Stunning garden design is inexpensive with the smart ideas Kentucky garden designer Jon Carloftis used to transform his backyard.
Today, the yard lives anew.
Divided into a series of smaller spaces, it feels bigger, more welcoming, and more useful.
Credit: Photo: Van Chaplin
This formed an attractive, no-brain-to-maintain floor for a central courtyard thats great for grilling out and entertaining.
A large galvanized horse trough planted with Green Giant arborvitaes provides an evergreen backdrop for the bench.
Planting in containers (such as this trough) allows for flexibility as needs change or plants grow.
Credit: Photo: Van Chaplin
Planters: A Delightful Cover-up
The old garage walls werent plumb atop the French doors.
To disguise this, Jon added brackets to the front and laid a wood plank atop them.
They support lightweight fiberglass planters filled with flowers.
Credit: Photo: Van Chaplin
The look: a lush conservatory.
Adding interior bracing helped straighten the sagging walls.
To jazz up the floor, he painted the asphalt white.
Credit: Photo: Van Chaplin
Next came new doors.
Each set cost $120; so for $360, we changed the whole look of the place.
This part of the yard used to be completely open to the neighbors.
Credit: Photo: Van Chaplin
Jon and Dale added an inexpensive privacy fence to the perimeter.
Then they planted trees, shrubs, and perennials in front of it.
Today, you’re able to see neither fence nor neighbor.
Credit: Photo: Van Chaplin
Jons dogs love playing on the grass.
Friends and neighbors like sitting out on the tiny green oasis too.
Reinvented Porch
Dale and Jon hardly ever visited the forlorn screened porch.
Credit: Photo: Van Chaplin
So they glassed it in and transformed it into a bedroom.
Today, doors open onto a small terrace adorned with chairs and a gurgling fountain.
Above the terrace stands a wisteria arbor built of pressure-treated pine held aloft by fiberglass columns.
I love fiberglass, because unlike wood, it never splits, Jon explains.
you’re able to paint or stain it any color you want.
With cap and base, each column costs about $100 and will last forever.
It rolls open to let you in and rolls closed for privacy.
The trough measures 2 feet high and deep and 8 feet long and cost about $140.
