Wow there are some reallly spectacular setups in here!!! Last year at this time I didn't have a bench, all specimen were on-ground or one of my 2 monkey poles (didn't have so many specimen at that point), am glad I was pushed towards getting everything off the ground by members here, although my setup is the epitome of DIY and I'm happy with it I do as you excuse the mess in my backyard, am always in the middle of a project and don't have any good shots where everything's actually cleaned (which is the case maybe 1/5th the time lol
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I started w/ a single modular bench, metal-mesh top (still my favorite from a practicality perspective, drainage / air-flow is virtually unrestricted) and then built my first 'real', in-ground bench and a couple modular benches:
Then I made a 'traditional' style bench, w/ two adjacent 'monkey-poles' whose legs are driftwood, look real cool IRL!
Still needing space, I made a 2-tiered setup (later it got a full terrace backing, and I did-away with the raised rear-edge on the top shelf)
AAaaand then I built a 3rd modular unit so I could fully encircle my backyard as a 'fence' of benches (I already had a wrought-iron bench, so 7 benches total) Was great once I painted them all the same color to look far more 'finished'!
Once I had the benches all setup I planted grasses and spider-plants at the bases of the 4x4's on most benches, I planted a Marigold border/under-growth under the corner section, and for the past 8 months I've been developing a thick 'mexican sunflower' hedge to act as a wind-block for the 'traditional'-style table, which has now finally started getting close to tall-enough to be effective
These benches were built w/o buying *any* wood, after hurricane Irma there were broken fences on every street, so I was able to just grab as much material as I wanted basically, in fact I still have like 15 4x4's sitting out back lol!!
Thanks to whomever it was (want to say Rock but can't recall for sure, started building these late summer last year) who stressed getting my plants off the ground, it's not just about aesthetis it's so much easier to work with them, to see problems you would've missed if they were low, to keep them at a distance from bugs/etc on the ground - so glad to've gone the 'bench fence' route, made the best possible use of my (very) tiny backyard
with some late spring snow. Tall enough that neither my dogs nor my kid can mess with the trees! Tall enough to see them at eye level too
![IMG_20180517_184636223[1].jpg](https://www.bonsainut.com/data/attachments/181/181728-6ba085d96a768a3c66f2ce839926b669.jpg?hash=a6CF2Wp2ij "IMG_20180517_184636223[1].jpg")
