Gardening with Galligan: Art in the garden has no rules
Here’s my fountain, on a six-hour timer, light-sensitive to start at dusk. (It can’t tell the difference between dusk and an oncoming thunderstorm, but it works either way.)
Exactly as you value art within the four walls of your home, you should value it in the garden as well and experience the same degree of freedom outside as you do inside. Actually, there’s greater freedom outside — you don’t have to worry about damaging anything.
Trees don’t mind if you hammer a nail into their trunk to hang a picture. The only thing they do mind is if you “girdle” them — wrap something tight around them, like wire, that will diminish or even shut off their circulation.
So the sky is the limit and you should exult in that freedom and let your imagination have free rein. Trees and fences can be understood as “walls” but anything beautiful, a statue, birdbath or fountain, can be placed anywhere you please — in the middle of a bed, a lawn, actually in the middle of anything. Your only requirement for the materials you place there is that they must be waterproof. This is hardly a difficulty, since with all the resins and epoxys currently available, the choice is wide.
I have a collection of stone angels, of which I’m very fond. I like to imagine they’re guarding me and I have them on stairs, in beds, around corners and a large one hanging on the tree outside my bedroom balcony, with an up-directed light that comes on automatically at dusk for four hours. I have a large, three-tiered fountain that I also love. It’s no longer functional but still nice to look, especially at night when lit.
Functioning fountains are extremely nice, but they need a great deal of consistent attention. If the pump runs dry, it will burn itself out; I know this from sad experience. Eventually I decided that a functioning fountain was intended for a gardener other than me, and that a rain-filled fountain, or even a dry one, was equally nice.
Part of the pleasure of garden art is finding it, but if you keep it in the front of your mind, it’s easier. Driving past a demolition, especially of a church? Glory! Stop the car! Get out, make friends with anyone in sight and see if there’s something you can use. I acquired one treasured possession (a large candleholder, but it’s for indoors) just that way and I have managed not to crash several cars while looking for another.
Use your imagination, be fearless and remember that a beautiful pot filled with a beautiful plant can go anywhere, yes, right in the middle of a bed if it pleases you. You’re in charge!
Omitted Tip of the Week: In my last column about lilies, I omitted an important caveat. Note the stamens of the lily, those center slender stalks topped by brown “heads” or ends. Those ends were used originally by the Egyptians, along with an anil that made blue, before the days of the Bible, to make dyes. And their power in that respect remains undiminished.
I forgot to warn you of this when I noticed that several of the lily petals lowest on the stems in the vase at the end of my white couch had fallen off and were lying on one of the cushions. While holding my breath, I removed them as gingerly as possible and luckily there was no damage done.
I did notice yesterday, however, that there was a long brown smudge on the side of my gym pants, a very familiar shade of brown, but who cares about gym clothes.
Be forewarned, hopefully in time.
