How to use Driftwood in landscaping – 6 Great Garden Uses

It’s the summer holiday season, and everyone is heading to the shore.  Long walks and beach combing often turn up treasured souvenirs of a great vacation that can also be used in a variety of ways in garden projects. Have you ever found something on the beach that is culturally beautiful, you want to use it for something – but what? Here are some ideas for using driftwood in landscaping.

Using Driftwood in the Garden

Driftwood, with its beautiful patina and quirky shapes and sizes, is beautiful on its own or as the base material for creating outdoor garden features.

And as a side note (I find I have to explain this to people all the time), do you know that the natural patina on wood is often just as good a protective coating as any chemical, oil, or other coating that you can spend a lot of time and money applying? 

When working with woods that have natural rot and water resistance (ipe, cedar, black locust, etc.), it is really just an aesthetic preference to put a sealant on the wood. If you can live with silvering (which looks amazing next to plants), you can save yourself a lot of time and money and the environment a lot of needless chemicals.

Back to beautiful driftwood ideas for the garden…

Driftwood Garden Use #1- Anchor Water Plants in Place

Use driftwood at the bottom of your pond or water feature to attach water-cleaning plants. Full details of plants and how to accomplish this little project are available at Aquascaping World.

A piece of dark wood, resembling driftwood, with multiple green fern leaves sprouting from it, tied together with black thread against a white background. The fern leaves emerge at intervals along the length of the material, offering intriguing garden uses.
Java fern tied chored to bogwood (or driftwood) to anchor the plants in a wet or aquatic environment. image by Swapan

Bogwood Garden Use #2 – Create a Sculpture with Natural Driftwood

Softened by the moving water and beached by the sun and elements, a unique piece of driftwood can make a beautiful sculptural statement. The shapes are organic, and the colors are easy to combine with plants and stone.

#3 – Use Driftwood as a Construction Material for Other Garden Features.

If you live near the water and can easily collect many larger pieces, you might consider using them to make a fence or another garden structure, like an arbor.

A rustic garden pathway featuring a wooden trellis made of intertwined, weathered driftwood branches forming an arch. The path is lined with stone borders and surrounded by greenery, flowers, and a wooden fence in the background. Pine trees add a lush backdrop, showcasing creative garden uses of natural materials.
This split rail fence is made more substantial and interesting by adding a few artfully chosen driftwood pieces that swoop over the top of the gate and create a natural arbor.
The original image source is unknown. Please contact us for credit.

Driftwood in the Garden Use #4 – Make Art, Chimes, and Creative Collections

Several pieces of driftwood, decorated with bright colors and patterns, are arranged on a flat surface. These vibrant decorations feature neon shades of pink, blue, yellow, and white with designs including stripes, zigzags, and blocks of color—ideally suited for creative garden uses.
Assorted wooden sticks, crafted from driftwood and painted with bright, colorful patterns including stripes, zigzags, and geometric shapes, arranged on a white background. Perfect for various garden uses or art projects.

Pay attention while on the beach to also collect beautiful shells or beach glass and make a windchime from your treasures.  Here is a good link to help you make your own (there are literally hundreds of tutorials online). Or, if you don’t want to make your own – just enter the words driftwood into the Etsy search bar – you’ll be spoiled for choices.

I am somewhat partial to these fluorescent-painted driftwood pieces – I am not sure where I would put them, but they catch my eye and make me smile. I featured them in my book (Cultivating Garden Style) in a chapter full of ideas about how collectors can live out their ingrained tendencies in their gardens – without sending “I’m a pack rat” vibes through the neighborhood.

Driftwood Landscape Idea #5 – Get imaginative!

A chandelier made from numerous pieces of driftwood hanging from a black metal chain. The wooden pieces are arranged in a cascading style, creating a rustic, natural appearance. This unique material gives the chandelier a textured and organic look, blending art and functionality.

I am convinced that I could make an equally elegant version of this light feature myself with some outdoor lights or maybe even candles (and about 5000 hours of patience that I don’t have).  I would use it to illuminate the center of my long picnic table for a breezy summer dinner.

Bonus: #6 Create a New Country – Driftwood Landscape Art and The Rise of Ladonia – a Micronation

Finally, when discussing driftwood, I have to tell you to look up Nimis. This Lars Vilks – the Swedish man who created this impressive driftwood sculpture in Sweden. Ladonia is the small area where these sculptures are located. In 1996, Vilks proclaimed Ladonia an independent country (read more about the origination of Ladonia). He aimed to circumvent building codes for his art, and to this day, there is a cult following of admirers, art lovers, and questioners of the status quo who serve the cause of this micronation. (see Ladonia’s website)

Lars is the kind of person I wish to be and deeply admire – creative, rebellious, smart, and willing to do thing. (‘The Thing’, in this case, was to create a massive structure and maze – a remarkable piece of landscape art – that sparked a long-running legal battle, the creation of a micronation inside Sweden, and a conversation about art and freedom for generations to come).

He was an art professor and self-taught sculptor. Al Qaida had a reward for his assassination (over his cartoons), and he died tragically in 2021 in a car accident (while being escorted by police). I need someone to make the documentary to fuel my fascination.

A man with glasses and a grey jacket sits on large rocks with a wood structure made of driftwood and a forested hill in the background. He grips a black object in his right hand, and his legs are exposed, wearing jean shorts. The scene appears to be outdoors in a rugged, natural environment.
A driftwood landscape – Lars Vilks in front of Nemis in Ladonia (in Sweden).

About Ladonia and Nimis and Driftwood

Ladonia, is a county with zero residents but you can become citizen or even nobility for $12 and at the heart of it’s very existence, is the ultimate Driftwood Garden.

Here is a little history of the garden from Ladonia’s website:

When Vilks started to work with hammer and nail at Nimis his ideas were rather vague, but he had in mind to make a meetingplace between theory and practice. The place chosen, the north side of the Kullaberg Nature Reservate, was remote and he could work for almost two years before his piece was discovered.

At that time (in 1982) the County Council reacted and ordered the object that they defined as a building to be removed immediately. Vilks appealed the sentence and started a huge lawsuit which was referred to the swedish Government. The department of agriculture confirmed that Nimis would be removed. Vilks´project was also reported to the police and went on to the district court of appeal and the supreme high court. Vilks lost in the end and was fined.

Nimis was never removed because it was sold in 1986 the New York artist Christo. During the years of legal battles Nimis expanded to a huge piece. More than 100 meters of lengths, towers about 15 meters and 25 tons of wood, Nimis became an impressive sculpture, attracting thousands of visitors who climbed down the slope to explore the construction.

An intricate wooden structure of interlaced driftwood sticks and branches stands on a rocky coastal hillside. The tall, spindly construction appears artistic, with multiple towers reaching towards the sky. Set against a foggy seascape backdrop, it could serve as an enchanting garden centerpiece.
Nimis image by King Dumb

The story of appeals continues to 1996:

Ladonia rised and entered into a new form of time and space. On the 2nd of June the country proclaimed its independence from Sweden – if it ever was occupied; the country was hardly ever discovered. And now Ladonia prosper and develop, creating its own way into boundless freedom.

No one lives in Ladonia; all its citizens are nomads who visit the two chief towns, Nimis and Arx, erected during the period 1980-96.

Taxes are to be paid in Ladonia but not with money. Citizens pay by giving away a part of their creativity.

An intricate, large-scale wooden structure composed of interwoven driftwood and planks stands in a forested area. Tourists are navigating the pathways within the material-rich structure, and lush green trees are visible in the background.
Nimis and Arx from the coast image by Tim Mills

One more little side note: Before you start collecting driftwood, make sure it is legal to do so. In many places, it is not. If you are not careful, you might end up in a decades-long legal battle that ultimately leads to a succession movement. 😜

More Landscape Art and Interesting Garden Materials:



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