Using Obelisks And Globes To Capture Garden Light
Published Date: Apr 8, 2015
Among the most versatile ornamental features that you can include in your garden spaces are obelisks and globes. Available in a variety of materials, styles and colors, these pieces can be used to capture the light in your garden, making it sparkle in the sunlight and offering additional illumination in your garden by night. Before you count out gazing globes and obelisks for your garden space, consider that there are an incredibly wide range of designs available - not only that, but there are also many different ways to use these garden items to capture the light and bring a little bit of the whimsical into your outdoor area.
Mirrored globes are among the most popular, in large part because their reflective surface captures the flowers, trees, and other outdoor elements around them. This allows them to blend into the outdoor space while still capturing the light and illuminating whatever their placement area. These types of globes can go directly onto the ground or in planters in flower beds or around the base of other structures in the garden, such as bird baths. For a fun way to use mirrored globes in your garden, choose an assortment of matching globes of the same size and arrange them together. Not only will the mirror the space around them, but they will mirror each other, and will amplify the lighting effect that you receive through their placement.
For something that will have a bit more of a prominent appearance in your garden space, choose colored gazing balls. Available in colors ranging from blue to gold, red, and green, colored gazing balls can be chosen to match (or to contrast with) other existing elements in your garden space. For example, a brilliant blue gazing ball may be the perfect addition in a garden space filled with blue and white hydrangeas. Or for something a bit flashier, consider a gold or yellow gazing ball (or set of gazing balls) to bring some fiery hues to your bright red rose garden.
For a more mystical feel, you can opt for both mirrored and clear globes with iridescent colors that allow them to not only capture the light, but to also change the hue depending on the way light catches them. Unlike other globes, these iridescent options often feature more prominently in the design of the garden. They can be mounted on stands or paired with obelisks around seating areas, near water features, or alongside pathways in larger garden spaces in order to provide a little bit of visual interest.
Gazing globes are often mounted with obelisks as a way to lift them up to eye level and give them even more of a chance to capture the light. Those interested in mounting their globes on a garden obelisk may consider purchasing multiple sizes of obelisk so they can mount their globes at a variety of heights. This increases the visual interest of the globes and helps to move the eye from the bottom to the top, which helps you showcase all the components of your garden space, from the flowerbeds to the topmost branches of your trees.
