Turn an area of lawn that will not grow into a beautiful garden vignette.
Gather the following materials:
1. Collect enough rocks to use as a border for the area. Alternatively, you may use railroad ties or purchase garden trim from the local garden center.
2. Purchase, find, or make a park bench. It can be made of stone, or wood or metal. A swinging bench would also work well.
3. Purchase two or three hardy bushes. If your area is over 12 feet in diameter, purchase three. Ask someone at your garden center for hardy plants that will get no bigger than 10 feet tall and wide. Miniature roses or Dogwood would be a good choice. Be sure to purchase according to your growing region
4. Purchase drought-tolerant ornamental grasses. Look for blue fescue, or a similar plant that will grow in your part of the country.
5. Recycle two large old flowerpots, the older and more weathered the better. If you do not have any, purchase Red clay pots and spray paint them lightly with off white paint.
6. Gather enough seasonal flowers or plants to fit the two flowerpots.
7. Purchase enough cloth weed barrier to cover the area.
8. Purchase mulch or pine straw.
Step 1: Mark a perimeter for your garden vignette. Make the shape irregular like that of a kidney shape.
Step 2: Dig up and remove any remaining grass or flowers
Step 3: Install your vignette border. If you are using rocks, you only have to arrange them around your shape. If you are using garden trim, then you may need to dig a bit to get them into place.
Step 4: Plant your small bushes spaced out evenly across the back of your vignette. Do not plant them in a straight line.
Step 5. Plant your ornamental grasses. Plant two in a front corner and the third diagonally from it near the rear corner near a tree.
Step 6: In the other front corner, dig a hole large enough for a flowerpot to be submerged half way into it. Submerge the pot and fill with a mixture of dirt and high quality gardening soil. Dig another hole for the second pot but make it so that the pot will fit into the hole 1/3 of the way on it's side. Place the pot in the hole on it's side and fill with gardening soil and dirt to the best of your abilities.
Step 7: Plant your seasonal flowers in these pots. For the pot that is submerged on its side, arrange the flowers so that they look like they are spilling out from the flowerpot.
Step 8: lay the weed barrier in your vignette to cover the areas where nothing is planted and cover the weed barrier with mulch.
Step 9: Place the bench in the center of your garden vignette. If you find the ground is soft, place a flat stone like slate under each leg.
Step 10: Sit down and relax. You are finished.
You will now have a garden that needs a lot less water and that you will not have to mow or weed. In addition, it is a great place to read a book, sit with a loved one, or people watch. For extra ornamentation, add a few rocks or stepping-stones to your arrangement, a garden sign or a hanging flowering basket on a garden crook.
