changed his look! People are noticing and making a few changes. As younger people move into the area, they bring new ideas and energy to the area also.
I am taking a stack of books on 'Nonnative Invasive Plants of Southern Forests' to my next neighborhood assn. meeting. I got them FREE from the USDA through the Native Plant Society in my area!! Hoping they will make a difference in the future.


This message was edited Sep 24, 2008 6:53 AM

Everyone on our street has a unique look,all their very own☺It is a wonder I don't have a wreck when I drive on our street. I am always gawking to see who has new and interesting plantings,wonderful street to live on,most of the time. Some of the newer neighbors are feuding over property lines right now,but it will blow over and everything will get back to normal, I hope☺

mine is so desolate as it is hard to work the desert ground into soil.
D:

I voted non-existent, no one really has any garden decor. They may have flowers and shrubs but no decor that is noticable.

This may be one of the most amusing vote threads Dave has had. I have honestly laughed out loud at some of the comments (love the waving hand) and read them aloud to my husband. While I have an item or two that I consider yard art, they are unintentionally hidden, the gargoyle (Dido the little guy with his toes crossed from the Notre Dame buttresses) is behind a morning glory that has grown to eight feet, and the Winged Angel bird feeder (Amen or AHEM...as you choose) is behind a holly bush that overtook her this past summer. I never thought of myself as antyhing buy tasteful and refined, but look, I have two strange pieces of YARD ART. Shocking!

Pam, I agree. It's a very funny thread!

Beside myself, the neighbor across the street from me has a car up on cinderblocks (has had them there for over 7 years now) he has a few pots of sun bleached plastic flowers, a squirrel feeder that hasn't fed anything in about 7 years, and a few pumpkins that are growing on to his sidewalks.

Not sure if the above counts or not? Other than that, my neighborhood is pretty much void of any landscaping/plantings.

There is no neighborhood Ass. thank goodness in our area. Afew developments in town have them & are very uninteresting. Our property was under30 yr. conservation restriction & then houses were allowed to be built. Keep our garden "art" out of sight as it would leave if people saw it. For awhile the teens ideas of fun was smashing pumpkins & destroying rural mailboses.

Its very sad to hear how many can't have things in plain view because they might/will get stolen. Very sad.

Our neighborhood was established in the late '70's by and for people who wanted an old fashioned type neighborhood w/trees and bushes and order. We have no sidewalks and don't need them as everyone always walks in the streets and their dogs in their neighbors' yards, if you get my drift. Each house is different and by todays standards look spacious and well taken care of. The plantings are all different and many of the owners do their own yards which is certainly not the norm in the newer neighborhoods. This is not to say that the owners don't have the say so when it comes to how things are done and what is planted. We seem to have gardeners - 3-4 per company - rather than a couple of guys who mow, weedeat and blow and are gone in 20-25 minutes. The neighborhood looks good and well cared for as a whole w/the occasional weedy lawn. The big trees are an asset.

Ann

Haven't read the others yet.

Voted other as I live in the country.

A couple have tried but don't keep up with it much past june.

A couple just have grass. But keep it mowed nice.

We probably have the most extensive yard around here.

Just took a walk around part of the neighborhood and I guess I can now say there is more garden decor than the rest of the year since a lot of people have Halloween decorations up.

I said a bit out of scale - some older homes not kept up and a few just starting, but mostly nonexistent.

I've only got two neighbors one on either side of my house. I can't see their yards from my yard though so I am saying non-existent.

o I can match Hallowe'en decor! Dahlia protection for f*r*o*s*t tonight

LOL this thread came to mind tonight as I was doing the covering thing. NO one else in my neighbourhood does it so you can see why the chatter will start tomorrow. I give you what I have named the driveway movie screen right smuck in the front yard ^_^ Want to be my neighbour LOL?

With all of your pretty dahlias, sure, I'd be your neighbor! But your zone looks very chilly....

I had answered "nonexistent". Last night I showed my hubby the question and asked him what he thought. He answered "nonexistent".

We were both wrong. Tonight we went out for a slow stroll around the neighborhood. We discovered much more garden decor than either of us realized. Normally we drive everywhere so we don't notice things as much. There are homes with benches, arbors, signs, bird baths, planters, globes, and we even saw fairies and gnomes! We never realized. So now I need to change my answer to "charming and adds personality to each garden".

Thanks for asking this question and giving us the idea to explore our neighborhood more. We've made a date to take another long walk this weekend.

What a delightful discovery, Velnita. Probably all of us would do well to walk around our neighborhoods and notice what is going on there. Congratulations for your discovery. Congratulations, DG, for asking such a provocative question. Many of us have learned from the answers to it.

I have a six foot long kinda Horn Toad guy sitting on a hill by my drive. My DH is a TCU Horn Frog guy and so is daughter, it was given to him from the Museum of Science and History in Ft Worth years ago as they were redoing a display. Now what are the chances of him being there that day? He told the guy that asked him if he wanted it that Yes, I want to give it to my wife for our anniversary. The guy laughed and said he would not be married much longer. LOL He takes 6 guys to move him and our puppy has chewed some horns off and yes we have a HOA but live in the country and people stop and walk the kids up to see this beast. He made the newspaper once. He is looking very worn and Hubby got some things to fix him up. I told him if he does not get his horns back by winter he will be in the burn pit! Uh I dont know how I would get him in the pit as I think it would break my 4-wheeler and my DH heart if I did. So we stay married and Toadie gets a new do come winter.I Hope! Was not real sure how to vote on this one. LOL I forgot to say he came with a volcano as in life size volcano. I used those out of site of the front! Thank Jesus he did NOT bring the whole volcano home to me. They are cool as they are huge boulders. All I can say is you will never see another one on the block.

I forgot my garden Gnome - Gnorman...
& my house used to have balls;)
They were on the gate posts but before I bought the house someone got the bright idea to remove one & put a revoltingly ugly mail box on there.
Some young adults having a party decided to kick my stone wall down one night - the other concrete ball is now in the garden out of sight.
It is pretty heavy but a determined person could do some damage with it so I figured better safe than sorry.
It cost $2000.00 to repair the stone work on the front wall, thank goodness for insurance!
Cheers - Dalfyre
NZ

I voted nonexistent because most people in this part of Ireland don't enjoy gardening FULL STOP! In a way it's a relief though because the alternative and my SIL and most of her friends idea of garden art is these really naff miniature windmills or wheelbarrows (which come free with most home garden shopping catalogues), stuffed with spring bulbs or seasonal flowers - all their gardens look exactly the same. Shudder!! It's like a scene from the Stepford wives.

I haven't seen any gnomes though which is very conforting.

My neighbors do tasteful and reserved-I on the other hand-not so much!!LOL I like to be different:)

Very simple here. Most of neighbors either are large farmers or work in town. The only "Yard Art" here are on 4 wheels. The trick is to outdo one another on the enormous size & price of your lawn mower. The bigger, the better. A "neat" yard here consists of acres of grass. Even cattle yards are mowed, since these farmers ceased working years ago.
Once in a while a yard may have a bush growing if it don't get in the way of the monster grass eaters!
Favorite past time of these people is discussing their mower & complaining about how high priced they are getting.
Bernie

Most of what I see on my street falls into the more or less tasteful but not terribly imaginative category. Cherubs, cute animal statuary, that sort of thing. I'm trying to break out into something differnt by training a chance juniper seedling into a standing rabbit topiary. By far the best garden art belongs to an elderly couple on whose former farmland my house now sits. He has something that looks like an attempt at "found art" made from large metal hoops. Wagon wheel rims, maybe? There is a large piece of swirling grape vine that was painted to look like a snake. It resides in the rock wall, looking like a stern warning to chipmunks and voles. There is the requisite four wheeled garden art, complete with empty plastic bucket over the exhaust pipe. My favorite piece is a giant yellow smiley face that was painted on a huge circular saw blade. The blade is mounted on the side of a small storage shed and greets me every time I go in and out of the neighborhood. It will be a sad day when these two sweet people are no longer part of the local scene.

but it is nonexisitant because we live out in farm country and many times you never see the home from the road
D

I voted charming. Funky would be my second choice. I live in the Hawthorne/Sunnyside neighborhood of Portland, Oregon and the gardens are wonderful. A lot of English type charm and LOTS of vegetables. Some folks have vegetables in their front yards - eating organic and local is very big here, including in the grocery stores. We do have well used and friendly sidewalks and people take great care planting the strips between the sidewalk and the street - mostly very full of waist high flowers, wild flowers, and trees. There are groups of neighbors standing around and chatting everywhere. The trees are old and large and the houses are circa 1900 - 1920. Large front porches with swings and rocking chairs are the norm. One very cool thing that is not exactly garden but contributes greatly to the neighborhood feel is the giant sunflower painted on an intersection. Years ago the neighbors decided to slow down traffic moving through the area and they all got together and painted the street. It is repainted often to maintain the fresh look. There are benches and pieces of art on the corners, as well as a message board for all to use. I, like most people here, bought my home because of the neighborhood. Even the elementary school, which is designated an environmental school, has an extensive vegetable garden that the children take care of with help from the neighbors during the summer break. When the lilacs and hydrangeas bloom it is heaven!

Portland1 - Wow - that sounds really nice! Post of picture of the street!

For a really cool aerial view go to Google Earth and type in SE 33rd Ave and SE Yamhill Portland Oregon
If you are not familiar with Google Earth it is fun, amazing and free!

I would like to recommend a book on gardening written by Michael Pollen, who wrote the very widely read "Omnivore's Dilemma". It is titled "Second Nature" and is very insightful and so well written.

Sounds like my idea of heaven Portland.

Ok I'm moving to Portland. Do your neighbours like dahlias? The tubers are edible so they could be in a veggie garden too ^_^

Absolutely OTHER, as it's a little bit of everything, and does, indeed, add personality and charm to each owners' garden....completely a personal choice that I have no business judging...as I'm a bit 'eclectic', myself!

Dahlianut are dahlia tubers really edible? I must tell my OH cos he thinks plants arn't worth growing unless you can eat them. There's another to add to my list. Tell me more. Where (what country) do peeps eat them LOL.

Yupper roseimp although I think it's just plain funky weirdness.
Dahlia Bread
Preheat oven to 350*
3 eggs
1 cup veg. oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated dahlia tuber
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. soda
2+ tsp cinnamon (I piled it up!)
Beat eggs until light & foamy. Add oil, sugar, grated dahlia tuber & vanilla. Mix lightly but well. Sift dry ingred. together. Add to wet ingred. Mix only until blended. Put into greased loaf pans.
Bake in 350* oven for 1 hour.

OH wicked! Guess who's veggie mad partner is going to try this dish ?LOL. This is weird and wonderful!