Landscaping Ideas for a Marble Bronze Backyard

Fountains

• Fountains are backyard water features that can add aesthetic as well as auditory value to landscapes with their babbling waters. Marble is a popular choice for backyard fountain construction, as its color will not fade due to exposure to the elements and its surfaces will produce an even higher sheen after coming in contact with water. According to Outdoors Ideas, marble fountains are particularly well suited for areas with warm climates, as the flowing water combined with marble's light-colored surfaces -- which repel heat from the sun -- have a "cooling effect" on outdoor spaces. The fountains come in variety of designs, including those with multiple rectangular or circular tiers.

  Bronze fountains are another option for marble and bronze backyards, and come in many of the same designs as marble fountains. One distinctively "bronze" option, which you cannot accomplish with marble, is to install a bronze mirror fountain. As the Landscaping Ideas Online website notes, these fountains feature large, flat sections of bronze that reflect sunlight as water pours over them.

Statues

• The ancient Greeks used both marble and bronze extensively in the sculpting of statues; historical examples include the marble "Venus De Milo" and the bronze "Marathon Youth." In a backyard setting, one idea that can tap into the classical Greek style is to incorporate a marble or bronze statue into a marble or bronze fountain by securing the statue to the top pedestal of a multitiered fountain. You could keep the materials consistent or mix and match by adding a bronze statue to a marble fountain or a marble statue to a bronze fountain. Alternatively, you could set up a statue as a stand-alone feature in your yard. Common backyard statue options include those of animals, like frogs and turtles, and those of religious icons, like angels, Jesus or the Buddha.

Furniture

• Marble furniture, such as a marble slab bench, can be decorative as well as functional in the backyard, providing a cool place for people to sit on hot summer days. And while you can find furniture items that consist of pure bronze, in most instances people use stronger aluminum or steel furniture with bronze finishes for outdoor applications. Popular bronze-finished furniture items include patio tables and chairs. One idea for incorporating both marble and bronze elements into a backyard patio is to cover a bronze-finished table with a marble surface.