Thermometers

Why would anyone want to have a thermometer in their garden? After all, one can’t control the temperatures Mother Nature saddles us with, without providing a thermostat to turn down or air conditioner to blow more cool breezes our way. Well, one reason might be this: garden thermometers help us gage what temperatures are doing to our prize plants. If a killer frost is threatening in the fall, or if a heat wave is trying to dry up everything in sight, it pays to be forewarned and forearmed. A garden thermometer placed where we can watch it is really a line of first defense. Water is getting scarcer in the land these days, and a garden thermometer can help us gage how much water we need to use and how often we should be watering and spraying.

Another reason for garden thermometers is that they are beautiful. No longer do we just need to stare at some temperature gauge. Artisans and manufacturers have come up with some items that are as decorative as they are useful and perhaps even more so. Ingenious, too. Thomas Jefferson designed a garden thermometer that uses a calibrated metal wheel that is accurate even in full sunshine and, get this! Reads in Fahrenheit or Celsius! This is not a decorator item, it is not an artistic piece, but is nevertheless prized because of its ingenuity. Also, in this power conscious day, it takes no power but to operate. Other garden thermometers operate on batteries or on solar cells or you can put in underground lines for the ones that need regular current.

One very striking garden thermometer is made of natural looking terra cotta. This one is flat, and it could be mounted on a wall in a grotto that had a brick or wooden wall as a backdrop. Bronze is another metal used for the garden thermometers, usually it is antiqued, looks antique and is in attractive frames with small flames surrounding the face and making the frame. Another way a garden thermometer can be mounted is on a bracket attached to a wall of the house or on a fence. Usually they are mounted so that they can swivel around to face the area where you will be when you want to check garden conditions. These also range from ornate decorator items to the more familiar but very readable thermometers with colorful pictures of birds or flowers on the face.

In northern climates it is a boon to be able to look out the window and see the temperature before you risk going outside and freezing in the icy drafts. Again, ingenuity has provided what we need. Some of these thermometers, mounted on posts or fences, are solar powered and they shine at night with very readable scales that help you to ease your mind about how deep the freeze might be. The attractive design of the thermometer face and the post that holds it make it a complement to the rest of your garden decor.

admin @ May 30, 2008