BUNGALUX

May 28, 2012

Rest Stops for Those Real Life Tweeters

Beautiful Birdbaths

I’ve been thinking about the garden lately and one of the most beautiful and oft-forgotten garden accessories: The birdbath.

For me, birdbaths conjure memories of English country estates and overgrown gardens. The Stanford White-designed house I lived in when I was young had beautiful perennial gardens – the result of my mom’s hard labor, something I never appreciated until recently – and a birdbath sat all by itself in the middle of the front yard. Birds frolicked in it all the time; and that flutter of birds playing in their “shower” will always remind me of summer.

The nice thing about birdbaths in that they are available in so many different price ranges and styles … from modern to traditional. Before I introduce my favorite birdbaths remember: Birdbaths do require maintenance for the health of the birds. You wouldn’t bathe in an algae-filled swamp in the Everglades, and neither should the birds in your garden. Refresh the water and clean the bath often for the health and safety of the birds.

Here are my favorite ways to make your birds fashionable:

Maybe my favorite birdbath of recent years has been the HADLEY BIRDBATH AT RESTORATION HARDWARE ($315). I like it because it’s the perfect blend of traditional and modern, so it fits in every garden. It also has a shallow bowl, which is healthier for the birds and means that the water is warmer, which is always a good thing.

Mecox, a garden store which I always always tout, sells the decadent OYSTER SHELL BIRDBATH ($1300) and the WATER MILL BIRDBATH ($595) . These birdbaths work well in traditional gardens and are equally sculptural and functional.

If you love your birds, but don’t think they necessarily need the bird version of Waterworks, I like the SMITH AND HAWKEN DANFORD BIRDBATH AT TARGET ($149).

Do show us how you've used birdbaths in your own garden and we'll add them to the site. This is a chance for you non-city dwellers to make the rest of us jealous!