Beginner Tacky
- KateBerry
- Carol Wallace
- KateBerry
- Carol Wallace
- KateBerry
- Carol Wallace
- KateBerry
- Carol Wallace
- KateBerry
- Carol Wallace
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» KateBerry - Ah, the enthusiasm of the novice!
For those who've missed it (or just aren't paying attention), Suite 101's gardening section is running a Tacky Ard Art contest. Now, personally, I have mixed feelings about 'tacky yard art' when it comes to beginning gardeners.I know that some folks, in their enthusiasm about starting a garden, just go overboard with good intentions. You know who I'm talking about... they go out and buy yard art galore, all shiny and new. Bright-colored garden gnomes, ceramic swans, happy-faced plywood 'flowers' that they plant all in a row. A year later, though, when their plants come in and the infatuation with attracting attention to their garden has dimmed, most folks thin out the yard art and settle for just a few well-placed ornaments.
Personally, I don't want to discourage that. I think it's important for new gardeners to take pride in their accomplishments. To break out of the mold. To try new things, and to dare to be different. And as long as their tastes mature along with their gardens, then I say decorate away! But be open to change and, well, to toning it down a bit.
Me, I blew most of my budget buying plants when I started. There just wasn't much money left for yard art. So, in a sense, I (and my neighborhood) was spared. But I'll admit to having set out an old dining table that was missing its top, and using its frame as a support for tall-growing dahlias. (Get it... 'dinnerplate dahlias' peeking up where the tabletop used to be.)
What about you? Did you go overboard when you first decorated your garden? Are there any yard art 'mistakes' now hidden in your basement under a pile of old clothes? Do tell... we promise not to send Carol and her digital camera out to your house for photos. (Unless, of course, you're looking to sell off your old yard art... in which case, from what I've seen of our contest there might just be a viable market out there!
-- posted by KateBerry
» Carol Wallace - Overboard in my mind
We used to have a really nasty neighbor across the street from us, and would often DREAM about putting certain types of yard art up just to give her something to justifiably gripe about. One idea my husband had was neon pink flamingos. (Not the sahde of pink - real neon that flashed!) Then he had this devilish idea of not mowing the lawn and setting 100 teacup chihuahuas loose so that you'd hear all this barking and not be able to see them. But we never did anything at all tot he front yard.We did start out kinda tacky in the back, though. Our small pond is pretty formal looking - an octagon only 5' across. We wanted a fountain and couldn't afford to go buy one, so we shopped the classifieds. We ended up toting home this enormous sculpture of a boy holding a big fish standing in a big shell-shaped bowl - the boy was at least as tall as the pond was wide and the shell covered half the water.
Luckily the winter cold and ice did away with it relatively quickly and we replaced it with a simple frog - which is what I wanted in the first place. But the remainder of the fountain is still sitting in one of the island beds half-hidden in a giant miscanthus.
-- posted by Carol Wallace
» KateBerry - Not just for Newbies
We've got a man in our neighborhood who we all call "Mr. Landscape." Evidently, he owns his own landscaping company and uses his yard as a display case for not only his landscaping, but his yard art that he makes himself.Truth is, he seems to have a considerable amount of talent in both. But I mean to tell you, he has packed SO much yard art and SO many plants tucked in front of a violet-colored house on the corner of a very dull suburb (with a semi-nude quasi-Grecian statue in a water fountain planted right out in front) that it's now well beyond tacky.
Which just goes to show that you can make a career out of tastelessness.
-- posted by KateBerry
» Carol Wallace - Take pictures
Send them in. We need more examples of tacky!!!-- posted by Carol Wallace
» KateBerry - Working on it!
The problem is, I don't know how to discretely get a photo of this guy's house. Hubby and I have talked about doing a drive-by photoshooting... he'll slow down the car long enough for me to lean out with the camera, and I'll snap the shot.Unfortunately, since ours is such a small town, if I'm spied by anyone they'll report back to the owner who happens to be interested in contracting me to start some plants for use in his landscaping company next spring. Maybe I can get my daughter to take the picture, while I hunch down in the backseat...?
-- posted by KateBerry
» Carol Wallace - Just tell him how much you admire something in the yard
and then ask if you can photograph it. Most people are abcsolutely THRILLED! (Ego knows no bounds ;-)-- posted by Carol Wallace
» KateBerry - Pictures to come
You know, I thought I'd seen it all. But on the drive from Missouri to Minnesota, I truly got a taste of 'Tacky Yard Art.'The bad news: my daughter has a fondness for using my camera without asking. So just as we passed through a small town (pop. 347) where, I swear to you, every other house could've been a 'Tacky Yard Art' winner, I discovered that we were out of film.
The good news: Fishing over the weekend was excellent, and expected to get better by the end of the month, so I'm heading back up north on July 16 and will be bringing home as many photos as I possibly can. Even if the fishing weren't as good as it is this year, the drive itself would be worth it. We're talking seriously tacky yard art.
So, Carol: Make room!
-- posted by KateBerry
» Carol Wallace - There's always room for more tacky!!
Glad you enjoyed the trip! And isn't it amazing how that silly contest makes us aware of all the weird stuff that is out there? Since this year's contest began I've almost caused a couple of accidents as I drove and rubbernecked. My husband swore it was peculiar to our area, but he spent the last 11 days between Indiana and California and now knows - it's everywhere!!-- posted by Carol Wallace
» KateBerry - Contagious tackiness?
I've started noticing that where there's one house with tacky yard art, there's another. We drove for miles (and miles and miles) on our way to Minnesota and didn't see any tacky art.But, as soon as we hit the first small house with an abundance of little garden gnomes, we saw one right after the other. Then it stopped, and would start again a few towns down the road. Very strange.
I will say, however, that I have never seen so many nicely maintained and well-planted gardens as I saw in Minnesota. It was really a delight to see them but, like you, I caused a half-dozen near accidents by rubbernecking.
-- posted by KateBerry
» Carol Wallace - I've noticed the same thing
The last time I did a yard art tour the three worst were all within 6 houses of each other. So it MUST be contagious.-- posted by Carol Wallace
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