Becky,
I could not seem to get the links to work but here is my 2 cents worth... You can "wall off" areas by using aggresive climbers like sweet autumn clematis (IF it works in your area!). See if you can find some scrap wrought iron fencing that you can use for the trellis. OR you can make some with treated wood. Sectioning off and using an garden arch into the next area will help set it off.
I made a beautiful border around all my flower beds by digging a trench about 6 inches deep, tapering back. I used scrap formica counter top to use as cement forms, cut about 4 inches tall. It is VERY bendable and easier to work with than bender board or other products. I "lined" the trench with newspapers. I mixed up cement in a wheel barrow and poured it into the trench. I set rocks of various size into the cement back about 3 inches or so. This made it so it had a mowing friendly front. These helped me get the rock border I wanted without the high maintance of weeding between the rocks. I left the back of the trench open. I wish I had pictures of me doing this, it really was fairly easy and I could do it a few feet at a time.
My Dad welded me a cheap custom arbor of rebar. It was TALL and wide to fit above the garden shed entry and leave plenty of head room when the wisteria was draping down over it. I LOVED it and can't wait to have another one! The arbor was inexpensive to make.
I bought molds for stepping stones, birdbaths and garden benches. I invested about $150 total in molds but that enabled me to make as many as I wanted for under $10 each in cement for the benches & birdbaths, the stepping stones were for "leftover" cement. I have seen beautiful little walls made from recycling broken cement slab pieces that are stacked. That is an environmentally friendly way to dispose of the old cement.
I'll see if I can take some of my old paper style pictures and have them put on a digital format so I can share them with you.
Pat
Before and After Gardens .....
Rox - I want to do lasagna beds over top of most of the grass. Maybe leave a patch or two for my dog, but the rest is to be turned into paths, gardens and small terrace/patio areas for seating. I've seen these type of gardens at higher end homes and that's what I want to do in my little low end yard. lol Doing it myself is cost effective otherwise I could never afford to do it at all. All the garden beds around the perimeter of the backyard would have cost me a couple thousand dollars if I had paid someone to do it for me. Instead it just cost me the price of the lumber, soil, and compost. Cardboard was free. And the seeds and plants just cost me postage or was on the clearance racks at the local plant nurseries. So probably cost me about $100 - 150 to do it all. Quite the bargain except for my back. LOL! And I did it over a year's time. Not all at once. The biggest undertaking was the long bed paralleling the back fence. That was back-breaking. Not fun. But I think that will be the worst. Anything else will be on a much smaller scale and not nearly as exhausting or expensive.
I do want to build some arches. They will have to be made out of 4" X 4" posts and concreted into the ground. With hurricanes and other severe weather here, everything has to be securely in the ground. I can't have anything coming loose and being a flying projectile.
Pat - I would love to see some photos if you are able to get them scanned and converted to digital. (But please don't go through that expense just for me. Do you have a printer that can scan photos? My printer does scanning and copying so there is no cost and I can do it right at home.) Funny that you should mention about buying concrete molds. I have been looking into them lately. They are not cheap, but if I am planning on making several, they are definitely cost effective. Just buying a concrete bench that seats two costs about $150-200. Unbelievable when you can make them yourself for a fraction of that cost. I have even thought of hand painting them with butterflies or flowers or something quaint to personalize them and make them a focal point in some of the rooms. That is exciting to me! I had no idea you could make your own! Very cool, indeed! Sounds like you have all kinds of experience and good ideas to customize a garden. Do tell me more!!!
Becky!
check out some of these links... I used to have a computer program that you could enter the zone and request info by TYPE of plant or color you wanted. It was sooo much fun. I liked it much better than this but ... ENJOY!
http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/bhg/story/data/planagardenhome_03022002.xml
Pat
Becky, look at the concete benches at WalMart. I started to buy some the other day but didn't. The one seater is $35. The two seater, will I actually forgot, but somewhere in the neighborhood of $75.
Hmmm ... I'll have to check them out Deborah. I didn't see any last week. Maybe they haven't been shipped to my WM yet. I'll keep an eye out ..... that's very cheap for concrete benches. Thanks for the tip on that! :-)
don't forget Big K - they have great deals at the end of the season!... I'm reminding myself, I rarely go there, but they always seem to "over order" and have lots of stuff left at the end of the summer.