I have been fascinated with garden ornaments for a long time, especially those fabricated in cement to resemble wood and referred to as “faux bois,” the French term for “imitation wood.”
It was sometime in the 1980s when I started to realize the beauty of decorating the garden with things other than plant material. Of course, I had seen many great gardens by that time – in England, France, Italy, Japan and across the United States – and I had become enamored of the fabulous urns and follies and walls and gateways that many of those gardens incorporated into the landscape.
I started accumulating, slowly at first, certain objects that I found pleasing as well as affordable: fine early American cast-iron benches at a tag sale; a metal urn or two from J. W. Fiske, the famed New York City foundry, at country auctions; an enormous, ancient Chinese bronze bowl discovered at a consignment shop; and a pair of massive cast-cement pots made by Kenneth Lynch and Sons in Wilton, Conn.
My prize find was a pair of Italian terra-cotta pots made in the 19th century in Venice, Italy. They were a bargain, at $75 for the set, at an estate sale in New Canaan, Conn. I was convinced they were so well-priced because of their large size – no one could figure out how to transport them home. But I was fully equipped with my pickup truck and packing blankets, and all I needed was a couple of strong young men to help load them into the back.
Seeing these objects in the gardens of my home on Turkey Hill Road in Westport, Conn., and at my weekend home in East Hampton, N.Y., made me realize the full beauty of the objects themselves, as well as the impact they had in the various settings.
In East Hampton, for example, a pair of urns flanking the stairs of the big porch made the house so much more welcoming. The giant teal-blue pots on the corners of the swimming pool – filled with various giant-leaved plants such as colocasia, banana or furcraea – completely altered the stern aspect of the rectilinear pool.
As my gardens were “decorated,” I also started putting other great objects indoors, very much liking the contrast of cement and bronze and lead and clay against upholstered furniture and wooden tables. At my house in Maine, I think I have more faux bois objects indoors than out, and I continue to look for more at antiques shows and in shops everywhere.
In fact, in New York City there are a couple of garden antiques shows that I try very hard not to miss. One of my favorites is the spring show at the New York Botanical Garden. (This year it will take place April 27 to 29.) I always try to leave work a bit early to rush to the Bronx to find a treasure or two.
Dealers come from as far away as Florida, Maine and even London with incredibly wonderful things. I always have a good time seeing what they’ve found and brought for all of us to collect and reposition in places that will definitely benefit from their beauty.
Questions should be addressed to Ask Martha, care of Letters Department, Martha Stewart Living, 11 W. 42nd St., New York, NY 10036. E-mail to mslletters@marthastewart.com.
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