Raised garden beds are a popular trend in landscaping and gardening for good reason – they offer many benefits and design possibilities beyond a typical in-ground garden Ornamental raised beds can transform your yard into an eye-catching focal point and bring new life to plantings, Read on to explore why ornamental raised beds deserve a spot in your garden plans,
What Are Ornamental Raised Beds?
Ornamental raised beds go a step beyond standard vegetable or herb gardens by incorporating decorative elements. They allow you to grow plants and flowers while also creating an aesthetically pleasing feature.
Ornamental beds are typically enclosed by materials like stone, brick, or wood. The enclosure gives structure and definition. It also enables the soil to be built up higher than ground level, often 6-12 inches above the yard.
Raised beds can be any shape imaginable – oval circular square, rectangle, hexagon, etc. They can include crafted corners, scalloped edges, smooth lines, or geometric patterns. With ornamental beds, the structure itself becomes part of the appeal, not just the plants inside.
Benefits of Raised Garden Beds
All raised beds including ornamental versions provide benefits
- Improved drainage and aeration since soil does not compact
- Easy access without bending for planting and maintenance
- Customizable soil mix not reliant on native ground soil
- Earlier spring planting when soil warms faster
- Prevent pests like slugs more easily with barriers
- Neater, defined edges that prevent spreading or encroaching plants
- Increased yield in a smaller space compared to in-ground planting
Ornamental raised beds offer these additional perks:
- Limitless design options to match your style
- Added visual interest and curb appeal
- Opportunity to incorporate seating, lighting, or water features
- Can define separate garden “rooms” or spaces
Popular Styles and Materials for Ornamental Raised Beds
Now that you know the pros of raised garden beds, how will you construct your ornamental version? There are endless combinations of shapes, sizes, and building materials to produce your perfect custom creation.
Wood: One of the most ubiquitous and affordable choices is wood – timbers, planks, logs, etc. Opt for naturally rot-resistant cedar, redwood, or cypress. Wood edges provide a casual, rustic look.
Stone: Stacked native stone, fieldstone, and cut types like bluestone create beds with a natural vibe. Mortar may be used between stones or a “dry stack” technique. Granite, limestone, sandstone, and flagstone are other stone possibilities.
Brick: Both new and reclaimed bricks can be mortared or dry-stacked into attractive raised beds with classic appeal. Firebrick offers durability. Red, brown, and gray tones provide color options.
Metal: Steel, galvanized sheet metal, and aluminum can be cut and folded into customized beds with sleek, modern lines. Choose paint colors to complement your style.
Concrete: Preformed blocks, poured edges, cinder blocks, or retaining wall stones are simple concrete choices for straight or curved raised beds.
Tile or Terra-cotta: For a Mediterranean feel, edge garden beds with Spanish or Moroccan patterned tile or stacked terra-cotta pots.
Planters: Use multiple sizes of ceramic, concrete, or metal pots and planters clustered together in lieu of connected walls.
Edging: Flexible plastic, metal, or stone landscape edging can shape flower and plant beds at a lower height above ground.
Upcycled: Get creative using old dressers, bookshelves, tables, tires, wooden pallets, troughs, buckets, or crates as ornamental raised bed materials.
Design Inspiration for Ornamental Raised Garden Beds
Ready to start planning your new ornamental raised beds? Here are some inspiring ideas:
- A stone bed edged with brick or tile trim for contrast
- Timber beds with scalloped edges or built-in corner seats
- A set of stacked oval metal planters with trailing flowers
- A mosaic-tiled geometric bed or bold colors and patterns
- Rows of rectangular beds lined up or zig-zagging across a yard
- Circling pathway beds connecting multiple round planters
- Beds edged with logs or twigs for natural appeal
- Salvaged wood stamped with a repeating ornamental design
- Contrasting materials like rock walls with concrete capstones
- Incorporating arches, trellises, or obelisks to grow upwards
- Fun painted themes like rainbow colors or faux stone finishes
- Rustic beds with mix-matched repurposed vintage materials
- Grid-like beds separated by gravel paths and edging
- Steel vegetable beds combined with ornamental flower beds
The options for ornamental raised garden beds are endless. Evaluate your space, light conditions, and style preferences to decide the shapes, sizes, configurations and materials that will work best. Consult landscaping experts for specific recommendations. Proper preparation of soil, drainage, and irrigation will help your beds thrive.
With a well-crafted ornamental raised bed, you can boost your curb appeal, express your personal tastes, and enjoy gardening with less effort. Elevating your plants also elevates your whole garden design.
Fine-crafted details enhance the functionality and the appearance
These gardeners incorporated their raised beds into an attractive overall structure with fencing and a gate that keeps out deer and other pests. The fence panels swing open for easy access. The extra-tall height of the beds means that they don’t have to get on their hands and knees to work in the garden.
Raise them up for easy access
These tall raised beds were designed with the disabled in mind. Even people confined to wheelchairs can grow their own flowers and veggies when the garden is raised to table height. These plantings are made even more interesting with decorative structures made out of colorfully painted bamboo stakes.
The ULTIMATE Raised Garden Beds for a Front or Backyard Vegetable Garden
What is a raised garden bed?
Here are the most common: Soil: A raised garden bed allows you to control your soil more, building it up with compost and the topsoil of your choice, but some plants and flowers prefer the native soil you would find in an in-ground bed. Raised beds also tend to provide better drainage.
Are raised-bed gardens a good idea?
And we have raised-bed garden ideas for every type of space. You can place raised garden beds anywhere—on a deck, patio, or even a driveway. Plus, you can build them tall enough to save your knees and back from getting sore. Raised-bed gardens also make it easy to get the right soil mix.
What is a stone raised bed?
An informal stone raised bed design features individual boulders stacked and fitted to create a foundation for productive gardens. This mounded garden illustrates a type of raised bed known as hugelkultur (German for “hill culture”).
What is a wooden raised bed?
Your garden transforms into a lush sanctuary with these wooden raised beds, framed beautifully by natural wood and vertical supports for climbing plants. The arrangement offers an organized, neat aesthetic while maximizing growing space. Perfect for vegetables and flowers, it blends function and charm seamlessly. #2.
What is a good material for a raised bed?
“The material of the raised bed can be of aesthetic interest in the garden as well,” says Jonathan Paetzel, who says that corten steel, stone, wood, brick, and salvaged materials are all good choices. We love how the sage green used in this garden design makes the greenery pop.
What can you plant in a raised garden bed?
The Merrythought made this simple DIY raised garden bed from untreated wood and corner braces and placed it in a sunny backyard spot, planting it with compost-rich soil and everything from carrot seeds to rhubarb, asparagus, garlic, and sprouted sweet potatoes.