The garden decor in my neighborhood is mostly...

Here's link to the Dahlia Forum thread which discusses eating dahlias (wince). http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/882178/

I voted nonexistent. Most of the houses in my neighborhood are rented and most of the renters can't even be bothered to mow their lawns.

I would hate to eat a dahlia tuber if it could grow a dahlia flower!

Exactamundo paj. It's probably cannabalistic too if you're a dahlianut.

Hadn't thought of that, but you are right.

LOL I always put my stomach first.

Dahlianut - there are dahlias in the flower gardens here. I had no idea they were edible. Portland is a wonderful city. The Willamette River runs through the center of the city and joins the Columbia River before going to the Pacific Ocean. There are many cool bridges across the Willamette and are full of bicycles. Portland has more bicycle commuters that any other city in the US. I ride my bike everywhere and I'm 61. It is one of those old fashioned bikes like we had as kids.

I have heard the Portland is one of the most progressive cities in the US. I am proud to say that one of my former students is a City Planner there.

I've through Portland many a time on my way south on I5 to CA (my parents were snowbirds). Unfortunately never stopped to see the city. Oregon is one beautiful state but then I've never been to a state that wasn't. (only have a few more states left to see).

I am always trying to talk people into visiting me in Mississippi when I am there, which I will be around the end of October. Bet you have never been to Mississippi. It really is a beauty -- lush beyond belief.

Yupper been there. Lower 48 I'm missing: Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Mass., Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Also never been to Washington DC although it's not a state I still count it as not seen. Outside the lower 48 I've been to Hawaii and Alaska but not US Virgin Islands or Puerta Rico (a US territory). Any others outside the lower 48? WOW I'm missing alot!!! I better get travelling!!!!

I don't have a real garden, just a three pot stand, now with mums, "red salsa" plus unknown (for me) plants and an "orange salsa) which is suffering from the cold night in this altitude (~ 6,600 feet). I really would like to know the name of the plants near (in the same pot) of the "red salsa", I will provide a close-up photo . . . thank you for looking on this and the coming ...

Dahlias are edible! Now, my D.H. will be excited to remove the concrete driveway for them. Uh Huh. Portland sounds very nice but not enough sun for me. We do have a couple of murals on walls in my neighborhood. Does that count as garden decoration?

Well, you are right about the left hand plant being a mum. The right hand plant is clearly a pepper -- probably an ornamental one. Peppers don't like cold and at 6,600 ft. they might get a little cold, but I suspect that whatever problems it is having might be something else. I live at 7,300 ft. and grow peppers which are typically happy. Maybe it has some aphids or something? It actually looks quite nice -- are you sure that there is anything wrong with it? What symptoms do you see.
I cannot figure out what the middle plant is. Will need a closeup for that.
Anyhow, two out of 3 flourishing is pretty good. You seem to be doing mostly the right thing. When we see a closer picture of the middle plant, we will, hopefully, be able to tell you more.
The mums and the peppers look great!

Murals are definitely garden decoration. Excellent ones. Better than most of us have.

Someone threw an old bicycle into my front garden once.

There is a couple in town who placed an old iron bed; head and foot frames and rails in their yard and planted flowers inside it. She claimed no one needed to ask where her flower bed is. They could come by and see it.

Dahlianut, you'll love Kentucky--and Maryland too. They're both beautiful. But my very favorite city is Washington DC. Oh, I just love it. The museums, history, architecture, and international culture are great! Every time I go it's never long enough.

Mother Nature style - 24/7 - for miles and miles around

lol...I've seen a few of those 'literal' garden 'beds' around here, too.
I

Roseimp - you are very funny!

I've seen an occasional mattress on the curb, but unfortunately no flowers and no headboard. Turns out it was garbage day! (thank goodness!)

Don't want you to get the wrong idea - I'm not in a rough area, just on the way back from several pubs LOL

Roseimp, you might be in my neighborhood, sounds like! The bed bed reminds me that I have seen people use old toilets as planters. Kind of inelegant but utilitarian.

Garden decor in my neighborhood is mostly corn and beans. Some years it is beans and corn.

Roybird - next to the toilet planter should be one of the old rotary dial phones - with a sign "To be used when Mother Nature calls" ......... arrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Har har har!!!

Hey.... hey watch it! Nuf toilet humor!

I am guilty but in the backyard where only the privileged get to enter... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=3953934

You guys are ^_^ Roybird is there a magazine stand beside it? just for realism of course..... cuz some people do do that.

do do?

Ha!Ha!Ha! Now, seriously. There is a gardener down the street and 3 blocks over, Not technically my neighborhood (or is it?) and this fella has more than one toilet planter. He also displays a large American flag. He has blue morning glories, red roses, and very nice iris in the spring. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? There is no accounting for taste. And so forth.

Oh, Pod, I gotta say your planter looks o.k. to me! I have also seen old tires used as planters. It is a way of re-using things that would otherwise go in a landfill.

I voted nonexistant, but neighbors do have roses along side their garage, but no one has any garden art which I think is a shame. I have a set of gnomes which will go out in front in the spring, and my back yard is going to be full of garden art. In front I'm also going to have tipsy pots so all who walk by can see (hoping they will ask about them). Have a few neighbors who have nothing growing, I think they do need some help.^_^

my yard is a big slope down to the house ,so i've done a lot of rock beds to hold the soil back , and will be doing a bunch more . have e e's and azaleas and so much other stuff to hide the road . hate having to lift my hand a dozen times a day to two neighbors that are in and out a dozen times a day . so will screen the road off . i've planted loropetulem ,e e's nine bark , three varieties, jap maple( four), hemlock , bald cypress (two)native dogwood (six or eight )gardenia ,several viburnum (scented ) ,red wigelius , six or eight , magnolias,sweet bay and so far , two pink stardust and two white ceder i brought back in a suitcase on the plane from oregan . it has been a seven year project so far . i think i'm doing a pretty good job of screening it off . 1 birdbath , 2 hummingbird feeders , frogs , a gazing ball . it's fifty foot to the road and two hundred foot wide. sally

Roy, my DH has his morning glory every day on the pot like clockwork!

A sad but telling conclusion! "Nonexistent" it is. Hurricane Ike took down a lot of fence around my 'hood, and peeking into backyards has never been easier. I'm apparently the only person, at least in this section of Lumberton, to have a garden at all! I was truly astounded at the yards. Just great big green areas with the occasional shed!

What is with the grass thing I wonder. Who started the 'lawn' concept anyhoo and why? It totally doesn't make any sense IMHO as its such high maintenance and requires so much water. Anybody know the history of lawns?

I think people like them because you have control over them. You mow them down and edge them and there aren't all those messy flowers and things you have to keep up with. Nature abhors a straight line. People prefer them. (Except gardeners!)

I suppose it started with the village green, maybe? A place to gather. It's a nice interruption for a garden, I guess. Contrast.

The old manor house lawns in Eng. were for grazing sheep (with a wet climate). I prefer the "cottage garden" concept from the same place.