I am simply a total sucker for creative, cheap design ideas. As much as I would really like to have a landscape designer in my disposal, I love these creative small spins for sprucing up a backyard without much budget.

These little gems are pure inspiration.

Melissa Mascara Layout

It’s free (provided you drink a great deal of coffee from cans), it’s ecofriendly and it’s adorable in a funky, boho-cottage kind of manner. Love it.

Zack Benson Photography

Cinder blocks are ugly. These cinder blocks, arranged to make a geometric planter, are modern and brilliant. And the entire thing goes well with succulents, which have a sort of geometry to them too.

rumkihn.com

Exotic gardens are all the rage. This one, made out of an old wooden pallet, is wall mounted and planter in one. I don’t adore these specific plants — I’d go with herbs — but it’s still a great idea.

Another vertical backyard, this one in an old pop bottle crate. It has the pockets! I suppose you’d have to use a display to keep the soil from falling out.

Banyon Tree Design Studio

Aluminum water troughs make ideal raised beds without a building required.

Between Naps on the Porch

This arrangement brings new meaning to the word”flower bed” OK, it’s a small punny, but it is pretty (and you can hang more blossoms from the canopy).

Between Naps on the Porch

The bottle tree has a long and storied history originating in Africa and going strong in the South in the USA. It’s thought to have originated as a means to keep spirits and imps away. A good deal of my neighbors have dead trees in their own backyards which are too costly to get eliminated. You might as well dress them up, right? And keep the bad spirits away in the exact same time.

Robin Amorello, CKD CAPS – Atmoscaper Design

I adore this raised bed as an extension of this deck. It’s a ideal kitchen garden.

A tiny shell planter for a small succulent. This can work inside or outside. I like the idea of an entire row of them together a backyard ledge.

Melissa Mascara Layout

I draw the line at using bathrooms for planters, but this older claw-foot is a real beauty, particularly when coupled with the bright yellow wall and also more sculptural plants.

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