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Garden Wind Spinners and Windmills
Kinetic garden pieces that catch the lightest breeze, printed to order from £6.
Getting a wind spinner to actually spin
Most disappointing wind spinners are badly sited rather than badly made. A spinner needs clean air on both sides. Against a fence, a wall or a hedge it will stall, because the airflow that reaches it has already been broken up.
Open positions work: the end of a border, a free-standing pole, a hanging point clear of the house, or anywhere air funnels between two structures. Height helps more than anything else. Wind speed rises quickly in the first two metres off the ground, so the same spinner that barely moves at knee height will turn steadily at head height.
Balloon spinners and windmills are different things
The hot air balloon spinners rotate on a vertical axis and are designed to hang, turning slowly and continuously even in very light air. The sunflower windmill is a face-on design that mounts on a stake and spins on a horizontal axis, needing slightly more wind but giving a much faster, more visible spin.
If your garden is sheltered, choose the balloon. If it is exposed, the windmill will give you more movement.