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What is in your garden ?

(105 Posts)
NanKate Fri 24-Nov-17 21:29:01

I don't know why, but I fancy a small Buddha in our courtyard garden. I can't imagine what DH would say !

What is in your garden ? A gnome or toad stool perhaps. ?

redamanthas Sun 26-Nov-17 09:07:31

I have one Buddha at the back of the bungalow accompanied by a hedgehog. Two Chinese figures either side of the front door and in the front patio there's another Buddha and a pink, stone pig.

Sheilasue Sun 26-Nov-17 09:29:08

We downsized so we have a communial garden. I have always wanted a little Buddha in my living room they are supposed to be lucky.

squirrel5 Sun 26-Nov-17 09:44:38

We also have a bird feeding station,a small tree with loads of bird feeding seed holders hung on branches,a spinning sunflower thing,a weather station, solar lights strung up between trees,also a pond with frog lights around it,and a decoy heron,he's my favourite,as he looks almost real.

holly100 Sun 26-Nov-17 09:48:20

I have a few buddhas - various sizes from 3 ft - to 8" - been collecting buddhas for 30+ years - my favourite one is a small wooden one which we got made on holiday in Kenya (years ago) saw these guys chisseling wood and asked him to make me one - gave instructions - found out they were prisoners!
my stone ones in garden get resprayed gold every couple of years - I love them

Blinko Sun 26-Nov-17 09:54:07

An urn which is beautifully weathered, and a fairy sitting on a stone which remains pristine white after years of me hoping it will weather... I've tried painting it with yogurt, recommended by someone a while ago. No luck. I may just resort to some kind of painted finish if I can find something in B&Q. Unless anyone here can recommend a suitable treatment?

radicalnan Sun 26-Nov-17 09:56:08

I had a fat, stone witch who I called 'Mrs Ward' and she was stolen...............is she out there? Did anyone buy her at a boot fair, has she been on the 'Antiques Roadshow' when I wasn't watching? I miss her.

Currrently I have various altars and artefacts in the garden including a deity cabinet from Gujerati..........I love that stuff.

Misha14 Sun 26-Nov-17 09:56:41

A statue of Greek maiden, two lion head planters, two stone lions, a stone dog, with a lovely mossy coat, three fairies, one sleeping dragon, a stone cat, a pig on the front doorstep and a gnome by the pond. It's only while writing this I realised how much there is. Most of it is hidden, or masked by greenery and is not easy to see or find, fun for the grandchildren. Only things you can't miss are the pig, who gets a pat when we come in and Rufus, the dog, who sits outside the patio door.

Craftycat Sun 26-Nov-17 10:09:05

I have 2 Buddhas near my pond. One is dancing & the other seated. I love them - they are so cheerful.

quizqueen Sun 26-Nov-17 10:12:11

A stone statue of a mermaid sitting on a rock ( not a copy of the Copenhagen one though) painted by my daughter when she was a child. It's very tatty now so I must get my granddaughter to repaint it now she's 6 and good at crafts.

HannahLoisLuke Sun 26-Nov-17 10:30:22

I have two Buddhas in my garden because I follow Buddhism. Don't really like the idea of using him purely as an ornament although I'm well aware that it's been fashionable for some years now.

Funnygran Sun 26-Nov-17 10:48:04

My brother has a Budha which I like. We have a metal crocodile and turtle (strange choices!) which we had shipped back from India. I can see them from the kitchen window and I love them.

Marnie Sun 26-Nov-17 11:06:52

Metal duck and ducklings. Metal tortoise. Stone tortoise. Three fairy houses which light up at night. Many many barstools in pots near fairy enclosure. Fairy flowers in my sempervirens. Bats on wall with large butterfly. Butterflies on metal sticks in most pots and in soil. Solar lights shaped like a leaf both coloured and plain white. Fat grey Buddha on bottom patio. Thin Buddha on seating patio. Various pots buckets etc as ornaments either on their sides or grouped together. As my family say I have a garden full of tat but it is my tat and I love it. Oh got a lovely stone sundial as well, gift from son one Christmas

Kim19 Sun 26-Nov-17 11:34:31

I have an ancient stone hedgehog on hind legs and smiling which was given to me by a precious friend. Happily, both are still 'hanging on in there'

pamdixon Sun 26-Nov-17 11:37:18

2 penguins called Ping and Pong that my grandsons gave to me, as they know I love penguins!

Fennel Sun 26-Nov-17 11:58:50

Around here most front gardens/entrances to land have or had a large crucifix.
Most have been removed now, in these secular times.
We have about the same amount of land as Welshwife (it's very cheap here). The best thing used to be a large pond, surrounded by shrubs, a few flowers, and full of wildlife - frogs, toads (including midwife toads) dragonflies, water birds in transit etc. But the last few years have been very dry, and the flora and fauna have almost disappeared. sad

Kittycat Sun 26-Nov-17 12:10:00

A plastic Wendy house, a mini slide/baby swing and a bigger fold up slide. And the paved pathway is always marked out in numbered stepping stones! One day our garden will be just a garden again instead of a play area but not too soon i hope!

Kittycat Sun 26-Nov-17 12:12:32

Oh and a reclining cat figure my sister gave me and Peter rabbit who is missing his nose cos the strimmer got him!

sunseeker Sun 26-Nov-17 12:22:50

Welshwife I also have one of those ploughs in my garden!! My DH loved auctions and once went to a farm auction - bought the plough, a large set of scales and several wagon wheels - all now in the garden. I am planning to downsize so not sure what I will do with them. There is also a well in the garden and I have a cast iron pump over it - oh and a stone bird bath

Legs55 Sun 26-Nov-17 12:34:40

Several solar lights, poppy, snowdrop,bluebells & colour changing lights. Butterfly & bird feeding station. Cat, Hare staring at the moon, Hedgehog, Frog, Fox, Rabbit, Boot with mice & several Garden Gnomes in the colours of mine & late DH's Football Teams (Gnomes are at the back of the garden out of sightgrin)

I want to add a Birdbath but my garden is still a work in progresshmm3 years after I moved in.

Mercedes55 Sun 26-Nov-17 12:57:50

My OH is quite a collector of old garden paraphenalia. We have a couple of large wind spinners, a stone statue, a Victorian garden roller, a very old lawnmower that just sits on the lawn, one of those things they use to paint lines on grass, a couple of cast iron statues, a couple of old farm wheels and an old hovis style letter box. I wouldn't mind so much if we had a huge garden, but we haven't!

starlily106 Sun 26-Nov-17 13:05:13

A family of stone rabbits. Mum, dad and 3 babies.

starlily106 Sun 26-Nov-17 13:11:18

I used to have a very large garden gnome who sat in the rockery. Someone stole him one night, don't know how they managed to get him out of the ground as he was solid concrete, and the base he sat on was about 4 feet into the ground. I hope whoever got him also got a hernia!

sarahellenwhitney Sun 26-Nov-17 13:14:49

Stone, urn carrying, naked ladies a couple of sundials and bird baths Placed on two patios surrounded by lawns rhodos, camelias phormiums, and deciduous shrubs that give vibrant autumn colour.
Property was originally a two acre small holding, with property, that had seen better days. A lot of hard work involved, battling atlantic storms but well worth it.
I give 'the girls' .as I call them. a spray now and then to remove the algae .

MadGrandma Sun 26-Nov-17 13:16:06

I have Bill, Ben and Weed purchased from B&Q many years ago. (I had to repaint them this year!) I also have 2 wizards (one walking, one sitting on a pile of books) a Buddha with arms above his head and this year I treated myself to a small dragon. We only have a small garden but it's nice to hide these somewhere different each year! Oh yes - and a bird feeder!

grandtanteJE65 Sun 26-Nov-17 13:21:29

We have a Buddha, which DH wanted. And a Lion and Unicorn that were in the garden of the house I grew up in. No-one knew how old they were, and my parents took them with them when they moved. After my parents died, I said I just could not leave them to be sold with the house.

One of my first memories is a great-aunt reciting " The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the Crown" in broad Doric Scots - she was probably trying to get me to sleep, as she used to sing "Wee Willie Winkie" in the Scots version that has four verses. I was indeed her "waukrife lassie who willna fall asleep"

We are currently looking for a statue of Our Lady big enough for the garden and made of something that will stand up to the weather - perhaps we should build her a grotto .