Green Gate

Among this garden’s most interesting features is the living gate at the end of the remaining blacktop driveway. It rolls open to let you in and rolls closed for privacy. Like the planter sitting behind the bench in the backyard, this structure starts with a galvanized horse trough filled with soil and planted with arborvitaes. The trough measures 2 feet high and deep and 8 feet long and cost about $140. To move it, Jon built a wooden brace for the bottom and attached an old piano dolly he had in his basement. Using this planter allowed Jon and Dale to circumvent a neighborhood rule that says fences and gates can’t be taller than 6 feet.