Mini Daffodils With Pansies
Spring Planters for Early Garden Color
Simple planter with pansies and red twig dogwood branches.
One of the best ways to add instant color to the garden after a long winter is to create some planters with spring bulbs and annual flowers. Even a simple mix of colorful pansies with pussy willow or red twig dogwoods as a vertical element can add a much needed splash of color to the landscape. Contact us if you need some ideas.
Landscape Design Idea V - Full Sun Gardens
Sunny spots in the landscape are great for flower gardens. Perennial and annual flowers provide a garden with color and fragrance. Some will even attract wildlife such as birds and butterflies. Many perennials and annuals do very well in full sun as they're able to tolerate the hottest summer days as well as the dry conditions of this environment. Planting a variety of perennials with different bloom times will provide your garden color from spring, through summer and into fall.
Signs of Spring
It's great to see the bulbs starting to pop up. I guess it's an early spring this year!
Landscape Design Idea IV - Fragrant Gardens
While most garden designs are meant to be visually striking, great designs consider other senses such as scent. Fragrance, the sense that evokes memory more than any other, is easy to integrate into a landscape design. Some plants, such as roses, “Korean spice” viburnum and the native shrub summer sweet, produce fragrant flowers. Other plants have fragrant foliage, such as the herbs lavender, mint and thyme.
Landscape Design Idea III - Shade Gardens
In the gardening world shade presents both challenges and opportunities. While it's true that most large-bloomed and colorful perennial do best in full or part sun, there are a number of shade tolerant perennials which are prized for their unique foliage and a few for their flowers. Some of the best shade loving perennials include:
- Coral Bell (Purple Foliage)
- Japanese Forest Grass (Yellow Foliage)
- Daylily (Wide Range of Colorful Flowers)
- Host Hybrids (Wide Range of Foliage Types in Terms of Color and Size)
- Astlibe (Both Interesting Foliage and Vibrant Flowers)
- Japanese Painted Fern (Grey/Green and Purple Foliage)
- Foam Flower (Large Blooms)
This list is not complete and only scratches the surface of potential planting options.
If you need help with an idea for a shade garden, let us know. We're available for consultations.
Plan Ahead
Happy New Year! Now is the ideal time to plan your new garden projects. Begin this spring ready to go with a new landscape design in hand. Please contact us whether you're looking for ideas for a new flower garden or are planning a large scale changes to your garden. We're happy to help.
Recent Before & Afters
Some before and afters of a recent garden design. An existing garden of old and winter damaged yews and junipers was removed to make way for a new garden. The new landscape design called for mostly evergreens (the exception being a Dwarf Korean Lilac). Upright Arborvitaes and Japanese Holly give the planting bed some height while the Purple Gem Rhododendrons, Lilac and Hidcote Lavender add color to the garden (something which was missing from the space). A low Boxwood hedge defines the garden's edge
