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What is Jim Handtmann Homepage?
Jim Handtmann Homepage is the personal site of James Handtmann, a Minneapolis gardener whose small city yard became a local attraction and an HGTV feature. The site documents his "boulevard gardens and yard artistry": a modest Minneapolis property where back, side, front and curbside strips were converted into a series of distinct garden rooms.
What you'll find there
- A reprinted HGTV article describing how the garden expanded from the back yard to the sides, front, and the often-neglected strip between sidewalk and curb.
- Handtmann's approach to reuse and low-cost experimentation: salvaged wood from torn-down fences, plastic from re-roofed houses, rocks from construction sites, and plants bought on sale.
- His stated preference for spontaneity over formal plans and themes, including mixed plantings such as wisteria, clematis and climbing rose on one trellis.
- Photo-based sections with headings like "Come Into the Garden," "Down to Earth," "Photo Synthesis," and a pub reference ("B R I T ' S P U B Downtown, Minneapolis").
Who it's for
Home gardeners with small urban lots, especially anyone curious about boulevard or curbside planting, will get the most from it. The site is also relevant to readers interested in neighborhood-building through front-yard gardening, since Handtmann argues that boulevard gardening draws people outside and helps neighbors keep track of one another. It is not a plant-shop catalog or a structured how-to course; it reads as a personal garden record and story.
A practical next step
If you have a narrow curb strip or a sinking concrete patio, start with one small zone rather than the whole yard. Handtmann's example suggests testing salvaged materials and sale plants in a single bed or corner first, then letting the planting mix sort itself out over a season or two before expanding.
How did Jim Handtmann create his boulevard garden?
Jim Handtmann turned the narrow, often-neglected strip of city-owned ground between his sidewalk and the curb into a flower-filled boulevard garden. Starting with his own back yard, he expanded the garden to the sides and front of the house, then across the sidewalk to the curbside strip. The result, as described in the reprinted Home & Garden TV feature on his site, was a neighborhood turnaround: the block shifted from a declining, impersonal atmosphere to one of activity and caring. His own explanation is the practical core of the idea: boulevard gardening "gets people out of their houses and into the front of their yards where they can talk with their neighbors and keep track of the neighborhood."
What he actually did
- Expanded incrementally. The garden began in back, then moved to the sides and front before crossing the sidewalk — a staged approach that avoids taking on the whole strip at once.
- Planted densely and mixed freely. He shuns plans and themes in favor of spontaneity, describing the garden as "not English. It's not real Japanese. It's just jam-packed with everything that I can put in here."
- Let plants compete. On one trellis he planted wisteria, clematis and climbing rose together, letting them "decide themselves which one is going to flourish."
- Built with salvaged and found material. He removed sinking concrete in back and installed a pond and stream using plastic from houses getting new roofs, plus a deck and walk made from wood from fences being torn down. Rocks came from construction sites.
- Kept spending low. Plants were bought on sale; the most he had ever spent on the garden at one time was $15, which he says let him experiment with different plantings and elements.
- Added a focal point. A circular feature anchored by a fountain, built from scavenged rock and sale plants.
- Made it whimsical. Found, made or gifted objects were worked in throughout, alongside a corner landscape of tires filled with sand forming small mountains with waterfalls.
If you want to try this
Start with the curb strip directly in front of your own property and plant it densely with inexpensive, tough perennials. Before digging, check your city's rules on boulevard planting — height limits near intersections, sight lines for drivers, and whether a permit is required — since this strip is usually public right-of-way. A useful rule of thumb from Handtmann's approach: treat the first season as an experiment, buy on sale, and accept that some plants will win and others will not.
For more on the garden, see Jim Handtmann Homepage.
What plants and garden elements does Jim Handtmann use?
Jim Handtmann's garden is defined less by a plant list than by a scavenged, experimental approach. According to the page's reprinted Home & Garden TV feature, he built a pond and stream, a deck and walk, a circular focal point anchored by a fountain, and a corner landscape of tires filled with sand forming small mountains with waterfalls. Plants named on the page are wisteria, clematis and climbing rose, all grown together on one trellis so, in his words, "they kind of decide themselves which one is going to flourish there." He also describes the garden as "jam-packed with everything that I can put in here" and rejects English or Japanese garden labels in favor of spontaneity.
What the elements have in common
- Salvage first. The pond and stream plastic came from houses getting new roofs; the deck and walk wood came from fences being torn down; rocks came from construction sites. The page notes his largest single garden outlay was $15, which is what lets him experiment with plantings and elements.
- Found objects as ornament. The page mentions a whimsical streak that led him to incorporate unique objects he found, made, or was given by friends.
- Naturalism over plan. His stated method is to picture what nature does with rocks and twigs and make the garden look natural rather than man-made. He calls it a "putzing garden."
A practical way to borrow the approach
If you want to try this in a small yard, start with the cheapest structural move rather than the plant list: watch for a fence coming down or a roof being replaced and claim the wood or plastic before it goes to landfill, then design the bed around what you get. Keep a running wish list of plants but buy them on sale, as Handtmann does, so a failed experiment costs little.
For the boulevard strip, note that his frontage planting is what he credits with getting neighbors out of their houses and talking; that social effect, not the species mix, is the point of the curbside bed. Check your local rules on planting the strip between sidewalk and curb before digging, since those vary by city.
How can I start a boulevard garden in my own neighborhood?
Start by asking what the strip between your sidewalk and the curb already does, then design around that answer. A boulevard garden is public-facing and often partly in the city right-of-way, so the first practical step is checking local rules on planting height, sight lines at corners and driveways, and whether a permit or neighbor notice is required.
A realistic first season
- Measure and observe. Note sun, snow storage, foot traffic, and where people step out of cars. The strip may be hotter, drier, saltier, and more compacted than your yard.
- Start small and close to home. A single 2–3 metre stretch is easier to maintain and less likely to annoy anyone than a full block.
- Choose tough, low plants. Drought-tolerant perennials, native grasses, and low groundcovers survive neglect and passers-by better than delicate annuals.
- Leave a clear edge. Keep plants below about knee height near intersections, and leave gaps for car doors and pedestrians.
- Add one focal point. A found object, a piece of yard art, or a small sign gives neighbours something to talk about.
Jim Handtmann's approach, as described on Jim Handtmann Homepage, is useful less as a template than as a mindset: he gardens spontaneously, uses salvaged materials, and buys plants on sale so he can experiment without much risk. His observation that boulevard gardening gets people out of their houses and talking to neighbours is the real payoff. That social effect is why the strip is worth the extra care.
Before you dig
Check for buried utilities, and confirm who owns the land. In many places the city owns the boulevard and the adjacent homeowner is responsible for maintenance, which means you may need to keep the planting low and removable. If you rent, get the owner's permission in writing.
A simple next step: spend one week noting sun and foot traffic, then plant a short test patch of three tough species. If they survive a winter, expand the following spring.
What are Jim Handtmann's tips for low-cost gardening?
Jim Handtmann's approach to low-cost gardening is less a set of rules than a habit of noticing what other people are throwing away. His own Minneapolis yard was built largely from salvaged and sale-priced material, and the advice that comes through most clearly is to treat free and cheap materials as design opportunities rather than compromises.
Reuse what is already being discarded
- Pond and stream liner: He used plastic from houses that were getting new roofs.
- Deck and walkway: Built from wood taken from fences he saw being torn down.
- Rocks: Collected from construction sites.
- Plantings: Bought on sale, often simply to see how they would do.
The practical logic is that these materials arrive at little or no cost, which lowers the penalty for experimenting. If a planting or a garden element does not work out, the loss is small.
Keep the budget small enough to stay experimental
Handtmann has said the most he ever spent on his garden at one time was $15. That figure matters less as a target than as a mindset: when each addition is inexpensive, you can try many things instead of committing to one expensive plan. He explicitly shuns plans and themes in favor of spontaneity, letting plants such as wisteria, clematis and climbing rose share a trellis and "kind of decide themselves which one is going to flourish there."
Work with the site, not against it
When he moved in, a concrete patio and sidewalk in back were sinking and breaking up. He removed them and put in a pond, stream, deck and walk instead. A circular focal point anchored by a fountain was assembled from salvaged rocks and sale plants. His stated design principle is to picture what nature has done with rocks and twigs and try to make the garden look natural rather than man-made.
A next step
If you want to try this yourself, start with one neglected strip of ground and one salvaged material you can already get for free. Handtmann's boulevard garden began as the often-ignored curbside strip, and he argues that kind of front-yard gardening is powerful because it gets people out where they can talk with neighbors. The cost saving and the neighborhood effect come from the same move: begin with what is already there.
How does Jim Handtmann incorporate found objects into his garden design?
Jim Handtmann treats found and salvaged objects as the structural backbone of his Minneapolis garden rather than as occasional decorations. According to the page's reprinted Home & Garden TV feature, he built a pond and stream using plastic salvaged from houses getting new roofs, and constructed a deck and walk from wood taken from fences he noticed being torn down. He also assembled a circular focal point anchored by a fountain, using rocks gathered from construction sites and plants bought on sale.
What the approach looks like in practice
- Salvage as hardscape: Roofing plastic becomes pond liner; torn-down fence wood becomes decking and paths. These are the load-bearing parts of the garden, not accents.
- Construction waste as stonework: Rocks from building sites form the fountain-centered circular feature.
- Personal and handmade objects: The page notes a whimsical streak that leads him to incorporate unique objects he has found, made, or been given by friends.
- Repurposed everyday items: He transformed one back-yard corner using tires filled with sand to create a naturalistic landscape with small mountains and waterfalls.
Why the found-object habit matters to the design
The page reports that the most Handtmann has ever spent on his garden at one time is $15. Keeping costs near zero is what makes the experimentation possible: cheap or free materials let him try plantings and garden elements without treating any of them as permanent investments. He also explicitly rejects formal plans and themes, describing the garden as "not English," "not real Japanese," but "just jam-packed with everything that I can put in here." Found objects fit that philosophy because they arrive with their own shapes and histories, so the garden grows by accretion and improvisation rather than by a predetermined layout.
His stated design rule is to picture what nature has done with rocks and twigs and then make the garden look natural rather than man-made. That is the tension worth noticing: the materials are obviously salvaged, but the intent is to arrange them so they read as landscape. On his trellis, for example, wisteria, clematis and climbing rose are left to "kind of decide themselves which one is going to flourish there" — the same hands-off, let-the-materials-lead logic.
A practical test for your own yard
Before copying the idea, ask two questions of each object you rescue: can it survive weather and water in the role you have in mind, and does it look better half-hidden in planting than displayed on its own? Roofing plastic and old fence wood worked for Handtmann because they were buried under water and underfoot. If you want to see how a salvaged-material garden reads in a small urban lot, the page documents his boulevard strip and back-yard pond as the clearest examples.
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