▷ DIY: Wooden garden decorations

DIY wooden decorations can be made easily – all you need is an idea and some paint. We visited the farm of landscape engineer Gytis Lietvaitis for inspiration. Click to watch or read below:

For the third year Gytis has created his fairy tale in the garden on a century-old farm in the Vilnius district. So slightly quirky and very impressive. As the engineer himself says, he considers his yard as a place for games and experiments: it’s not scary to make a mistake here or reproduce something that was less successful.

A brightly colored wooden pergola

One of the first highlights that the eyes are drawn to is a kind of courtyard gate – a bright pergola. Functionally it acts as a support for the grapes which are wrapped here. To create the pergola, Gytis used two columns sculpted with geometric patterns: he had already purchased them. True, he also added his hand: he painted the columns in bright blue and green shades.

The brightly colored pergola is as beautiful as a real backyard gate. photo Lina Lubertaitė

The engineer made the upper part of the pergola himself: he cut out the shapes of the plant motifs with a petrol saw and painted them, like the column, with facade paint.

Such a courtyard accent pleases the eye both in summer and in gloomy seasons. And the installed lighting highlights the pergola even after sunset.

Wooden supports for flowering garden plants

Gytis also uses different structures for tall flowering garden plants. Perhaps you remember the obelisks created by Gytis: not only can they support plants, but they also look fantastic as a separate element in a flower garden. About the decoration of the obelisk you can read here.

True, plant supports can be much simpler (but not worse!). This is where simple sticks are used – they really appear in every plot. Instead of cutting them into firewood, Gytis gave them a second life: they stuck them in the ground and created a kind of wall that the plants could climb. Just like without raisins – and here the colors appeared – Gytis painted the top of the sticks with bright blue paint. The construction immediately feels more special.

If you want more structure, plant supports can be cut from the boards. It is simply necessary to revive them with the remains of the available paint and touching accents, laughs Gytis. In his flower gardens there are also several brightly colored plant supports, decorated with wooden tubers – the engineer bought them ready-made.

DIY: Wooden garden decorations

Located at the entrance to the courtyard, the Gytis Garden has become something of a statement. Usually the garden is quite flat, so vertical wooden structures are an immediate eye-catcher here:

Wooden frames add height and volume. They have become an excellent support for plants. The wooden frames are not painted, simply forged and reinforced transversely;
Some wooden frames are filled with mesh or metal parts, so it is easier to grow garden climbing plants;
Raised beds are forged from wood. Gytis says tending vegetables in raised beds is physically easier;
The raised beds and paths are multi-level: in some places the beds are two-story, in some places the path between the beds is higher than in others. It was invented specifically to make the garden more interesting;
A wooden arch between the flowerbeds increases the productivity of a small garden: they can exploit the space between the paths, because the climbers therefore grow above the path and not above the flowerbed;
Wooden products can also be decorated: a gallery of handmade poppies is placed on the wooden frame, the arch is decorated with brightly painted wooden carvings.

Unique elements of the construction site

Gytis’ courtyard is like an open-air museum. Everywhere you turn, everything catches your attention. A landscape engineer is not afraid to experiment and create unique accents in his environment. And they don’t necessarily have to serve a function, sometimes it’s just for beauty purposes, says Gytis.

For example, the turning point in the courtyard is framed by wooden posts with decorations driven into the ground in a semicircle. On the stakes Gytis Draugen collected sculptures in the shape of pine cones from the mall and original birds created by Lithuanian carver Saulius Lampickas.

Gytis Recommends: All elements look best when placed on a pedestal. Then it is possible to also display mass-produced products in such a way that there is no talk of kitsch.

Gytis doesn’t hesitate to reuse things he already owns, which have aged a bit. Here is this totem made up of a shelf support (lower part of the sculpture) and a support surface (upper part). This is another proof that all you need is an idea, some bright paint, and old things will be reborn in new colors.

Very recently, Gytis’ collection of garden decorations was filled with two giant wooden “flowers” that scream from afar. They were designed by a landscape engineer specifically for the conference “Garden style 2021”in which he himself will share colorful ideas about the yard. After changing the format of the conference, Gytis will present the report “Virtual tour of the forest garden: objects, colors, plants” live online. And the wooden flowers certainly won’t be out of place: the landscape engineer plans to “plant” them on the entrance gate to invite guests into his fabulous woodland garden all year round.

Stop, the moment is enchanting: this is what it looks like when you walk through this garden. For a minute’s rest, Gytis created a cozy place around a tree growing in the middle of the flower garden. A seemingly simple bench, forged from the wood left over from construction, became another highlight of the construction site. The unique shape of the bench invites you to sit under a large tree and enjoy the plants blowing in the wind.

4 rules for decorating the courtyard of Gytis

And finally, Gytis shares the basic rules he follows when creating items for his garden:

Use what you have on hand. Use old things, transfer them to a new life;
Avoid mass-produced items. Not everything is kitsch: what matters is how you present it;
Color! Even a drop of bright colors radically changes the object, making it special;
Experience. Play in your own backyard, make mistakes, and most importantly, don’t be afraid of what others will think. You create the story of your garden yourself.