Copper garden accessories, the new "Green Thumb"

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

With hopes of April showers bringing May flowers, homeowners will again be tending their gardens and planting an assortment of flowerbeds, fruits and vegetables for the spring and summer seasons.

Home and garden centers today are seeing a booming business helping gardening "hobbyists" transform their yards into private sanctuaries complete with trellises, statuary, fountains and water features. And copper is the building material of choice when it comes to decorating and adding elegance to their backyard retreats.

For centuries, copper has been used by builders for its beauty, longevity and practicality. Not only does copper offer a warm and natural look, whether glazed to remain shiny or allowed to age gracefully to a weatherworn gray-green patina, this all-purpose metal offers sustainable qualities not attainable with other building and construction materials.

Some of the same attributes that attract architects and builders to copper -- durability, easy installation and low maintenance -- also attracts gardeners to a proliferation of handcrafted copper outdoor ornaments and garden decor.

Each year, homeowners spend as much sprucing up their yards as they do decorating their home's interiors.

"Copper is the metal of choice by many for its aesthetic beauty and rugged properties," said Wayne Seale, an architect and regional manager with the Copper Development Association. "It was once used primarily by architects and designers to adorn the outside of lavish homes, castles and cathedrals, but now copper is being selected by homeowners and landscapers to add interest and beauty to backyards and gardens."

Garden accessories such as statutes and sculptures, bird baths and feeders, weathervanes, lanterns, torches, wind chimes, planters, garden stakes, sundials and trellises are typically available in copper or brass, an alloy of copper.

Many of these decorative pieces are fashioned into staked ornaments, copper weathervanes or wind chimes and can be made to look like sculpted, full-bodied animals, or be shaped into flowers with petals made of hand-hammered copper. With shapes ranging from manatees, birds, cats, butterflies and dolphins to suns, moons and stars, there's likely to be something to suit every taste.

Planters are popular copper garden motif. Often coated with an antique finish, they are available as boxes, urns and large pots. Sundials, placed in the center of a sun-filled garden for obvious reasons, are another staple. Frequently made of solid brass, with or without faux verdigris (green or bluish patina) highlights, they typically include intricate designs such as Celtic knot-work, some may also include sentimental inscriptions like Robert Browning's poem, "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be."

Source: Marketwire