Lawn Ornaments, aka: Garden Decorating....a French Perspective

On the drive to my mother's house in Wisconsin from Minneapolis there is always one house/yard that causes me to do a double-take.  In mid-western fashion, taken to the nth degree, there is, on this one modest lawn: 2 life-size deer and 1 Bambi, 2 little 'Dutch' children kissing, a miniature swing set with Snow White and all 7 Dwarfs, umpteen rabbits, squirrels and raccoons, a flock of pink flamingos (native ;) to the area), 2 'fat gardeners bent over weeding' - bums to the view, a gazillion whirligigs and glass balls, and, to round it all out, an entire village of garden gnomes....ooops, almost forgot the faeries - a bunch of those, too.  Then there are the holiday additions:  ghosts, vampires and witches at Halloween all decked out in orange blinking lights; Santa, the sleigh, all of the reindeer including Rudolph, Christmas trees, and a life-size nativity scene, all cleverly outlined in red and green lights at Christmas;  Valentine's day brings..., you get the picture. Yesterday, we drove through Vix (on our way to the Venise Vert for another bike ride) and there was a French lawn that caused a double-take.  We have seen a lot of lovely gardens all over Europe, both small and grand, usually filled with roses and shrubs.  There is the odd garden gnome in the U.K. (Anyone remember  "The Full Monty"?) and usually nothing of interest in most of Spain: either too dry or the Spanish just can't be bothered!  This garden is a French twist on garden kitsch!
No frugal, small-village French housewife would spend her egg money (at least not a lot) on decorating her garden when she could do it herself!   The answer: Topiaries!  This entire garden is filled with topiary people and animals.  And, she has fitted them out with clothes to boot!  Everyone is conveniently sitting on  large dirt pots, cleverly disguised in the benches and chairs, some 'real', some topiaries themselves.  The lady came out of her house as I was unobtrusively snapping pics and she looked just as she should:   a pretty, petite lady in a light blue shirtwaist dress with a frilly, dark blue apron embroidered in bright yellow flowers, hair done in tight curls and glasses with pink, winged frames ( rhinestones, maybe?)  Can't you just imagine her out in her garden, all day, every day?  As we (presumably) interrupted her lunch we beat a hasty retreat.  But if you ever have the chance of driving through Vix keep your eyes peeled for this one.  It's not easy to spot so drive slowly, it's worth it!

Comments

[meredith]

My girls are begging for a nain de jardin, I haven't given in to the request, yet...

[Jann Mumford]

This is quite an exceptional garden! Someone has a very good imagination!!

[Katie]

An imagination and a 'green thumb'!

[Mimi]

Here in Wisconsin, the Green Bay Packers still dominate as a garden theme. You still see milk cans painted green and gold and I once saw a football on a milk can inside of a bathtub standing on its end.

Were they serious? Very possibly.

[Tracey in IN]

What a hoot! I bet the owner had a lot of fun growing/trimming/decorating this.

Now all she needs is a pink flamingo made of a geranium topiary...