Lawn decoration ideas.

[PerfiCut L&L]

I have a customer who lives in a prety upscale community, and hes looking for a complete overhaul of his mulch/flower beds. Wants some low maint shrubs/plants with color, in addition he wants a little pizazz. I was thinking of some sort of lawn ornament/decoration. No bird baths since they dryup and look like crap too fast. Any ideas? Any good web sites selling lawn decorations?

Keep it mind, upscale home... so nothing cheesy.

[lance1]

I once lived in the central Jersey area. There was a house that had lined all the beds in the front lawn with bowling balls. I'm talking hundreds of them.
I guess this was tasteful to the owner. It really depends what the customer wants, all you could do is make suggestions or drive around the area and take photos of what you find to show customer. They'll tell you what they like/dislike after review.

[lance1]

Try bhg.com for some ideas.

[Allen's LS]

Statues, or Iron work, maybe from a local artist / fabricator. As far as the bird bath goes. I have run a mico line off of an existing irrigation head to keep it filled. Can't even notice it.:clapping:

[westwind]

a lot of cut iron work up here, bison, deer, etc.. they look very nice.

[PlantSolutions]

It depends what you and the client are looking for. Is it in the front or back, formal or casual area? What type of garden are you creating? I work in an upscale community and the gardens and landscapes I design are all different based on the clients style and style of house. If you attend trade shows, you will always find local artists who do stone and iron work. First you need to deside on clients tastes and work from there.

As for shrubs with color.....do succession planting of shrubs and perennials and you can even include something like a cornus sercea (sp?) and other plants for winter interest. Remember, you don't always need evergreen for winter interest......

[PerfiCut L&L]

Honestly, Im not sure the customer has any specific tastes. He left it up to me. "whatever I think looks good" ,

I'll shop around the web a little for lawn ornaments or decorations of sort, and try to mix it in with a good combination of seasonal plants without overdoing. Thought I'd throw the question out there for anyone that may have done a job and said "WOW" now that turned out awesome, which had similar requirements.

[sheshovel]

How bout some nice boulders..mossy ones?

[Dirty Water]

A lot of local iron work here. Though the hand made stuff is really spendy.

[PerfiCut L&L]

Im thinking of suggesting some large stones, boulders, or something similar. Just to break it up a bit. I think that will provide a more natural look without offending his taste in art.

A good variety of shrubs, and perrenials will spice it up some, along with some colorful ground cover.

[UNISCAPER]

If you take a piece of 3/4" plywood and cut it 3' wide and round the top, you can paint a picture of a big fat lady bending over and plant flowers around it. Always a big hit in upscale neighborhoods. LOLOL

Or you can do what this hooked up dude we worked for did. A 9' statue of a naked woman hand carved in marble. There was a basin around where she stood, and mounted on her crotch, back arched, breasts exposed, you would plug her in and she pumped water out of the breasts.

I would only hate to see the bill for this ungodly device which was the focal point of the entrance courtyard.

Seriously now, others have some pretty good ideas.

[lakesregionscapes]

Around here there's some really nice finished granite garden items - benches, water features, and simple stone shapes (BIG stone spheres with nice veining): check an upscale stone shop (usually do custom counters, etc too), or an upscale retail nursery. You can find "understated yet original" that generally won't offend even the purists.
We're also very big on the "random" mossy boulder, but they're a major, inescapable part of landscaping around here! (dynamite?)