Putt-Putt: Landscaping for Your Backyard Mini-Golf Course

Landscaping for your backyard mini golf course could be plain or elaborate. We've been designing ours since we first bought our house. Playing mini golf is something I can't seem to get enough of. We're hoping by building our own course, we'll save a ton of money this summer. I'm having a ball designing my own course.

Here's some of the possible landscaping plans I've come up with:

An English garden mini golf course would be beautiful in bloom. Paths would wind around elegant floral beds. We could install a couple benches for resting and reflecting. This design would make for a very peaceful course. Unfortunately, our climate restricts the type of plants we choose, unless we want to dish out the big bucks for water.

Rocks and hills is something we're seriously pondering. The old homeowners left us mountains of gravel and cobble. We were thinking this could double as landscaping and borders for our backyard mini golf course. Free materials is a big sell for this landscaping idea. Not only that, we would have a relatively maintenance free back yard landscape.

Everyone in our home loves fountains and water features. I used to maintain the fountain displays at my old job. I have a good working knowledge of how to build them. We've often thought of opening our own water fountain construction company. Why not incorporate a few fountains into our backyard mini golf course? Maybe some of our friends will come to play, like our work and place an order.

Southwestern pottery is a natural here in Denver. I love the earthy tones and some of the bright colors as well. I also have a small collection of frog garden statues to add to this mix. They go surprisingly well together. In the center of our backyard mini golf course, we're thinking of building a southwestern themed fire pit with seating all around. This way, our backyard will be homey too.

Using container plants might be a good way to incorporate a little green into our backyard mini golf course. We were planning on starting an herb garden anyway. Why not scatter pots of herbs around the golf course to give it a finished look? Certain herbs, such as sage and mint grow with little maintenance here. We could even plant a few in that southwestern pottery.

Our backyard mini golf course will contain elements of all these landscape ideas. A pile of rock here, a pot of flowers over there, a little pottery, statuary and a nice fountain or two will make us feel right at home. The nice thing about building a backyard mini golf course is that we can take our time and make it what we want.

More from this contributor:
Growing a Community Garden at Work
Five Ways to Go Green in Your New Home
Landscaping for New Homeowners on a Budget

Source:
Personal Experience