Today we have a guest post from our friends at the Garden Decor site. Here Mary discusses when her and husband realized how easy it was to convert statues with sitting water into “living” solar powered fountains. Thanks Mary for your guest post, and I hope to return the favor sometime soon!

Gardening for me is not just about the plants and the flowers. It’s about the whole package, the whole experience. This includes everything from the stone and brick walkways we laid down from the back porch out to the garden, the solar powered stakes that light the way, the hanging lights that illuminate the trees around our garden come nightfall, and to all the garden decor items set up in the garden itself.

Stone statues are abundant in our yard, and for good reason: we like them. Who doesn’t? They cost next to nothing and are easy to buy and set up, since by “set up” you simply need a place to put them!

My husband and I are also a fan of statues with water in them. We had 2 baby angel statues, showing a baby standing next to a column, of which affixed to the top was a bowl-like design for holding water. These are cool looking, yet the water tends to collect and get dirty; which is only natural for stagnant water to do so. This encouraged us to imagine how we could get that water moving, both so it would look cleaner and nicer, but also for the wonderful effect it has on our moods; the sound of rushing water is just fabulous!

Years back, we either converted old fashioned standard powered items into solar powered items, or just went out and bought new items of the same type that were already set to go for solar powered. This second option is much easier than trying to convert something to solar power! However, the exception is for making something that had no moving, powered parts – like a statue with water sitting in it – into something that moved, breathed, and flowed!

More specifically, I’m talking about those two stone statues. Turning each one into its own solar fountain was shockingly easy. All it requires was a solar pump and 5 minutes of our time to install it. The only “trick” was positioning the attached (via cord) solar panel in such a way as to not distract other garden pieces or the garden design as a whole. But either way, we spent maybe $75 per pump and that was it.

The good news is that in today’s dollars, those same pumps cost under $50, and some nearly half of that. Additionally, the solar panels themselves are much smaller, making them a lot easier to merge into the existing garden design.

Anyone out there who has old statues that hold and would like a solar fountain, you need look no further than your local garden shop or simply buy online, and you can easily convert it into a solar fountain!