A well-kept garden is a joy to behold. Adding to the curb appeal of your home, carefully chosen garden accessories can match or contrast with the style and color of your house. Whether you are a weekend flowerbed gardener, or whether your garden is planned to feed your family through the winter, lovely and fanciful accessories will add to the enjoyment of the outdoor living space.

Surround your garden with fencing

Fencing for your garden is needed to keep wildlife from eating the nasturtiums but it also provides a quiet oasis to enjoy the beauty of your planned garden. Fencing can be six foot high cedar that blocks traffic noise, or it can be white wicker that is only tall enough to delineate the perimeter of your garden.

Don't leave your garden in the dark

Think about accent lighting highlighting your prize plantings. Patio lights can be judiciously used to make your gazebo comfortable for a late evening get together with friends. Insect zapper lights get mixed reviews, since they can be noisy as the insects are incinerated. They also tend to have a harsh brightness that is annoying to some. On the positive side, outlining pathways with small lights prevents stumbles in the twilight.

Garden furniture

Spending a lot of time just relaxing and enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of a flower garden can be done from a gazebo with sturdy and comfortable garden furniture. Tables, chairs, lounges and foot stools are obvious choices for furniture in the garden area. A grill or barbecue unit located nearby means guests can enjoy the space while grilling fresh produce from the garden. Corn on the cob from the vegetable garden can't get any fresher.

Plan garden beds

Many gardens would be beautifully accessorized by adding carefully chosen raised garden beds. Look at the style of your house and design the garden plots for pansies or potatoes in garden beds that enhance the look of the house. For example, if your house is split level suburban, why not add a couple split level beds. The construction materials for the garden beds can be anything from concrete to Plexiglas.

Garden in three dimensions

Well-planned flower vegetable or even herb gardens don't have to stay at ground level. If your square footage is limited, cube it by the use of attractive and functional trellises or rails to bring plantings into the air. Surround a tree with vinyl coated wire and bring climbing roses into view. Create a secluded outdoor room by trellises covered with decorative flowers, vines or even vegetables. Scarlet runner beans are pretty to look at and nutritious to eat.

Make pathways interesting

A planned garden that has permanent beds can also have interesting and decorative pathways. Think about using aquarium colored pebbles with a seashell motif for edging. Try pathways that meander according to your planned beds rather than sticking to straight lines. Maybe you would like to have a yellow brick road as a pathway in your garden.

Choose colorful or whimsical containers

If a large garden is too much to manage in your free time, or if you are working in limited space, think about establishing your garden in unusual containers. Or, such containers can be simply an interesting accessory to the real garden. Colorful ceramic pots in large sizes and shapes can be placed randomly amongst the flower beds to hold herbs or a salad or two. An old claw footed bathtub or a little red wagon both make great containers for garden plants.

Add Color

You can add color by the plants that you choose or by the containers you pick for spots of color. Look for ways to make color spots show up even better by putting them against contrasting background of other plants, walls or trellises.

Delight the wee folk

Adding whimsical statuary or ornaments to your garden plots can be fun and useful as well. Garden gnomes, leprechauns and perhaps even a fairy or too can be an adventure to undertake with your child or grandchild. A ceramic frog by a garden pond is a common sight around gardens, but have you ever seen a dragonfly or a small fire breathing dragon. Choose a copper weather vane or a bird house decorated like a fairy tale castle.

Five senses

A well planned garden with carefully chosen accessories will be a delight to all five senses. You see the beautiful colors in the plants, flowers and accessories. You feel the texture of the earth as well as the crisp vegetables that are picked for culinary enjoyment. You can smell the perfume of the flowers and trees. Tasting fresh produce from the garden is a bonanza for your taste buds. Finally, your sense of hearing is able to pick up the sound of the wind in a set of wind chimes. Wind chimes are decorative and can sound melodic or mournful, tinkling or hearty.

Plan your garden accessories to appeal to each and every human sense and your garden will be a place where your spirit is uplifted.