But Is It Garden Art?
Old Gnome - Definitely Not Art!
This isn't really an article about Garden Art - you see, the Moosey garden doesn't really have any. Statuary? Zero. Large, groovy, stylish empty pots? Not a one. Plinths? None. Gargoyles? Sorry, I'm rather drawn to ehm, but alas I don't have any.
I'd love to have some artistic spots in my garden. Gardening friends can drop a few stones next to a daisy and it looks super arty and stylish. One friend does have some real sculpture, too, but that's another garden. She has the eye for placement, proportion, and all the things that I don't think I possess.
The Sole Surviving Moosey Gnome
I don't suppose gnomes count? Or (to be precise) one solitary faded elderly gnome minding his own business on the house patio? Kitsch maybe, but not really Art. Mind you, he was only the first. Now I have a 'family of sixty, plus, all going about their gnomish business around the pond.
Gnomes and Cricket
Actually, I've always had gnomes. Years ago, in the garden I shared with my children when they were little, I had a chunky chap with a ruddy face and fat legs. I couldn't understand why pieces of his nose kept falling off - as if he was afflicted with a gnome-leprosy disease.
Mossy Castle
Mossy Castles
Years later I was told the reason. My precious gnome were used as a set of wickets for back lawn cricket games when I wasn't looking. Hmm...
The mossy castle hidden in the wee garden by the car lay-by probably probably doesn't count either. Its creator considered himself a potter turned sculptor, but I don't suppose his self-imagined status has much to do with anything (which is actually a great pity). Over the years pieces of the castle have fallen off, and it tends to become submerged by ferns and hostas in spring and summer. If I was a spider, or some such garden critter, I'd consider it a pretty damp place in which to shelter...
Moss grows on the castle base, and leaf litter fills up the inside. It's definitely picturesque and whimsical, but hardly Art.
How about some concrete sheep?
I guess that serious Garden Art Collectors will just have to bypass the Moosey garden. Hmm... Everything that I like just doesn't cut the artistic mustard. I'm just too visually irresponsible and silly. A thought - I wonder if I should buy some concrete sheep?
The Concrete Cricketers
But there's more. Oops. Look what I picked up from the recycle depot at the local 'dump'. Cricketers - bowler, two batsmen, a wicket keeper, an inept fielder, and an umpire. Hee hee.
Hello Hen!
And to give the Hen House Gardens some credibility and 'substance' I've installed a small gang of ornamental poultry. Much less messy than the real thing. Garden whimsy, this, but definitely not art.