We have been organizing, cleaning up and planting our gardens for a few weeks. It has been nice to have time to do this as a family. One of our highlights lately other than the grocery store has been the nursery. We love seeing all the bright pops of colour from our spring planting and our neighbours. We have seen some pretty spectacular gardens while admiring and complimenting our neighbours at a safe distance.
Wondering what plants go well together or what to do with your garden? Look no further! We have some good information from the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate blog. Read on to find out more and some of the things we will be doing over the weekend.
Pairing plants by color, season of bloom and shape can sometimes be confusing. So, here’s a list of some of our favorite combinations with tips on how to put them to good use in your landscape.
Add early spring color.
Get an early start on spring with a generous helping of bulbs that pop into bloom just as winter starts to fade. Here, the cheerful yellow flowers of ‘Little Gem’ narcissus combine beautifully with blue Chionodoxa. Plant both in the fall for spring flowers.
Try something different.
Just because you might not have heard of a plant before doesn’t necessarily mean it’s hard to grow. Take Fritillaria for example. This gorgeous spring-flowering bulb isn’t that well known, but it comes in a variety of sizes and colors and makes a great companion for other tulips and daffodils. Here, Fritillaria persica, or Persian lily, adds extra interest to a bed of red tulips.
Mix herbs and flowers.
Create a colorful and fragrant spring garden by mixing flowering herbs and perennials that bloom together in May and June. In this border, chives and lavender bloom in front of Amsonia, bearded iris and peony.
Use roses generously.
Roses, particularly shrub and landscape varieties, blend well with annuals or perennials from spring to fall. In this garden, a bright pink shrub rose is a good partner to iris.
Rely on annuals.
Hot, sunny conditions are no match for annuals such as petunia and pentas. These two plants are super easy to grow and will bloom nonstop from May to September in containers or borders. They both also attract bees and butterflies.
Raise the flag.
Who can resist a red, white and blue garden? This flower-packed fence line contains just three varieties, so it’s easy to duplicate the look. Surround ‘Scarlet’ Flower Carpet roses with white sweet alyssum and dark blue lobelia. This trio will bloom through the Fourth of July.
Go tropical.
You don’t need to live near the equator to enjoy the beauty of tropical plants. As long as the temperatures are hot and humid, tropical plants will reward you with colorful foliage and flowers all summer long. This grouping includes Alocasia, coleus, impatiens, African mask plant, elephant’s ear and Cuphea.
Pierot Garden/ Perennials
Brighten the shade.
Shady spots in your garden don’t have to be barren and boring. There’s a host of shade-dwelling annual and perennial flowers that will add instant impact to any location. Here, a carpet of bright-green sweet woodruff fronts a bed of Japanese hakone grass and a cluster of blue- and chartreuse-leaf hosta varieties.
Combine two shade lovers.
With their fernlike foliage and lovely, lacy spires of blossoms in shades of white, pink, red and purple, shade-loving astilbes make the perfect foil for additional beds filled with hosta. In fact, astilbe—sometimes called false spirea—and hosta are two of the very best shade-garden companions. They look absolutely wonderful mass-planted together in slightly shady locations, especially with variegated foliage and different hues of flowers.
Click here to read the rest of the article!
© Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, 2020