Landscaping: Sign up for a bit of fun

Signs keep visitors smiling.

It's the time of year when I start to think less about digging in the garden and more about dressing it up. It's a nice time to add bits of art, sculpture and pure nonsense that start conversations and raise smiles among your visitors.

My present design item of choice is the sign - a quote, a joke or a direction printed or painted on a piece of tin or old timber.

Text is trendy and instead of hanging subtle watercolours or striking abstracts on our walls we're more likely to have a large, black canvas bearing an enigmatic piece of text.

I saw one in a Christchurch cafe, a 2.5m x 1m dark purple wall hanging with the word "diphallia" printed two thirds of the way down in a font size that required my putting on my glasses. When I looked up the word later I understood why it was rendered in such small letters.

I'm probably disinclined to hang that sort of artwork in the house, but I do love old signs with things printed on them to dress up the garden. And so do lots of other people, it seems.

Our neighbours have a very clever tin sign, obviously handmade long before the current fashion. It's an arrow with her name on one side and his on the other and - depending which way it's pointing - it indicates who is inside, and who is outside. I'm not sure what they do when they're both out at the same time.

The neighbours on the other side have a street sign bearing their name, which they insist was found in a junk shop but I suspect may have been separated from its moorings after a few beers late one night in Invercargill about 30 years ago.

It tempts me to re-home one of our local street signs. "Access Road", it reads, and immediately underneath, two more signs say "no exit" and "no access". I'm also on the lookout for one that reads "Tearoom" to remind The Landscaper that gardening is not just about hard work but also sitting down to share ideas over a cup of tea.

While it's great to find the perfect sign for your garden in a junk shop in the middle of nowhere, plenty are sold in design stores and garden centres.

Failing that you can make your own. Stencilling something on to a piece of tin or timber is not rocket science hence my two favourites: "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free kitten" and "If you don't talk to your cat about catnip, who will?"

Grass a cut above the rest

I was delighted to read the other day the Perennial Plant Association's 2014 Perennial Plant of the Year is a grass.

Grasses don't usually come in for accolades of this kind but the association, based in Ohio, has chosen Panicum virgatum "Northwind", commonly known as switchgrass, for this year's award.

As yet I haven't found anywhere we can buy seeds or plants in New Zealand but hopefully we can, or will be able to soon, because it's a great all-rounder, adaptable to virtually any soil, drought tolerant, happy in full sun, and very easy to grow.

A warm-season perennial grass, it has blue-green foliage and stands more erect than is typical of the species. It spreads slowly to form erect clumps of slender, steel-blue leaves about 1500mm tall. In late summer the foliage is topped by a haze of showy, finely textured flower panicles that open golden yellow and mature to beige. The association promises "it will enhance any sunny border, not just a native, meadow, or prairie-style garden. 'Northwind' has a refined, garden-worthy appearance and habit."

To be nominated for the award, a plant needs to demonstrate:
*Suitability for a wide range of climatic conditions.
*Low-maintenance requirements.
*Relative pest and disease resistance.
*Ready availability in the year of promotion.
*Multiple seasons of ornamental interest.

Not all of these relate to New Zealand, and possibly we won't be that concerned about the fact that it's rarely eaten by deer, either. But assuming it won't be invasive, it could be a welcome addition to our Australasian grasses.