Garden Guy column: Music, art, and gardens

I think music, art, and gardens all go together. They each can be many different things depending on the ears, eyes, and minds of the audience - from relaxing to irritating from thought provoking to boring and dozens of other adjectives.

But, as for music in the gardens, the most common image is that of musicians in a garden setting who are performing. In summer, this is a common art form in many cities, including Amarillo.

In your own gardens, there is also music. While this can be your favorite music that you have piped into your private space through technology, I am referring to nature’s sounds.

The most common and consistent music in my garden comes from birds. I don’t know all the birds that frequent my gardens, nor do I know the calls and songs that each make. But I can identify many made by robins, blue jays, cardinals, mockingbirds, mourning doves, red-tailed hawks, hummingbirds, and quail.

For the most part, this music is soothing. A notable exception is in the evening when it is calm and the garden is largely quiet. Inevitably, a blue jay will perch in a tree near the back porch and scream at whatever. Eventually it will fly away leaving other sounds for garden music.

We have two fountains on the back porch that produce soothing sounds. These are soothing alone or blended with other garden music. Depending upon the strength and direction of the wind, some blended music comes from one or more of three wind chimes that are placed around the back gardens.

Two are placed where they will chime with frequency because they have very rich, mellow sounds and play music in the alto and soprano ranges. They were selected for the pitch and quality of their sounds.

The third is a bell that dings only in relatively high wind due to its weight. It provides an interesting variety to our garden music. A fourth was purchased only for its looks. Its sound is of low quality and thus, not to my liking. It is hung where it rarely catches enough wind to play.

Add the rustle of wind in the trees and ornamental grasses and the music repertoire is expanded. Like its effect on the wind chimes, the strength and direction of the wind in the trees and grasses changes this music.

I can’t replicate my favorite natural garden music. It is the sound of wind in the pines with a nearby stream playing accompaniment in the mountains. It doesn’t hurt that the smell and scenery surrounding this music is heavenly. I must use my imagination for this experience although a painting can evoke memories.

Finally, I consider most of my bird baths, statuary, and various other sculptures as art. And many people go far beyond these including numerous other kinds of objects as yard art.

High plant diversity draws many birds to my gardens. Trees and grasses also provide variety. Listen to your own garden’s music. Expand it with plant diversity and art of your choice.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Garden Guy column: Music, art, and gardens