Garden Crypt

By Nikki Phipps

Ever thought about incorporating flea market finds and antique treasures into your garden? Well, you should. Garden antiques and one-of-a kind pieces can be used to highlight certain areas, add a sense of peace to an existing, chaotic garden, or simply provide a complete makeover for the garden. Using antiques in the garden, such as ornaments and furnishings of the past, creates a sense of ambiance, which can used to set the tone for your passion of collecting things from another era.

Garden antiques, especially antique garden ornaments, are very popular collector items that can be easily and artistically incorporated within the confines of your landscape. Garden settees, urns, fountains, and sculptures all have a place in the garden. Incorporate your treasures with flowering plants, evergreens, brick and even wood. Keep in mind, however, that there should always be an element that harmonizes the entire garden. So try to repeat and/or continue some of your favorite pieces to create a harmonious landscape. You could, for example, plant the same type of flowers in close proximity to your treasures. Then again, you might use antique doorknobs as decorations along fence posts.

Use an old whiskey barrel as a tabletop, fountain, or planter. Alternatively, you can make a small table by placing a grate cover on a table bottom and covering it with a piece of glass. Smaller grates can be used as potholders, bases for planters. A marble slab also makes a great top for a coffee table or end table. Place it on two overturned flowerpots or concrete blocks to make a lovely garden bench or table. Use dinner plate pieces to create a mosaic on tabletops or clay pots.

Take a vintage teacart, wheelbarrow or wagon and place colorful flowering plants in them. Antique buckets look especially nice when filled with flowers. If you choose a wooden bucket, check for leaks. You may need to use a plastic planter liner. Old milk pails and washtubs also make incredible planters. Construct walkways, paths, or fountains from salvaged brick. Set a tall gate against the side of the house and use it as a trellis for vining plants. Use vintage signs throughout the garden. The ideas are endless and the possibilities confined only to the imagination.