The soothing sound of gentle wind chimes
A garden is about sight, texture, fragrance, and sound. Sound in the garden can be provided by leaves that rustle. For example the leaves of a poplar tree, but beware that the poplar tree is a quick growing and therefore short-lived tree. Ornamental grasses are popular for this reason because their long, thin leaves, as well as their seed heads in late summer, provide movement and soft rustling in the slightest breeze.
In today’s densely packed subdivisions, you don’t want to annoy your neighbours, so please be considerate. While you may love your copper, 4-foot wind chimes, your neighbours may not.
The most neighbour-friendly wind chimes are made of bamboo. They are reasonably priced (around $20) and you can leave them up year-round. You may have to replace them every two or three years because bamboo splits in the winter and generally gets weather worn. The sound they emit is loud enough to satisfy homeowners and avid gardeners, telling them that there is a breeze. Yet bamboo wind chimes are quiet enough to not annoy your neighbours.
You can also hang up wind chimes in your garden to provide sound year-round. But beware that some wind chimes can be too much in a small garden. I’m talking about those tubular ones that are up to 4-feet in length. They can get quite noisy, especially if the pipes are high-pitched.
If the purpose of wind chimes is to provide soothing “white noise,” these fancy polished copper wind chimes complete defeat the purpose.
