My neighbor put a fake water moccasin in my garden to scare me, and then again, zombies are "in."

Make an edging with a row of old shoes, and plant in the shoes. It's an old idea that will be new to many folks. (Shop at resale shops or ask friends for donations, especially those with growing children.)

If you have a suitable thorny plant or cactus, attach an old garden glove (or pair) as if someone had grasped the plant and the gloves were so thoroughly stuck on the thorns that the gardener never succeeded in removing them. (If your taste is for the macabre, shop the Halloween decorations for a plastic skeletal arm and glue it inside the glove.)

Or make an arm reaching out of a particularly thick shrub. (Stuffed shirt sleeve with stuffed garden glove; add shape with sticks or wire if necessary.)

If there's a bit of wall or fence that's not already overgrown, add a few small wall pocket planters that make an interesting shape (maybe a face: "eyes" flower purple/blue, "mouth" red/pink/white).

Hint that a small fairy is living in your garden. Add a tiny door at the bottom of a treetrunk, maybe a doormat and a bit of path, or the smallest clay pot you can find, with a tiny bit of sedum or something equally small.

Definitely time to put 'googly eyes' on your plants... cuz you need to know where you stand with your plants.

A must see for all gardeners with a sense of humor is the Saturday Night Live skit with Christopher Walken called "Googly Eyes".

and or if you have a palm you can spruce it up with twinkle lights.

Here is a link that might be useful: Googly Eyes.

Curious as to what sort of humor you have teased the public with so far? Got pix?

On that palm pic ... what a cute, as well as humorous, way to incorporate porn, too, into the garden!

Yardvark I thought the same but I'm glad you said it first.

Uuuuuuh.... how could anyone NOT think the same??

(But that palm could stand to have improved proportions!)

It's not the size that counts but how it is used in the landscape. :-)

happy new year to all.

"It's not the size that counts but ...."

You might be surprised the difference an extra foot or two can make.

During spare time in the winter, I painted 'silk' flowers' in a bunch of crazy colors, polka dotted them, placed at the street among my other things. I had a lot of unusual plants, so these got folks oohing over them, wanting to know what they were. Ha! Sealed them with spray polyurethane. Had a magnolia blossom perched in a holly too.

Now I'm inspired, Think I'll do it at this house too.

I have a 45 ft. topiary Crocagator in my front yard. It's about 30 years old started from cuttings of Illex crenata, 'Convexa'.
Over the years it has gained a lot of weight and not grown much in length. A friend wanted to trim it last year and I reluctantly said yes. He butchered the face and feet. This spring I'm going to cut it back to about a foot high and start over. It needs it.
Mike

Mike, thanks for updating your Crocagator story. Perhaps you would dig back into your photo archives and post an earlier picture showing the creature full length for those not familiar with this amazing bit of humor.

Catkim, I decided years ago to never post pictures on GW. I enjoy designing and creating 'out-of-the box'. It does not take long for others to lay claim to ownership. Some of our family members deal with this type of problem. I find bits of this and that at Good Will which are useful ideas and everyone seems to appreciate sophisticated fairy houses and scarecrows. Always included is an annual blossom that attracts butterflies, such as Tithonia which is covered with Swallowtail butterflies until late fall here. People really do like to stop, observe, learn and an added smile is always a plus.

Mitch, that palm tree is a winner! Googly eyes, too!

Thanks for the ideas. Happy New Year!