Creativity Blooms in Quilt Gardens

Take a Tour or Make Your Own!

Quilt gardens are popular in several parts of the country, especially in Indiana. Several creative flower gardens planted in the shape of quilt blocks can be viewed every summer along the Heritage Trail near Elkhart, IN.

The gardens are gorgeous and are an excellent way to showcase the love of quilts and quilting. Learn more about these gardens and where to find them here. You’ll find many more examples with this Google image search.

While it takes hundreds of man-hours, mostly by volunteers, to create and maintain these gardens, a smaller quilt garden is quite doable for the backyard.

A 10 ft. square garden will make an impact, especially if it’s on a slight hill so you can view it at an angle. Or, place the garden where you can view it from a slightly elevated spot, like a deck or porch.

Heritage Trail photo from Catherine Castle.

Smaller gardens are effective if you choose the right design and plants. A simple quilt block works best in small gardens and can go fairly small, especially if created from compact annuals that hold their shape well.

Heritage Trail photo from Catherine Castle.

Since plants tend to grow together, more elaborate designs will need to be larger to still read as quilt blocks when the plants mature.

Cleo Lampos provides tips to get you started in the following article.

Click here for “Quilt Gardens: From Fabric to Soil.”

15′ square quilt garden.

Color variation created in Photoshop.

You’ll find more in-depth instructions for planning and creating a quilt garden in the following article from Better Homes & Gardens. While the instructions are for a good-sized garden, the same process can be used to go smaller.

The smaller the garden is, the more important it is for the plants to be compact and similar in height. For example, short impatiens or fibrous begonias would be lovely in a small shade garden.

Click here for “Plant a Garden Quilt to Beautify Your Yard.”

Go even smaller by configuring succulents in square pots. Nine similarly sized succulents in two colors (or a third for the center) would make a lovely nine-patch block mini garden.

Or, consider a hanging succulent garden. Better Homes & Gardens provides instructions for making a succulent garden from a picture frame.

While the example is not a quilt garden, it’s easy to imagine how a square frame and the right selection of plants could become a simple and very charming quilt block.

This tray of mini succulents found on Etsy (no longer available) is sure to spark some ideas.

Click here for “Make a Living Succulent Picture Frame.”

If your garden or patio has a blank wall, you might also consider a more elaborate hanging succulent garden. The following example, while not a traditional quilt design, does give us an idea of how lovely a wall quilt garden made from succulents would be (even on a smaller scale).

Photo from Pinterest.

Learn more about how a wall succulent garden can be made here.