I just take it for granted that most of my garden ornaments will need re-painting every year or so. Some fare better than others. Last fall I re-painted the faded color on a couple garden gnomes and a garden cat. This spring the birdhouse needed a new coat of paint (it was peeling and fading) and I also had to repaint a garden pony with a metal head and cement body. It seems random, because my all aluminum pony in another garden looks just like new despite enduring the same Vermont winter as its mate.

Any paint that is red or contains red (purple, orange, pink) will fade with exposure to sunlight, while greens and blues tend to hold their color.

There is much to be said for maintenance-free rusted garden junk!

I don't expect my bottle tree to need replacing with its utility pole "trunk" and 10 inch long galvanized screw in "branches." I guess critters might break a bottle here or there in future years, but I have a supply of replacement bottles.

I value durability but I've learned to accept that garden ornaments need refurbishing and sometimes replacing over the years.

I'm not a "low maintainance" kind of girl..
I"m a "NO Maintainance" kind of girl.

if plants grow, they stay.
if they die... bye bye.

same with anything out there.
I love rusty, dusty, cobwebby and chipped.
(could be why the neighbors dislike me so much).. :)

I have 3 totems that have been outside since (and during) Hurricane Ivan (2004). The rest are still inside.My plastic softballs covered with flat marbles have been outside almost as long. They are a little rusty on the bottom because they sit on a 5-place candle holder. The red white and lt blue ones are still good. The copper windchimes are brownish--for some reason they don't turn verdigris here-just brown. The wheelbarrow tires are flat-oh well! Some of my colorful BowlingBalls that I left 'naked' have cracked from the summers heat. The orangey one on the lamp base was hit by the van that come through the fence (BB was ok). There are no new pictures on my web site--DD just can't seem to find the time to post.
The fiberglass boat has lost it's wooden seats and is beginning to crack slightly. I took my metal sphere down last year to re-paint (but haven't) and now I don't know where I put the eye-bolts that hold it together. My first plate flower was plastic, and it cracked this year. The paint has also faded on the golf cart tire rims. The plastic plate that I shaped in the oven that was a butterfly 'feeder' also fell apart this year. The pvc pipe can be reused.
I have made some new totems (9) and some teacup
birdfeeders(23) and patio light wine bottles (10) and have sold some, but have NOT put anything new in the garden lately. Too many weeds!!!There are still 4 or 5 of the older totems in the old garage.

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Do three old little boys count? Nah, he's not "weather" but he sure knows how to be a "whirlwind" of energy. My totems have had to be re-glued because sometimes he tries to group the glass mushrooms together, or carries the totems around, and the glue loosens. He has stopped that now, after a lot of explaining. I was worried that I would have to put them away until he got older. But true weather, if I bring everything inside during the winter (garage or shed), things seems to be just fine. Our winters are too destructive on precious mirrors and window frames in my garden.

Well, here in VA, we get quite the variety...from hot, muggy weather that includes hurricanes, the occasional tornado and lots of thunderstorms. Winters can be mild or like the past winter more like Wisconsin weather. My totems all come inside for the winter. Last year they made it in the gazebo. So far this summer, I've had three come unglued in places, but I've glued them back together and they're back outside. I've learned that I need to have "wide bottoms" on all of my totems since we have windy storms here. I have condensation in some of my totems and they all need a bath every now and then from mulch splashing up on them in the rain. My rusty stuff does fine and stays out all year. My birdhouses and feeders stay out all year too. My conservatory (that I am determined to get filled this week) stays out all year as well. I try to make things with the weather in mind. I, like Spedigrees, always assumes that things will need to be repainted or touched up after a couple of years...right now I have a gnome who looks like Jacob Marley's ghost! LOL

Yup, TMG, my winter is much like yours! I bring in my only glass totem bdwaterer ... turn my flower pots upside down & empty the big cement bdwaterer & put a small heated one on top of it.

Most things can always use paint...I don't mind if the barnwood ones keep aging...barnwood is just magnificient for bdhses & lasts for yrs & yrs...here's a pic of my condo bdhse which has been on this post for 10 yrs. or so except raccoon got it loosened up last yr (I think) or yr before & DH put some more nails around it/&post. But I've never re-painted this one...this pic is from last July...entitled "Live Art" cause it's looked at thru a frame:
{{gwi:129246}}

I even leave out Mr. Troll out by the bridge...he's peeling a bit...he's some sort of cast-poly resin or something. And my rope BB has been out 2 yrs. & survived in the nautical garden...things like my painted white potting table did not hold up with the paint job...so I will do that again this yr...it was an old door that I sanded & painted...here's pic from last yr:

{{gwi:155083}}

Yup, I think I expect more work from making GJ, but I love it anyway! This is a good post...hope to hear from more! Thanks, TMG. Jeanne S.

I'm with Strawberrygoat, "NO maintenance"... If it survives, it stays. My glass totems do well, unless they collect water that causes them to freeze and crack in the Winter. Lot's of peeling and chipping paint on stuff, only my most favorite items get repainted to extend their lives. Once something totally falls apart, I'll discard it, but there are several items that are propped up so they'll maybe make it through one more Summer!