Tips on using old odds and ends in your garden

Personalize your landscape with seasoned materials and objects. Here are some suggestions from designer Sandy Koepke (www.sandykoepkeinteriordesign.com):

Materials and finishes: Worn stone, recycled concrete, weathered wood and rusted or oxidized metal suggest a timeless feeling. "These elements are ideal for exterior use because you don't have to worry about further exposure to sun, wind, saltwater or rain," Koepke says.

Adornments: Functional objects can become garden artwork and containers. Any vessel can be transformed into a planter if there is enough space for roots and a drainage hole. Stone or porcelain sinks, metal drums and tubs, wooden boxes and metal pipes can be converted into containers.

Architectural fragments: Pieces of iron scrollwork, such as a fence panel, railing, post or gate, lend a sense of age to the garden. They can double as a trellis for a climbing vine. Shutters and old windows will liven up a wall or help screen utility areas. Jazz up bare spots in the landscape with collections that have a common history.

Furniture: Scout flea markets and architectural salvage sources for benches, stools and tables to add character to the mix. For example, an old chaise can find a home alongside newer furnishings; an old side table suggests a room-like feeling.

Lighting: Old lanterns and chandeliers can be wired for outdoors or fitted for candles. All kinds of odd containers can be appropriated for votive holders or larger pedestal candles.

Hardware: Aging and humble, old shelf brackets, hooks, chains, knobs, bells, wire and grates are visually interesting and potentially functional.

Water features: Stone or metal troughs can serve as catch basins for fountains assembled from old spigots or found objects.