Creative Garden Ideas
Are you looking to spruce up your garden with some creative ideas? From adding a touch of whimsy to transforming a neglected flowerbed into a beautiful oasis, there are so many ways to make your garden unique! It doesn’t matter if you have a large garden or a small garden, you can take some of these creative gardening ideas and reuse them in your own home garden.
Whether you are a master gardener, a beginner, or somewhere in between, there are plenty of ideas here to inspire you and get your creative juices flowing. Read on for creative garden ideas that will take your gardens and outdoor space to the next level.
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What is your Garden Style?
First of all, let’s determine what your gardening style is if you don’t already know. Here are some questions you might ask.
- Do you like a garden that is very simple where much of the focus is on a Zen-like atmosphere that includes modern water features, rock, and ornamental bridges? This is Japanese garden style.
- What about a formal style with symmetrical garden design? This style often includes neatly trimmed hedges and geometric shapes and may often feature a focal point like a large statute or fountain.
- Do you like informal garden layouts with a variety of flowers in lots of different colors? This type of garden style is referred to as a cottage garden style. Most of my gardens fall into this category.
- Perhaps a wildflower meadow that focuses on creating a natural meadow or prairie-like garden for creating a habitat for pollinators, is what you long for.
- Or, maybe you just like a little bit of everything and your style is more eclectic.
For the purposes of this article, our creative ideas will focus mostly on cottage, eclectic and wildflower gardens.
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Creative Ideas for a Flower Garden
If you have followed Gingham Gardens for any length of time, you will know that I love using upcycled vintage junk to add character to my informal flower gardens. Although your flowers should command the show, you can also add visual interest to your gardens with art. In other words, give the eyes something to land on in the garden, and take a break from the plants.
Water Features
A water feature not only adds visual interest to a garden, it also helps to create a tranquil and soothing environment. Plus, the sound of trickling water adds to the overall sensory experience of your backyard space. Look at this: an old vintage water pump has been turned into a striking water fountain planter.
A small pond, though it can be a lot of work in the spring, is a great way to add charm to your space. See below how this gardener used another vintage water pump!
Seating Area
Add a seating area where you or your visitors can take a break and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. This garden bench in the shade is the perfect place to sit and take a break.
Garden Sheds
In recent years, “she-sheds” have been all the rage, and gardeners and non-gardeners alike want one. With a little creativity, an ugly old garden shed or any outbuilding can be made into a cute outdoor area. Adding a flower bed around the perimeter is a great option for bringing new life to the space and turning the unsightly shed into a quaint-looking site. If your old shed has a window, consider adding a window box full of colorful flowers.
This photo of a beautiful window box was taken many, many years ago, on a garden tour.
An old garden structure, however dilapidated it may be, can often serve as a backdrop for a cute vignette! Instead of getting rid of it, turn it into a staging area for some fun vintage finds!
Garden Paths
I love the look and functionality of a garden path. Whether constructed from flagstones, stepping stones, gravel, wood planks or even just a mulched pathway, paths serve to create a meandering walkway throughout your gardens. A good garden path can add a ton of character to your flower gardens. They can keep your feet from getting wet with dew from the grass and also protect your shoes from mud.
Remember when constructing a pathway to avoid creating trip hazards, especially if you are using stones or wooden planks. Design your walkway with curves or changes in elevation to create a sense of movement or interest. You can add even more character to your garden path by lining it with fieldstones, logs or other natural materials. Plants can also be used to define the edge of the garden path.
Garden Statues
A garden sculpture worked in amongst flowers can act to compliment your garden space, without overwhelming it. This can be a more formal statute like a St. Francis of Assisi garden statute, or a grouping of whimsical bunnies like the picture below.
A statue like this one is so charming! Sweet Sophie is sure a cutie with her apron that can be filled with bird seed or water.
Focal Points
Birdhouses serve a dual purpose in gardens. Not only are they a fun way to add whimsy and charm, but they also create a home for our feathered friends. A pair of bluebirds has been checking out our birdhouse this season!
Bird baths are likewise used in the same manner. The bright color of this cobalt blue birdbath looks stunning anywhere it’s placed in the gardens! If you use a birdbath in your garden, be sure to clean it on a regular basis.
Have Something You Want to Hide
Do you have an area you want to hide, like utilities, an air conditioner, or an area with junk, etc? Lattice panels are great for disguising things in your yard that are unsightly! I say these things are NOT stylish and attractive! You can cut their panel to your desired size and then framed it out. Fence stakes can be added with screws so it can be driven into the ground to make it stand straight. Here, this charming panel hides a gas meter.
If you’re trying to cover utilities, be sure meters and such are read electronically. Be sure to call your local “Call Before You Dig” number to have utility lines marked before you dig.
I Love these solar lights!
Whimsical Garden Ideas
Fairy Gardens are a wonderful way to add creative elements to your outdoor space! Best of all, they are a marvelous way to interest children in gardening! You and your children or grandchildren can let your creative imaginations go wild when creating a fairy garden.
Here miniature gnomes take the place of fairies.
My favorite garden decorations are garden vignettes – groupings of anything you want to use that cause the eyes to stop and take it all in. Or, little surprises tucked in amongst your plants.
Garden signs are a fantastic way to add whimsy to your gardens. We love garden signs so much that we have an entire post dedicated to them. They invite passersby to slow down for a bit so that they can read them!
Flower Containers as Creative Touches in the Garden
Container gardens are one of the easiest ways to add creativity to your flower beds. Use creative containers such as teapots, or galvanized buckets to create unique container gardens that can be moved around. As a child, I witnessed this practice first hand when my aunts filled old saucepans and coffee pots with plants when they didn’t have pots. What was necessity, became whimsy! Just be sure to poke drainage holes in non-traditional containers! As the summer months wane, you may find areas that need an additional pop of colorful flowers and that’s where plant pots can fill the void. We have lots and lots of ideas in the posts linked above for creative container gardens.
A pretty porch rail planter filled with colorful flowers can turn an otherwise boring porch into a welcoming entrance to your home.
Window Boxes
Window boxes can add so much character to an otherwise plain looking home. This house begged for a window box and shutters to add some curb appeal! The window box has high visibility and is easy to update as the seasons change.
Creative Ways to Add Character to a Vegetable Garden
Yes, you can use some of these creative ideas in your vegetable garden, too. Using a planter box or a raised garden bed are great ways to grow veggies in small spaces. I recently read an article in a gardening magazine, where the author used round raised garden beds to plant her vegetables. It was a great idea and the round cylinders made very unique planters and good use of space. For more creative ways to grow vegetables in smaller spaces, be sure to check out this post.
Create a dedicated herb garden with a variety of herbs that can be used for cooking, medicinal purposes, or aromatherapy! If you don’t have the room to spare, you don’t need a dedicated space for herbs: they can be mixed in with your vegetables and flowers. Or, herbs can be planted in a unique container like this picnic basket herb garden. See more about how this picnic basket garden was created in this post.
Create a vertical garden using wall-mounted planters or trellises to maximize space and add a unique aesthetic to your garden. Out here in the country, we have been using cast off galvanized water troughs to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers in. Randy used fence T- posts to attach abandoned hog panels to the back the troughs to support some indeterminate tomatoes and and cucumbers. (He “wrapped” them around the curved ends.) Later on the season, I put some tall native plants in the troughs because they needed support in the wind. If you don’t have old troughs, like we found, you can purchase new ones. These galvanzed raised beds would be great for a vegetable garden area. You could even use a cattle panel bent like an arch between two of them to create a trellis for vining plants to grow!
Unique items like the decorative windmill below, or an obelisk, can be used as a structure for vining vegetables to grow on.
Creative Garden Ideas Using Natural Elements
Incorporating natural elements into your gardens can create a calming and beautiful space. You can use rocks and stones of different shapes, sizes, and colors to create pathways, retaining walls, or decorative accents. As you can see in many of our pictures here on Gingham Gardens, we love outlining our garden beds with field stones.
In the image below, Leslie, a Gingham Gardens’ reader, used a log to edge her flower garden. It’s so creative and quaint!
Birch logs or any tree branches can be cut to different heights to make a decorative border.
This creative fencing border made from tree branches was seen on a garden tour. Neat, huh?
Below is another cool tree branch fence idea. This picture was taken a few years ago at Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas. This is an idea that could be replicated fairly easily.
You can also arrange stones in a natural-looking way to create a Zen-like rock garden.This picture was take on a garden tour.
Using natural wood elements like tree stumps, logs, and branches can add a rustic charm to your garden. You can use make a trellis from tree branches for vining plants. Or, learn how to turn a tree stump into a planter.
Use twigs and woody vines to create supports for floppy perennials or bend them to make an edging for your garden beds. We’ve all heard of grapevine wreaths, but grapevine can also be used in many different and creative ways in a garden.
Your Creative Garden Ideas
Nancy, a Gingham Gardens’ reader from Michigan, shared this idea with us. She collected old doors and painted them in cheery, bright colors. What a great way to create a privacy screen, or simply add some charm to a garden area!
Susan from Colorado, spray paints her spent allium flowers (see the pink balls in the photo below) when they have finished blooming and turn brown. Isn’t that amazing? There’s even a spray paint made for plants. I’m going to try this on my faded liatris blooms. Be sure to protect surrounding plants from over spray.
Lois, a follower from Minnesota, used an old louvered door to make this colorful plant hanger.
Check out this mounted garden basket that Pam, from Connecticut, shared. Pam used posts from an old arbor they took down. They connected wire baskets with cocoa liners, added soil and plants, and then topped them off with a solar light. So cute!
Karen found this old gate in a trash pile. She painted it and added it to her new garden. It’s so charming!
Don’t be afraid to repurpose items that would otherwise be tossed in a landfill. I love the bright orange bench end that Judy, from Nebraska, uses in her gorgeous perennial bed.
Do you have any 4×4 posts laying around? Pat, from Missouri, shared her DIY project. She painted her post and added whimsical doodles and words. Freehand looks awesome, but you could also use stencils. It’s always a good idea to use a couple of coats of outdoor acrylic paint or lacquer to finish off your outdoor projects so they last.
Jerrica, a reader from Wisconsin, shares her gorgeous planter made from an old copper boiler that her mom picked up on Facebook Marketplace.
Lastly, this is a picture of Donna’s garden. Donna is a Gingham Gardens reader and she sent this picture of one of her gardens. It’s all kinds of charming and she agreed to let it be shared! Notice how she punctuates the otherwise sparse garden with containers of different heights, as well as other creative touches! It’s a perfect example of using what you have to make a creative garden. I would love to see your creative garden ideas too!
Whether you’re creating a family-friendly, practical garden or a cottage-style flower garden, your garden can be whatever you want it to be! Your creative garden ideas may include little touches here and there, or you may prefer a lot of garden art to add to your garden area! Just remember, it’s your garden and there is no right way and definitely no wrong way! Experiment and try new things year after year. You will develop your own unique look and before you know it you will achieve the garden of your dreams!
Feel free to save the photos in this post to your favorite gardening or garden decor board on Pinterest. Do you have a creative garden idea? Please share in the comments section below.
Garden Blessings,
Julie
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