The Perfect Garden for Those Who Dont Garden

Spring will soon be approaching and many peoples thoughts turn to the beautiful garden they will raise. Those green stalks shooting upward, those ripening tomatoes or flowers that adds color to the yard. The Joy of working out in the sunshine and fresh air.

While this sounds good many of us simply aren't gardeners in any sense of the word. Yet we would still like a little bright color in our yard and a little curb appeal to the home. We would like a garden for those of us who don't garden. While this sounds like an impossible dream it really isn't. You too can have a colorful garden with out tilling the soil or planting a seed. You can make yourself a painted rock garden.

This idea was inspired by a friend of mine who years ago had a husband who did all different kinds of construction work. He would often bring home extras from the jobs that his clients did not want to keep. Soon my friends garage was filled with cans that had little dabs of out door paint in a variety of colors in them. Her husband refused to throw them away telling her that she could find a use for them. One day she did.

When her husband had built their home he had taken all the rocks that had been unearthed when they were digging the foundation and had lined them up against the front of the house. My friend who had a white house had always thought those gray stones looked dull and dingy against the side of her home and suddenly got inspired to “Spruce them up” as she later told me. Digging up an old paint brush she went to work on all those rocks with the dabs of out door paint her husband had stored in the garage.

Everyone laughed her including her husband. No was was laughing when she completed her project three weeks later. She had somehow managed to create a very colorful and blended rock pile that actually drew attention to her home. It wasn't long before neighbors were complimenting her on her originality and enhanced home.

The next year she created an eye catching colorful rock garden in an area of the yard where grass just wouldn't seem to grow. Over the years as the paint on the rocks faded to a more pastel look she would take out a rock here and there and repaint it until she has this wonderful blend of bright and pastel colors that is extremely attractive.

I decided that if I could find enough rocks I would like to try my own version of her colored rock garden. I have a couple of variations in mind that I think would really liven up by blah yard.

Painted Rock Garden Variation One

Fairy mountain. I thought since I have made a couple of miniature fairy gardens in the past that building a painted rock garden in the theme of a fairy mountain could be interesting and eye catching. All I have to do is find some rocks that have a flat service and scatter Fairy houses and a Few fairies about the mountain. I could add to it each year and make a real fairy wonderland among the rocks. A few little bird ladders for the fairies to go from level to the next and and the idea could really take off.

In fact if my fairy houses and fairies were colorful enough I wouldn't even have to paint the rocks to make a really beautiful garden.

Painted Rock Garden Variation Two

My other thought was to make a small live animal rock garden. I would in this case design the garden so it came to a peak with a bird bath on top and some real ledges where I could scatter bird seed, nuts and maybe a few rabbit pellets and see if I could attract some of the various small animals that roam my yard during the summer months. If it worked out right not only would I have colorful rocks to brighten my yard but also some interesting birds, squirrels, and rabbits to watch.

Maybe a few other ideas will come to me as well. No matter what it is a simple way for those of us who don't garden to create our own version of a beautiful garden to add color and cheer to our yards.