Garden Ornaments in Cardiff

What works in a Cardiff garden is not quite what works two counties away. Cardiff is wet and mild, so growth is fast and algae is the main thing to stay on top of. Bute Park is the local benchmark for what a garden looks like after a hard winter - and for what survives it.

What lasts in Cardiff gardens

• Green film is the local nuisance. In a wet climate algae is the thing that ages an ornament, not frost. Smooth resin and glazed finishes wipe clean in seconds; deeply textured stone holds the green and needs a brush.
• You can leave almost everything out all year. Frost is occasional rather than constant, so pieces stay out and keep working through winter. The trade-off is a longer growing season for algae and moss, so an annual clean matters more than usual.
• Wind is the enemy, not the thermometer. Anything tall and light will end up on its side by February. Weight matters more than it does inland: choose low, heavy, wide-based pieces, or fix wall and hanging ornaments properly rather than hooking them on.

We only stock pieces we would leave out ourselves through a Wales winter: stone-effect resin, cast stone, coated metal, treated timber and solar that keeps working when the days are short.