Dear Lee,

Have you noticed how many collectors are also gardeners? Right now, our yard is filled with flowers, the weeds are temporarily under control, and we can admire our “garden antiques” in a proper setting. Collecting and gardening have both changed over the years. Our first lawn had to be cut with a push mower. We watered with a hose and a sprinkler. We pulled dandelions out one at a time, because there was no weed killer around. The nearest nursery was about 40 minutes away and the selection was limited. We left a big field of grass for the kids to play ball. We gave up on roses and calla lilies because Japanese beetles ate the blossoms. But now, like most of our neighbors, we have curved beds in the front and back yards filled with hybridized flowers, bushes and trees that didn’t even exist a few decades ago. Styles in gardens change, just like styles in houses and dresses.

The first antique we put in our yard over 40 years ago was a German garden gnome about 3 feet tall, a family heirloom. More antiques followed: an 8-foot iron statue of Minerva, stone urns, a tall iron fountain, an iron bench, iron table and chairs, tiles from old buildings, and concrete dogs and frogs. We even found concrete statues of Venus and Neptune that had been in front of a 1930s movie theater. We also have old plant markers and garden stakes made from iron fence parts, 50-year-old peony stakes that are better than any new ones, plus old watering cans, a birdbath, shovels, pitchforks, trowels and flowerpots. Our plants are new, the latest easy-to-grow hybrids, but the antique-filled garden matches the inside of our house. Anything old can go in a yard today, even the pink flamingoes and gazing balls (sometimes called witch’s balls) that were considered “tacky” 20 years ago.

Don’t ignore backyards and garages at house sales. Extend your collection-search shows and trash bins for architectural pieces and garden statuary. It is the hottest of collecting fields today. The prices tell the tale: iron bench with flower urn pattern, c.1850, $3,525; English watering can with brass sprinkling head, $65; alligator-shaped iron lawn sprinkler, $165; cast-iron duck, 20 inches, $250; iron hitching post shaped like a tree trunk, $400; English clay flower pot with rolled edge, 6 inches, $20; zinc and iron fountain with boy and girl holding an umbrella, by J.W. Fisk, 1890s, $6,800; a pair of cast-iron chairs with openwork back, painted black and marked “Atlanta Stove Works,” 1890s, $500; and a pair of fluted classical iron garden urns, 27 inches, $625.