Creativity built For the garden

[groundsman1983]

Bird houses to insect hotels,garden swings or shiny things,paintings,percussion, breeze blocks,willow or bamboo. what makes your gardens not just plants but uniquely you ?

A garden is just another patch of land until someone enjoys it. we put our heart and soul into a garden but how do we let it show. ill'd love to see or hear of your creative designs and ideas and maybe pick up some inspiration for ways i can include people who have been a great part of me into my garden even if they have no interest in gardening just ways people can leave there mark with a smile

[shadylane]

That is a nice little poem groundsman meaning to or not.
In the beginning of gardening I found myself in the flower dream of things, couldn't get enough...the problem was keeping them. I lost the battle or just tired of fighting the varmints as some say and started a new by adding in a small brick path and planted flowers,herb plants that were durable to my climate and not an edible gourmet for the four legged runners.
The garden started to improve and through the years added a small table a chairs for two, wind chimes, water fountain, from an old handle pump. Finished off with twinkle lights that make a nice glow at night. All my visitors enjoy it, ask questions on the types and I give them starters of herbs or plants to their liking. They leave happy and educated, and perhaps a new gardener in the makings.

[rainbowgardener]

Nice question, groundsman, what makes my garden unique, uniquely mine.

I think making the best use I can of what I've got, which is a long, skinny city lot, the back half of which is a steep downhill slope. The backyard has trees and is pretty shady. So I put a bed of vegetables and herbs smack in the middle of the front lawn, where it sunnier.

The best flat ground in the back is a concrete patio, so I built a couple of tall raised beds on top of the concrete. It has a large deck, so I filled the deck up with containers of flowers and herbs, including built a tall bar for hanging baskets and trellis for climbers. Made long narrow beds of bird and butterfly flowers, with path in between, leading to a garden arch, which marks the beginning of the wooded/ more wild hillside.

Been working on putting paths and retaining walls down the hillside and turning it in to native shade plants garden, with wild ginger, trillium, jack in the pulpit, woods poppies, solomon's seal, virginia bluebells and lots more. Not something just everyone has in their garden.

[groundsman1983]

@ shadylane teehee, i never noticed it started to rhyme till after i finished.. tho i did edit it a little before pressing enter, glad you liked ^_^ I love how you rather than just forcing what you wanted on a patch of land you adapted, iv been a little heartbroken at work with rabbits digging up the roots on young trees and fruit bushes. ill defiantly follow your lead and try and find plants or designs that ill either accommodate the wild rabbits or work around them. you guarden reminds me that sometime things don't work as as good as our dreams..but sometimes there even better
@rainbowgardener WOW luv it, put your fruit and veg in the front so if local children what to pinch anything then atleast its good for them an inspiration for my gardening at home, thankyou ^_^ but the idea that really struck me is rather at work iv been given a massive amount of land and everything i plant just seems to get lost it completely overwhelms me but recreating a woodland with the vast range of plants both useful and decorative is fantastic and at the same time would provide cover and lots of fast growing things attracting all the pests to stay there rather than in my flower beds you sir are a genius

[puzzlejunky]

I built a fairy door complete with little plastic gnomes at the base of our crabapple tree once in an attempt to make the place more whimsical, but the neighborhood cats dug it up and knocked it down.

Our garden is ugly..but functional. We have enough produce herbs and small fruits to feed us and the neighbors..but it's not a pretty sight to look at.

I did paint a sunflower welcome sign..that is now faded and needs to be replaced.

[pinksand]

My husband and I built a bicycle wheel trellis last weekend for behind our mailbox. We both mountain bike so it's very representative of us. We also have a bicycle flower planter

I love little garden trinkets but try not to overdo them and tend to like them on the subtle side. We have wind chimes, hummingbird feeders, bird feeders, bird bath, trellises, solar lights lining all garden paths and around our patio, a little metal bird stake that says "Believe" (from my mom) and a piece with two ants paddling a leaf boat that teeters back and forth in the wind (from my MIL). I guess I like a touch of whimsy I'd love a water feature one day too!

[rainbowgardener]

Oh yeah, did I mention hummingbird feeders, bird feeder, bird bath, and a little artificial pond with fountain? Maybe some pix later...

[rainbowgardener]

OK, some pics of some of the things that we have done to make our garden work for us.

Front lawn veggie bed:

spring 2014-2.JPG (55.51 KiB) Viewed 1105 times

raised beds on concrete:




incidentally when we bought the house that was just a grey concrete slab. We hired someone to cut grooves in it, then stained it and it does a very convincing imitation of terra cotta pavers.

here's a not very good picture of the bird/ butterfly gardens and path:


here it is in a different season:

[rainbowgardener]

Here's something creative I did with the deck (again, not the best picture - before we leave all this behind, I should get some better ones):



That's just half of it, there's actually four sections like that. created by nailing five tall posts to the outside of the deck railing vertical supports. Then we drilled through the posts and put steel pipe through it to support the weight. In the growing season it has hanging baskets, but at Christmas time we wrap it with evergreen garland stuff. You could do lots else with it - sheer curtains for that outdoor room look, etc. I'm proud of this one, because it was entirely my idea, I never saw it anywhere else.

On the opposite side of the deck from the hanging baskets is a long planting bench my partner built, with trellis behind it:





That was early in some spring. Later in the season the vines fill in the trellis and help screen the neighbors.

There's more I could share about the hillside, retaining walls and woodland shade garden etc., but I will quit hogging up this thread and let others post some of their great ideas!

PS If you know anyone in Cincinnati or moving here, looking to buy a house, this house and all this is for sale! (Three bdrm plus office, formal dining room, 4 bathroom, 2 stories plus finished walk out basement where my seed starting operation pictured elsewhere lives as well as family room space)

[groundsman1983]

This is fantastic seeing ho everyone has used there space @puzzlejunky never call your garden ugly its the best room in the house and of all the others yours gives not only to you but gives to your neighbours helping giving an excuse to build together as a community and i love the sign ill defiantly be asking friends,family and the local children if they would like to adapt there various craft and hobby skills or into something that can find a place in the garden... your garden isnt ugly its a kind and giving celebration of people, what could be more beautiful than that ? keep up the good work

[pinksand]

PS If you know anyone in Cincinnati or moving here, looking to buy a house, this house and all this is for sale! (Three bdrm plus office, formal dining room, 4 bathroom, 2 stories plus finished walk out basement where my seed starting operation pictured elsewhere lives as well as family room space)

house with for sale.jpg

What?! You're moving RBG? Where are you off to and of course the important question is will you still have a garden?

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, moving to Chattanooga TN, where the growing season is longer (zone 7 instead of zone 6) and I will have more yard....

But I really hope we can find some one to buy this house who is a gardener and will appreciate all that I have done. It's difficult, the back is lovely and wooded and quiet, but the front faces on to a big busy street. Not everyone wants that.

[MyGirlPepper]

I am new here , I like to grow things and take pictures
My Mother passed away and I have built an arbor for her , she wanted her ashes in a rose garden so I now have one . There are climbers all around this .



Here is a 'magical' picture of her 2 favorite lawn ornaments.

[meshmouse]

MyGirlPepper -

Beautiful. You did good.

rbg -

Moving is always difficult. I hope you find a buyer that will carry on your efforts. Do you already have your new home?

meshmouse

[Flowers]

wow! I guess I always wanted to make my space pretty, but never did more than throw some plants in the ground and some containers in the sun! After I move, I'm definitely going to try some of this stuff out to make my garden neat looking. I love that bicycle planter. And rainbowgardener, I love everything you've done. I'm moving to San Diego, so hopefully your ability to make use of a narrow city lot will inspire me to make use of a tiny city lot too! I love the wild birds and butterfly section.