Handmade Garden Projects

December 15, 2011
As unique as a fingerprint . . . handmade gardens reveal the creative vision and personality of the gardener in charge. Creating outdoor spaces of character, comfort, and fun involves scouring garage sales, your own garage, and building-salvage yards with such recyclables as broken ladders (for climbing flowers) and follies, fanciful outbuilding features like the tiny vintage trailer in Forkner's Aluminum Garden surrounded by silver, green, and white plantings. Landscaping foundationsground-level pathways and patios with pebbled mosaic accents or mown-lawn labyrinthsdraw the eye upward to industrial rock-screen trellises and scrap-metal window ledges supporting planters. Old water jars and catch-basin sections become fountains; plumbing-pipe pergolas sport canvas drop-cloth awnings; industrial light fixtures contain outdoor terraria; and old shutters are turned into shelf storage/plant stands. Each project comes complete with lists of needed materials and tools, instructions, and recommended plantings. Whimsy is the watchword here, even as Forkner provides full-color photos, practical conversion tables, hardiness zones, and resource listings in this innovative addition to DIY creativity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)