Trash makes Treasures for Garden Decorating

Trash & Found items can add DIY interest to any garden.

I look for shapes, colors, textures, and things that could be outside on display, even if they last for only one season. I enjoy hunting and seeking out unique treasures, and I strive to display visual nuances among the plants. Indeed, I could go out and BUY decorations, but I love to find the treasures on my daily walks. With some artistic placement, almost anything can look great with plants surrounding it.

Red onions in a clay pot with goat skull, dried weeds & feathers.

My first inspiring garden, filled with Trash Treasures, is located in Strathcona (East Vancouver, British Columbia), where locals can rent a plot of land for a few dollars to grow whatever they wish.

Strathcona Community Gardens was one of my favorite places for a stroll with my camera. There was a serene and meditative place, contrasting with the busy & noisy city life.  I loved watching plants grow and looking for Trash Treasures, where the gardeners personalized their little garden plots.

Broken pots, old dolls, and bicycle wheels to make a garden border.
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

An ear that is usually used for drawing students is now hung on a tree trunk. 
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

THERE'S AN ELEPHANT IN MY GARDEN!
Partially broken but still charming, this ceramic elephant is perfect for adding a touch of charm to your garden. 
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

I do not know what this was previously, but living in an artist's community, such as in Strathcona, Vancouver, some creative projects that have gone sour might end up being used for gardening purposes. (Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia) 

Rocks, old brick, and found concrete shapes were made into a spiral. 
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

Concrete shapes are used for visual queues and focal points.
 (Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

Throw away the camera, fake flowers & other objects, making for an interesting garden sculpture. (Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

An old, worn-out piece of stone sculpture with dripped paint 
still has a purpose, sunk into the earth. (Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

Diving goggles and a clock.
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

Diving goggles and a clock.
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

Concrete and daisies are featured.
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

Messages were left in the garden.
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

An old MANiken, sporting underwear.
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

This clay bust sculpture might have seen better days, but now it retires in the garden. 
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

Do you remember the typewriter? While visiting the garden, why not type out some poetry?
(Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia)

Now I live in Nova Scotia, on the ocean, and in a rural community, but still, I find roadside garbage and rusty old items when walking through the wooded areas, which were used as a dumping ground since the 1800s by rural farmers.

Found in the woods a metal patio base for an old table. 
A Chinese dragon pot filled with chives serves as the base for a funky display. 
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

A sheet of old plywood, sitting on a half-cut barrel to make a low table for my herb plants growing in painted coffee tins.
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

Seashells, beach rocks & driftwood, hub cap, old metal car part, and old hammer. 
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

Found in the woods a cut plastic tub, now home to my roadside-collected wild daisies that transplant very well. I surrounded the tub with round beach rocks and managed to grow one pumpkin plant, which grew in a circle around the tub, creating a mini wild garden.
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

Skull, dried branches, and a clay pot with red onions.
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

Goat Skull, dried branches, and a clay pot with red onions.
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

Roadside garbage, such as old planters, becomes my carrot containers.
An old milk can with a lid is painted a fresh blue color to fit into the planter display. 
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

An old clay casserole dish, a kids' plastic shovel & broken toy become a basil herbal patch.
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

Rusty shovel head displayed with old bricks, rocks, 
and a pot filled with chives & seashells. 
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

My pond is filled with large rocks from the beach, and a concrete post that holds up the pot of chives. Sticking out of the water is an old rock-carved Japanese sculpture.

The RED drapes are my old art shelf covers, which are tied to a large piece of driftwood. It blows in the breeze, creating a visual movement around the pond. 

(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

Close-up rock sculpture in a pond.
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

Found these two RETRO plastic & metal chairs on the side of the road.
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

WASHED up on the beach, I found this old metal THING 
That was a rusty planter for my sturdy geraniums. 
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

Ziggy's outside colorful water dish comes with its own brass unicorn adornments. 
(Seaforth, Nova Scotia)

Ziggy is a rescue, another treasure who came to live with us in 2013. He is the find of the century and my garden security who keeps an eye on critters. Ziggy seems to know that the garden is not to be trampled and respects my displays, although he does leave a few piss mail messages on the corners, which is OK with us.

I have to laugh at the goat skull featured at the entrance of my garden. Well, my friend's beagle thought it would enjoy my hunted treasures and chewed on my cool skull while we stood there chatting. Saying all that, it would be wise to think of your dogs' natural tendencies and not place things about the garden, encouraging the foraging they might do, to get that hunted treasure for themselves!

Go ahead and find the trash that would look great in your garden! 

Trash to treasure hunter, Minaz