Garden Vignettes Using Flea Market Finds

One of my favorites things to do in my gardens is putting together little vignettes of junk I’ve picked up at garage sales, thrift stores, estate sales or flea markets and incorporating them into different areas of my garden. This post is filled with lots of pictures of some of these little vignettes I’ve put together over the years. Have fun and enjoy the virtual garden tour. 

I love the definition of vignette on vocabulary.com:

“A vignette is a brief but powerful scene. A good vignette leaves you wanting more.”

First up is this chair hubby made out of sticks and limbs from a maple tree we cut down.  I parked a wicker basket of annuals on the seat and twined a Nelly Moser clematis around the back. Mr. or Mrs. Robin liked it too and stopped in for a visit. It makes for a very cute garden vignette.

Go ahead and feel free to “pin” these pictures. If you hover in the upper left-hand corner of the picture,
you’ll see the little Pinterest icon. Just click it and pin away.
There are also pins to share at the bottom of the page. Thanks a bunch!

Here is the same maple twig chair another year with a basket of purple supertunias sitting on it. Growing around the chair are anemone, Buttered Popcorn Daylilies, and the Nelly Moser clematis. Hubby’s Easy DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches will show you exactly how to make a garden trellis out of tree branches. Be sure to check it out when you’ve finished up here.

This sweet girl is at home sitting in a patch of John Creech stonecrop and various annuals, with a daylily and yarrow towering over her.  It’s seems like I’ve had this little girl forever.  She moves around from year to year and will pop up in lots of my gardening pictures.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on
one of the links and make a purchase,
I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
See full disclosure here.

Old Ladders as Garden Decor

Vintage ladders make such fun vignettes in the garden. This ladder was an estate sale find several years ago and it’s made an appearance in my garden every year since then. Here it is this year:

This is the same ladder styled completely different. 

Here’s another cute ladder idea.

Here’s a little vignette from a few years ago featuring antique mason jars. I loved this one so much that I had a canvas print made and it hangs in my office at my real job.

Upcycled Wheelbarrow Planters in the Garden

Old Vintage Wheelbarrows make awesome flower planters in the garden. If it doesn’t already have some holes in the bottom, be sure to drill some for drainage. We purchased this old wheelbarrow at an estate sale several years ago and I love filling it every year with plants. For some reason this wheelbarrow seems to always end up in the shade and filled with shady annuals, like impatiens, begonias, caladium, ferns and creeping jenny or vinca vine.

Here’s another cute garden vignette featuring my old vintage wheelbarrow.

And one more garden vignette featuring my vintage wheelbarrow.

Upcycled Chairs in the Garden

This old chair was missing the seat, so I was able to snag it for a few bucks at an antique store several years ago.  I didn’t care if it had a seat, because I knew immediately that only a pot of flowers was ever going to sit on it.

Here it’s styled with a wicker basket filled with morning glory vine, zinnias, calibrachoa, lobelia and creeping jenny.

This next one is my favorite. A galvanized pot with creeping jenny, lobelia, impatiens and caladium is looking lovely sitting on this old, junkie looking chair.

Finally, here’s my junk garden this year. I loved putting this together. As I stated earlier, both the ladder and wheelbarrow came from estate sales. Hubby made the bench several years ago and it’s now showing age which I love. All the other stuff just came from my collection of garden decor and junk. Excuse the shadow of yours truly in the picture. Some day this old shed will become one of my makeover projects, which will be fun because I’ve always wanted a “she-shed”.  That’s pretty far down on the project list though.

Here’s a List of Items to Look for at Flea Markets, Estate Sales, Thrift Stores and Garage Sales to upcyle to use as Garden Decor:

• Ladders
• Chairs
• Old Wheelbarrows
• Galvanized Milk Pails and other containers
• Galvanized Watering Cans
• Vintage Milk Cans
• Wicker Baskets
• And many, many more. 

If you like using upcycled vintage junk in the garden, you’ll enjoy Garden Decor and Garden Art and Upcycled Vintage Garden Decor.

I’ve been inspired over the years by following the blog, Organized Clutter. Carlene has an incredible talent for upcycling and adding all kinds of junk to her gardens to create some really awesome garden vignettes.  I also love Flea Market Gardening.  It’s a website that focuses on using flea market finds in the garden as well.

I’m so happy you stopped by Gingham Gardens today! Do you like to decorate your gardens with repurposed junk? If so, what are your favorite pieces of garden junk? Please leave a comment and let me know. As always, if you have a gardening question, just ask. Thanks a bunch for stopping by and come back soon!

this article adapted from this site