This Enchanting 'Junk Garden' Is Filled with Genius Ways to Repurpose Your Old Stuff
Why plant in flower pots when you can use rusty milk cans, chicken feeders, or galvanized mop buckets?
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It might be filled with junk, but this gorgeous garden is anything but "junky." Blogger Carlene Blair has created quite the oasis for herself right outside her door—and it perfectly embodies the name of her blog, Organized Clutter.
It all started when Blair discovered Mary Randolph Carter's book, Garden Junk.
"I loved the look of junk with beautiful flowers," Blair tells CountryLiving.com. "As the seasons and years passed, I found better and and more unusual junk, and I started making signs and repurposing old junk into planters! It's a great hobby combining my love of flower gardening with junking. I try to outdo myself every year!"
We're not sure how she's going to top this! Take a tour of her junk garden, and find out just how she created it.
Northern Exposure
"Since my house faces north, I have shade lovers like hosta, Solomon's seal, and impatiens planted under my bay window," Blair wrote on her blog.
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Wheelbarrow Plant Stand
Blair's very first junk garden piece? This old wheelbarrow, which serves as a stand for a laundry tub bursting with Marguerite daisies and nicotiana.
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Blooming Collection
In her front yard, perennials and annuals spill out of watering cans and funnels and off the steps of a ladder. She says old wooden signs add "vertical interest."
DIY Flower Market Sign
We're obsessed with this "Flower Market" sign made of two spindle legs and a weathered piece of barn siding.
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Stenciled Shovel
With a bit of stenciling, an old shovel head makes adorable garden decor.
"Garden Swing"
Here, Blair repurposed a children's swing into a whimsical flower pot holder.
DIY Potting Shed Sign and Tool Rack
What was once a gun rack is now attached to an old barn door and used to hold vintage garden tools. Blair even stenciled a cute "Potting Shed" sign for the piece.
DIY Staked Coffee Pot Planters
Scavenged coffee pots became charming raised planters when Blair mounted them on stakes.
Antique Water Pump
An old water pump accents a container spilling over with blooms.
Vintage Typewriter Turned Garden Statue
We love the wild, abandoned look of this old typewriter in Blair's bed of succulents.
A Tree to Lean on
Collections of vintage birdhouses and old metal wheel rims line the deck beside a tree-shaded bed where begonias and impatiens, two favorite annual flowers that do well in the dappled light, add a bright pop of red.
Antique Potting Sink
This antique potting sink is the perfect place to display a pair of black eyed Susan vines growing up trellises in galvanized tubs. And that monogrammed cabinet door is so creative.
RELATED: 20 Gorgeous Flowering Vines to Add Vertical Color to Your Yard and Garden
Seasonal Window Display
During the winter, Blair displayed this weathered frame inside as Christmas decor, but come spring, it was repurposed outside as a planter. Genius!
Genius Repurposing
Hey, a hook is a hook. Here, a "chick starter" hangs from a thrifted banana tree.
Enamored with Enamelware
An enamelware coffee pot is the clever focal point of this flower bed.
Whitewashed Bench
A whitewashed bench holds galvanized buckets and a toolbox, which Blair (of course) adorably stenciled.
Bicycle Planter
Even a bike can be a beautiful planter, as Blair proves here. The shade-loving bloomer hanging out in the basket is dicentra (aka bleeding heart).
RELATED: 25 Best Shade Perennials That Thrive Out of the Sun
Galvanized Design
Have you ever seen such an assortment of trash-to-treasure planters?
From the Farm
Rusty milk cans, chicken feeders, and galvanized mop buckets were given new life as (what else?) planters.
Next Up: Step Inside Three Dreamy Backyard Retreats
Move over "she-shed." Filled with vintage collections and eclectic junking finds, these sophisticated chic sheds take the garden house to a whole new level.
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