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14 Garden Art Ideas to Express Your Unique Style

Published on August 5, 2020Last updated October 5, 2021 ♛ By Melissa J. Will

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Use these garden art ideas to find your unique style. Express your personality and let that sense of humor lead the way. It’s your garden so why not have it your way?

If you would instructions, see all of my garden art projects here.

Garden art including boots planted with flowers and carved wooden sunface.

Creative Garden Art Ideas

Collage of unique garden art ideas including carved sun face, metal robots, frog sculpture, and wooden easel.

Recently I was asked for easy garden art ideas that add personality and a bunch of favorites immediately came to mind.

Most of them are very fast and frugal and definitely bring unique style to the garden.

Often, it’s just the addition of a focal point and/or introducing a stand-out color that can make a garden come together.

Create Plant Art

Plant art made from moss and succulents
Moss woman resting in garden

A clever creation using a stone face, assorted plants, and well-placed succulents.

Repeat a Color Theme

Examples of blue garden art, decor, and flowers.

Pick your favorite color and go for it!

Personally, I love how blue stands out in the garden because it’s not that common in plants.

You could pick one color, a trio of colors, or go with all different bold colors all in the same value (intensity) and get the same effect.

You can see the entire gallery of blue ideas here.

Add Blasts of Color

Colorful decorative birdhouses in the garden
Pick a favorite color—or a bunch of them—to dress up decorative birdhouses

Why choose one color when you can choose a bunch?

Crack open the craft paints and create a village of decorative birdhouses.

There’s an entire gallery of birdhouse ideas here.

Copy Nature in a Big Way

Giant bird nest on top of garden shed.
Giant decorative bird nest on top of garden shed

I made this giant bird nest from tree branches and added the fake eggs (with blue spray paint).

Giant garden art bird nest on top of shed.
Giant garden art bird nest made from old tree branches

Follow your whims. It’s your garden.

Put Inside Stuff Outside

Blue and white dish art in garden.
Dishes and bottles in flower urn

Anything that can endure the weather (or at least hold up a good long time) is fair game.

Blue and white dishes used as fence art.
Blue and white dishes on garden fence

Personally, I’m a blue and white plate fan and love how these dishes look on the fence.

There are 25+ more creative fence art ideas here.

Go Cute & Corny

Frog garden art in birdbath
Frog art in birdbath

Ask me if I care what other people think of my garden? {crickets chirping} It’s your space—for goodness sake, do what you like!

You might not find this example so far off the wall, but I go on a lot of garden tours and my jaw drops overhearing people criticize the simplest, sweetest things.

Love frogs hugging in a birdbath?

Go for it.

Display Your Funny Bone

Sign saying Remember as far as anyone is concerned we're a nice normal family
Nothing to see here—lol!

Remember, as far as anyone knows we’re a nice, normal family. 

You can find many versions of this on Amazon.com including vinyl decals, mugs, and signs.

There are so many things I wouldn’t really want in my house that work nicely as garden décor.

One of the best parts of garden tours is seeing the humorous touches that people add.

This sign immediately lets you know that the gardener has a playful spirit.

Or you should run the other way. Fast.

There are more garden sign ideas here.

Warning This Property is Patrolled by Giant Frogs sign
Can’t say you weren’t warned!
Garden gate with painted flower sign leading to vegetable garden.
This flower sign is a cheerful addition to the vegetable garden gate.

If you look at this beautiful veggie garden, the sunflower welcome sign on the gate really brings the whole thing together.

It’s sweet and quirky and so easy to make or buy one.

There are lots more garden sign ideas here.

Go Vertical

Painted wood ladder used as art in the garden.
Paint a wood ladder as garden art

Add instant vertical interest—and a place for birds to perch—with a garden ladder.

Add flower pots, birdhouses, or other repurposed garden art and you have instant interest in a plain old garden bed.

There’s lots more ideas for adding vertical interest here and more garden ladder ideas here.

Be Quirky

Rubber boots used as flower planters
When the old boots split, turn them into planters!

What if you forbid yourself from buying things and instead had to make do with stuff you already have?

That’s how garden art is born.

This idea of planting boots has been done a million times over and I still love it.

Garden art dog made from old rubber boots.
DIY rubber boot dog

I turned old boots into garden art dogs using this tutorial.

Go Extra With the Paint

Stencilled lawnmower and wheelbarrow
Stencilled lawnmower and wheelbarrow

My old lawnmower and wheelbarrow were rusting but still had some life in them.

I could have just gone with plain color but flower power called me and I had to answer.

For more ideas, also see 12 Creative Wheelbarrow Planter Ideas.

Embrace the Muse

Stone maze under trees in garden
Stone garden maze

Deep shade areas where nothing but evergreens grow are a great place to have some fun.

Here the gardener made a maze out of stones and mulch.

Also see 12 Stepping Stone & Garden Path Ideas.

Go Bright

Wooden garden art swan and white flowers.

White is the brightest color in a garden. I love white flowers. They punctuate an outdoor space like nothing else.

Here the gardener used a black, white, grey (and green plants) theme with flowers and furnishings. Love it.

Go Rusty

Rusty garden art robots
Rusty garden art robots

Rust and gardens go together like rust and gardens! There is a gallery of rusty garden art ideas here and instructions for DIY tin can robots here.

Frame It

Garden art easel.

Together, the easel and garden are art! I ove how this rustic easel frames it perfectly. There is a gallery of garden art easel ideas here.

Let the Sun Shine in

Carved sun face
Carved sun face

I do not know the name of the artist who made this but wow, so beautifully done.

If you are at art or craft shows and see something one-of-a-kind that you love, get it! Otherwise, if you’re like me, you’ll wake up at night wishing you had.

Another option is to have an old tree stump carved by an artist. There’s a whole gallery of stump art ideas here.

Resources

Ebook

Garden Art Projects & Ideas book cover

25 Garden Art Projects & Ideas

by Melissa J. Will

Grab the top garden art DIY projects and tips from Empress of Dirt

About This Ebook | Visit Ebook Shop

This ebook is a digital file (PDF format) you save to your device. It is not a physical product.

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I hope this gives you some ideas to work with. And the encouragement to create a unique garden.

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛

Collage of unique garden art ideas including carved sun face, metal robots, frog sculpture, and wooden easel.
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Melissa J. Will - Empress of DirtWelcome!
I’m Melissa J. Will a.k.a. the Empress of Dirt (Ontario, Canada).
Join me as I share creative + frugal home & garden ideas with a dash of humor.
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