Archive for Flowers
Fall Landscaping Prep: Preparing Your California Yard for the Changing Season
As the summer sun begins to soften and the days grow shorter, it’s time to shift our focus to fall landscaping preparation. At DK Landscaping, we understand the importance of transitioning your yard smoothly into the cooler months, ensuring a healthy and beautiful landscape that thrives through winter and bursts with life come spring.
Cleaning Up Summer Debris
The first step in fall landscaping prep is a thorough cleanup. Remove any fallen leaves, spent flowers, and debris from your yard. This not only tidies up the space but also helps prevent pests and diseases from overwintering. Pay close attention to areas around trees and shrubs, where fallen leaves can accumulate and create a damp environment that encourages fungal growth.
Preparing Soil for Fall Planting
Fall is the perfect time to revitalize your soil and prepare it for new plantings. Incorporate organic matter like compost or well-rotted manure into your garden beds. This improves soil structure, drainage, and nutrient content, providing a nourishing environment for your plants to establish strong roots.
Protecting Plants from Early Frosts
While California enjoys relatively mild winters, early frosts can still occur, especially in inland areas. Take preventative measures to protect sensitive plants:
- Covering: Use frost blankets or burlap to cover tender plants during cold nights.
- Mulching: Apply a thick layer of mulch around the base of plants to insulate the roots and protect them from freezing temperatures.
- Moving Container Plants: Bring potted plants indoors or to a sheltered location to shield them from frost.
Additional Fall Landscaping Tips
- Lawn Care: Aerate your lawn to improve drainage and reduce compaction. Overseeding can help thicken thin or bare spots.
- Pruning: Prune summer-flowering shrubs and trees after they finish blooming to encourage new growth in the spring.
- Irrigation: Adjust your watering schedule to accommodate cooler temperatures and reduced plant needs.
- Pest and Disease Control: Monitor your plants for signs of pests and diseases, and take action as needed.
DK Landscaping: Your Partner in Fall Landscape Preparation
Preparing your landscape for fall can be a daunting task, but DK Landscaping is here to help. Our team of experienced professionals can assist with everything from debris removal and soil preparation to plant protection and winterization. We’ll ensure your yard is ready to face the changing seasons and emerge healthy and vibrant in the spring.
Contact us today for a free consultation and let’s get your landscape ready for a beautiful fall and winter.
Remember, fall is a time of transition and renewal in the garden. By taking the necessary steps to prepare your landscape now, you’ll set the stage for a thriving and beautiful garden in the seasons to come.
3 Simple Flower Bed Ideas to Reduce Maintenance Costs
Adding a flower bed to your front or back yard is a smart and quick way to add color and liven things up. However, flower beds require a lot of maintenance and upkeep after the garden is installed. Here are a few tips to add some personality to your lawn and reduce the maintenance costs.
- Design the Perfect Shape for your Flower Bed
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Once you’ve decided on where to plant your new flower bed, the next step is to figure out what shape you’d like to have. There are tons of forms you can choose from. However, a bed with sharp angles can be challenging to cut and maintain because it’ll be hard to cut with a lawnmower. Granted, you can tackle those angles with a weed whacker, but that will be additional work on your end. Avoid extra work by designing and constructing flower bed ideas that have gradual and smooth curves.
- Install Weed Prevention Measures
The most common weed prevention method is landscape fabric. The fabric restricts weeds from growing through. However, weed roots can grow down through the material if the weed seeds germinate above the landscape fabric layer. Adding an extra layer of mulch will provide a strong defense against weeds and keep your flower beds healthy. A practical flower bed idea is laying down the fabric before planting and making X pattern slits where you want to plant your flowers. This simple method will keep the weeds at bay.
- Select the Overall Theme
There are two types of flower bed ideas, namely:
Formal flower beds – Here, the flowers are usually limited to a few different types. These beds typically have more geometric shapes and straight lines. They often include shrubs and yews that are planted in straight lines to form a border and create designs.
Informal flower beds – Here, you’ll find many different sizes, textures, and colors of flowers. These flower beds have some structure to the design, but the lines and borders are not as defined. The plants and flowers are left to grow as they wish with a little pruning here and there to promote new growth and maintain their size.
Flower beds are mostly used as beautiful masterpieces on the lawns of many homes. However, maintaining a flower bed can be time consuming and exhausting. Contact lawn and bed experts to receive a comprehensive range of lawn care and landscaping needs tailor-made for your flower bed ideas.
11 Flower Bed Ideas for a Truly Modern Home
A smattering of flowers and plants can give your outdoor space a springtime feel, especially during warmer summer months. Similarly, the pops of color and texture exhibited by flower beds can easily shake off the winter dullness from your home. This list of 11 flower bed ideas can help you transform your yard into a luxurious nature park.
1: Combining Tulips with Perennials and Annuals
Combining tulips with perennials and annuals creates a harmonious arrangement that comes back each year with little maintenance. Just space out your flowers to ensure that the tulips stand taller than the shorter, low-growing perennials and annuals. Typically, your tulips will return every year when winters are colder. There are multiple color choices to pick from, including white and black tulips. Overall, planting clear, primary tulips creates a festive effect in any mixed flower bed. Some companion options for a full flower bed include Daylily, Catnip, Bells of Ireland, and Salvia.
2: Side Yard Flower Bed for Tiny Spaces
You can leverage your sidewalk by planting pretty bizzy lizzies in a beautiful flower box and around the edge of a foundation bed. To bring out an inviting look, contrast their pink and white blossoms with deep green hosta lilies. Although hosta lilies are commonly planted for their foliage, they also bear tiny white, lavender, or violet flowers.
3: Reconditioned Tree Stump Flower Bed
If you have old tree stumps within your yard, why not use them for a flower bed instead of digging them out? Add a pelargonium in the center and surround it with deep purple bellflowers and gold and orange nasturtium with variegated leaves. Additionally, plant some bellflowers, ornamental grass, and pelargonium around the roots for an excellent balance.
4: Rustic Hollow Log Flower Bed Idea
A hollow log can make a perfect flower bed for your home. Simply shovel in some gardening soil and plant some cheerful flowers such as pink, white, and blue phlox, daffodils, red gerbera, and blue irises. The green sword-shaped leaves of these flowers will contrast with the softness and brightness of your blooms, creating an inviting flower bed.
5: Tile Deck with Built-In Flower Beds
If you plan to add a patio or deck to your home, consider one with built-in planters. You can have inbuilt planters made of tile to match your tile deck or opt for a wooden planter. Built-in flower beds can transform your deck into a delightful living space, especially if you plant eye-catching flowers such as pure white roses contrasted with butter yellow sundrops and purple lavender.
6: Raised Block Flower Bed
You can make a raised bed using pre-cut blocks and pavers to make tending easier, particularly for the elderly. Consider planting ornamental grasses, asters, turf lily, small ornamental trees, and chrysanthemums for added beauty. Besides, you can even add herbs or vegetables to your raised block flower bed.
7: Gravel Yard Flower Bed
Having a bed in a gravel yard allows you to indulge in various heights, textures, and colors provided by agave and aloe plants. You could even add ornamental grasses, rosemary plants, sedges. Consider using colored gravel to separate the flower bed from the yard and mulch to brighten the color of your pants.
8: Flower Bed with Clay Pots
Nothing beats clay pots in terms of convenience in organizing and maintaining flower beds. Arrange multiple clay pots half-buried in a raised bed of gravel and plant beautiful bulbs and party-colored tulips. You could also add plants such as daffodils and onions or garlic.
9: Wheelbarrow Planter Flower Bed
If there is an old wheelbarrow lying around in the yard, you could plant it in the middle of your garden and fill it up with bizzy lizzies. You could also create a background of false sunflowers and add more bizzy lizzies and daylilies in front.
10: Vintage Suitcase Flower Planter
You can repurpose an old suitcase to create an exciting flower bed. Simply prop the suitcase on a chair and plant attractive white and purple striped bizzy lizzies, magenta, white asters, or petunias. If you’re worried about filling your old suitcases with dirt, consider planting the flowers in containers first.
11: Antique Bed Frame Flower Bed
Making flower beds out of old furniture is the latest trending flower bed idea. You can have a headboard draped with gold, purple, or white flowers and pillows made of tiny privets. You can then create a mattress with grasses, flax, or violets and crown it up with a footboard made of white-flowered shrubs.
Wrapping Up
If you’re looking to spice up your garden a little bit, these flower bed ideas could be a great way to do it. However, you need to remember that it takes some effort, time, and money to give your garden an extra splash. But at the end of the day, you’ll have a refreshing space to enjoy nature at its finest. Contact us for more information.
Discovering the Best Flower Bed Ideas for Your Home
Flower bed ideas are typically broken down one of two ways – by the color(s) that you’re going to be using and, secondly, by the kinds of materials you might use to bring your flower ideas to life (e.g., wheelbarrow flower beds).
Monochromatic Flower Beds
Monochromatic is a blend of two words – mono, which means one, and chromatic, which refers to color. Monochromatic flower beds are designed from blooms that are all the same color.
A monochromatic flower bed can add a splash of color to your outdoor landscape, and the thing to bear in mind is that, although everything will be one color, you can use various shades and textures to create a stunning effect.
Purples and yellows are very popular variations when it comes to monochromatic flower bed ideas.
With a purple monochromatic flower bed, you have a lot of beautiful flowers to choose from: lavender, sage, leather flower, hydrangea, and grape hyacinth. A walkway lined with lavender can be absolutely breathtaking.
A yellow color scheme is also a popular choice for monochromatic gardens. Yellow gardens let you blend in deep golden hues with paler flowers with an almost buttery accent.
The Denver Daisy – a.k.a., Black-eyed Susan – and marigolds are great for adding deeper shades of yellow to a backdrop of a more mellow flower like the annual nasturtium.
Keep in mind that blues, whites, and violet flowers will have a more calming effect in your garden whereas warmer colors like red and yellow can create instant excitment!
Dichromatic and Ombre Flower Bed Ideas
Dichromatic means two colors wheras ombre is a French word that means you’re going to be using a blend of colors that gradually blend in to each other.
If you only want to use two colors, with varying shades of each color, then you probably want to look into a dichromatic garden. You’ll also want to consider using contrasting yet complementery colors to create the most powerful aesthetic look.
If you’re feeling more adventurous, then an ombre flower bed might be the way to go. Ombre flower beds typically blend some of the cool hues and warm hues discussed above to gradually blend in flowers with a lighter hue with dark hues.
An ombre flower bed typically starts off with a walkway made of flowers of a cooler, softer hue so that the eye gradually gets more and more captivated with the darker tones at the back of the garden.
Wheelbarrow Flower Garden
Sometimes called wheelbarrow planters, a wheelbarrow flower garden can be made using a wheelbarrow that’s rusted-out, cracked, or has a broken wheel.
The wheelbarrow, though, should have holes in the bottom to allow excess water to drain out. The big benefit to a wheelbarrow flower garden is that you can move it to an area with more sunlight.
Walkway Flower Beds
As alluded to above, a walkway flower bed can be a wonderful segue into a captivating garden or a landscaping effect all its own.
Millions of homeowners have already beautified their homes with a walkway flower bed culminating with their front door.
Walkway flower beds actually touch on a difference with gardens in general – a walkway flower bed would be an example of a formal garden path with right angles and straight lines.
That said, a walkway flower bed could open up into an informal pathway kind of garden (the second type) where you would have a meandering or curved path. A crescent-moon type of garden in the front yard would be an example of this second type.
Which flower bed ideas appeal to you most? Contact us for more information.
Outdoor Space Improvement: Simple Garden Ideas for Beginners
Establishing a garden on your property can be highly beneficial. In general, a home garden can be used for growing consumable produce or decorative plants. You can make your property more beautiful by planting flowers and other appealing plants in your garden. Alternatively, you can choose to plant vegetables, herbs and fruits. You will have access to fresh produce at a low price. It is possible to combine both categories of plants for a perfect garden.
If you are new to gardening, you might find starting the process challenging. Here are some basic garden ideas and simple guidelines for a smooth beginning.
Understand Your Environment
It is essential to learn more about your environment before starting the gardening work. If you are knowledgeable, you will increase the rate of success from the beginning. For the best results, choose a perfect spot on your property to start a garden. The spot should have adequate sun exposure. Too much or little sunlight will damage plants. It is also advisable to check the condition and properties of the potential gardening soil. Once you understand the specific characteristics of your garden, you can choose the most suitable plants to match the unique environment.
Consider Container Gardening
If you do not have enough space on your property, consider choosing container gardening. This one of the most beneficial and popular garden ideas in the modern home environment. You will be able to enjoy flowers or produce even with limited space. In addition, container gardening gives you more control. For instance, it is possible to grow any kind of plant because you can prepare unique soil material and move the container to different places for optimal environmental conditions. If you decide to take up container gardening, consider taking advantage of space on your patio, deck and rooftop.
Look into Vertical Planting
Most people opt for garden plants that remain close to the ground. If you are interested in a fresh idea for your home, think about growing some vertical plants. As implied, vertical planting involves establishing plants which grow upwards by climbing onto fences, stakes or trellises. This type of gardening can help you maximize your limited space. It also creates unique aesthetics in the home. In addition, this is the perfect gardening choice for people who might find squatting and bending difficult.
Choose Seeds or Starter Plants
Once you have decided on your ideal gardening style, you can begin choosing plants for your project. When selecting the perfect plants, it is advisable to keep your environment in mind. Some vegetables, herbs and flowers will not thrive in certain environments. Therefore, opt for plants which can grow with ease in your home. You will also need to choose whether to acquire starter plants or seeds. For a beginner, starter plants or seedlings are the most suitable. This choice will eliminate your worries about sprouting. On the other hand, seeds are cheaper, and you will find diverse plant species.
Utilize Companion Planting Methods
Consider utilizing a companion planting technique in your garden for better results. This approach is perfect if you would like to have a mixture of plants on your space. Companion gardening involves planting different complementary species of plants together so that they will benefit from one another. For instance, if you are planning on growing vegetables, you can plant carrots alongside leeks. The lees will repel harmful carrot flies. Note that there are some plants must not be planted together. If two species are affected by the same diseases and pests, avoid planting them together. Contact us for more information.
Four Creative Flower Bed Ideas to Get You Going
Creating sensuous textures and adding color to your garden with a flower bed is one of the quickest ways to improve your yard. And when it comes to flower bed ideas, there’s virtually no limit.
Raised flower beds are getting a lot of attention lately because they’re easier to water and maintain, but that’s far from the only option.
Other options are flower beds that encase trees and create a truly picturesque effect, flower beds that line a walkway to a backyard oasis, and tall flower beds filled with azaleas and wisterias.
Flower Beds Encasing Trees
The thing to do when planting flower beds around trees is make sure that you’re selecting the right flowers for your particular region and getting the amount of sunlight versus shading right.
Plants and flowers that are “full sun” are the easiest to work with since they can receive six hours or more of sunshine per day and still be fine.
Yarrow, tickseed, and blanket flowers are all full sun plants that go great around trees. Lavender (purple) and sasha sage (white) pair well together and are both full sun plants. These might well give you the effect you’re looking for.
Circular Flower Beds
If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, then you might want to consider a few of the flower bed ideas below (including this one!).
Circular flower beds are good if you have a huge tree that you want to draw attention to or a bare spot in your yard that needs a bit more color.
Taking an eclectic approach that gives you a wide palette of color is usually the way to go when it comes to creating a successful circular flower bed.
Bulbs, annuals, and perennials with a nice border flower like garanium can really frame things nicely. Putting something like a bird bath in the center is also an option.
Like these flower bed ideas but feeling overwhelmed with actually pulling them off? Get in touch with a landscaping company that can help you design, build, and maintain your flower bed for years to come.
Flower Beds Along a Walkway
As far as flower bed ideas go, this one’s right up there in popularity with raised flower beds and flower beds around trees.
Flower beds lining your walkway can significantly increase your curb appeal as a homeowner and work well with condos and receptions as well.
In terms of design, planting decorative flowers as a border along your walkway is said to soften the sameness and artificiality of concrete.
A line of flowers adds an unexpected splash of color in an unlikely, though not unwelcome, place.
Landscaping and design experts say to go with flowers that are hardy yet vibrant like mahogany bugleweed (purple) or red ruby.
A landscaping company can plan, edge, and till around your walkway to get things started on the right foot. Composting, mounding the soil, and actually planting the flowers comes next.
Here too landscapers can provide regular maintenance and put your flower bed and lawn on the irrigation and aeration schedule that both need to flourish and bring your outdoor landscape into full color.
Slanted Flower Beds
Slanted flower beds are one of those creative flower bed ideas that’s certainly not right for everyone but could be perfect for many people.
If your front yard is pitched, for instance, a landscaping team can help you raise your dirt bed to level and create a retaining wall that maximizes your flowers’ blooms while minimizing soil compaction.
Grasses and succulents are smart choices for sloped gardens. Contact a professional landscaper to make it happen!
Different Kinds of Irrigation Systems
If you are a farmer, gardener or even a landscaper you probably know how important it is to have an irrigation system installed to supply your plants, gardens or crops with water. Most irrigation systems are used during dry seasons when rainfall is scarce but since there are several types of irrigation it would be important for persons to identify which type would best serve their needs.
Lets Look At irrigation Systems
Irrigation techniques may differ in several ways but the basic concept of the system is that water is obtained from a source and is distributed to plants or crops. Generally the aim of the system is to equally and uniformly distribute specific amounts of water to each plant or crop.
Types of irrigation used include high or micro flow irrigation, sub-irrigation, in-ground irrigation, localized irrigation and even automatic irrigation systems. They are all utilized to best suit their specific purpose however the two, most, commonly, used systems are the high flow or micro flow irrigation systems.
With these two main types of irrigation systems one releases water with a high flow and the other distributes water with a low flow or a drip. The high flowing system operates so that water spreads heavily across the surface of the specified area, in order to wet and infiltrate into the soil and the low flowing system functions so that water falls in a dripping fashion and is delivered directly at the position of roots.
The high flowing system is mostly used when irrigating agricultural land. Here water levels that originate from the irrigation source and are used to flood or control the level of water in each distinct field. The flooding system is controlled by dikes which are slopes that help to regulate water levels. This form of irrigation is mostly seen with the cultivation of rice.
The low flowing or drip irrigation system as we know obtains water from a source and transports and delivers it to plants through emitters, mini rotors, micro sprays or drip lines in a dripping fashion where water goes directly to roots.This method has been seen as the most, water-efficient, method, of irrigation as it utilizes less water and once managed properly minimizes evaporation and runoff.
Since drip irrigation systems are the more domestic and commonly used system here are a few tips that can assist persons with operating and maintaining them so that they function as efficiently as possible.
For this type drip lines are most recommended and should be used for continuous rooting as they have flexible tubing containing tiny, water, flow, regulators, for evenly spaced water distribution.
Micro sprays and mini rotors clog easily, and should be regularly maintained. Monthly investigations should be conducted and if necessary repairs or replacements done to ensure there are no irregularities within the system.
Laying out emitters individually can also prove to be an efficient practice as this delivers water exactly where the plant needs. It reduces the amount of weeds produced and eliminates excess, irrelevant water. Persons also need to make sure that their drip system includes pressure reducers and filters as these ensure water is measured accurately and delivered at the specified rate.
Remember that these systems must be designed to prevent runoff, low head drainage and overspray. For more information on irrigation contact us.
Winter Gardening: Growing Vegetables
Though snow may lie deep in drifts outside your window, this is the ideal time to get started with this year’s winter gardening program. There are many garden tasks that can be done now, while there is ample time to plan, research, and begin gathering materials. Some gardeners consider these winter chores to be the most enjoyable parts of gardening. Tasks can be accomplished comfortably from your armchair as the garden takes shape in your imagination, where it is always lush, abundant, and of course free of weeds.
Winter Gardening Advice
In midwinter, before the growing season gets underway you have time to organize yourself so you can accomplish everything you need to do from now until your garden is planted. This is the time to make rough plans which can be refined and modified as you go along. So while the birds twitter around their feeders and the forecast is for more snow, grab a stack of seed catalogs, some paper, and a pencil, and settle into a comfortable chair and plan your dream garden.
It is helpful at this early stage to make some key decisions about your garden. You need to compile the list of vegetables that you plan to grow. You must also decide which vegetables you will start from seed inside, which you’ll sow as seed directly into your garden, and which you’ll purchase as seedlings from a nursery. Additionally, you should list supplies you’ll need for cowing seedlings indoors, and begin to gather these items. It is also helpful to start composing a rough sketch of your garden layout. Finally, you should draw up a calendar of garden tasks to do to help you stay on schedule as the season progresses.
Start by thinking about which vegetables you’d like to grow this year. If you’ve had a vegetable garden before you should consider what grew well for you before and what failed. Certainly include any of your old favorites, those vegetables that are easy to grow and can be relied upon to produce abundantly. There may be new vegetables you’d like to try or new varieties of your old favorites that you would like to experiment with. Consider quantity too. Did you have as much as you wanted of everything last year? Was there something that you could not give away fast enough such as all those zucchinis? Perhaps there was something which you enjoyed eating but took up too much space?
If you haven’t grown vegetables before, a good way to start putting a list together is simply to consider what your family enjoys eating. You’ll want to think about vegetables that you’d like to provide fresh from your garden over the summer, as well as considering any vegetables that you’d like to can, freeze, or store for fall and winter eating. If this is your first vegetable garden it’s wise to start small. A small kitchen garden of ten or twenty square feet planted with a handful of vegetables and herbs will keep you fairly busy with garden tasks, supplement your family’s food, and provide you with good gardening experience to go forward.
Don’t forget to take your growing zone into consideration when choosing vegetables to grow. If you are not sure which zone you live in, you can readily find out in almost any gardening book or online. Do some research on gardening in your region to find out how long your growing season is, when planting time starts, and what types of vegetables do best where you live. Contact us for more information.
Narrow Walkway Flower Bed Ideas
Flower bed ideas can be quite easy to implement. Most gardens have walkways that are about two feet wide. Narrower walkways may help you to use a small space more efficiently.
However, they pose a unique design challenge to gardeners, landscapers and homeowners: how can you create and position flower beds so that they don’t visually overpower the walkways? Try these flower bed ideas to add variety and beauty to your space.
Perennial and Evergreen Flower Bed Ideas
Narrow walkways limit access to your flower beds, and make maneuvering through the space more difficult. Annual plants are flower bed ideas that can create headaches due to yearly replanting. By choosing perennials suitable to your climate, you’ll ensure that your plants come back each year and minimize the amount of work you (or your landscapers) must do.
You may also put evergreen plants on your list of flower bed ideas. These come back each year, and the plants won’t lose their leaves or fade in ways that require additional maintenance.
Keep Flower Beds Controlled
If your flower beds grow weedy or otherwise out of control, they can cut into your walkway. Normally that may be unsightly, but not a disaster. But if your garden’s walkways are narrow, this can make the pathway difficult to navigate, or even find. This is particularly problematic with gravel or dirt walkways, where the edges are already, often, poorly defined.
When going through your flower bed ideas, make sure that the line between the flower bed and the path is clearly marked. You may want a small fence, stone wall or other raised marker. Make sure your flowers are semi-regularly pruned back from the edges of the path, and that any weeds are removed. You may want to choose plants that grow more slowly, and that put off fewer vines or shoots for you to have to deal with.
Use Trellises
Trellises and fences are perfect flower bed ideas for climbing plants, that allow you more room to play. Be sure to choose climbing plants that don’t grow to too tall of a height, to minimize maintenance. Many vines are invasive, as well, so be sure that your final choice is native to your area.
Create a Unique Environment
Finally, once your flower beds are complete, your garden may feel crowded. Take advantage of this by creating a unique atmosphere. Delicate lighting along the edges of your path, or hanging from trees, can create a mysterious atmosphere like an enchanted forest. A little fence around the whole space, along with a gate, is one of those flower bed ideas that can make your garden feel like something out of a fairy tale.
Conclusion
When you want to implement your flower bed ideas, it’s time to call an expert. Contact us for a consultation about your yard and its specific needs, including repair, maintenance, irritation, and xeriscaping for saving water.
Flower Bed Ideas – A Few Good Tips You Should Follow
Flower beds are one of the most convenient ways of sprucing up your outdoor decor and beautifying your entire yard.
Planting a flower bed is also a labor of love for millions of homeowners who already have the knack (and experience) for it; for those who don’t, the rest of this post if for you.
And if you’re still worried about your garden or you feel like your entire yard could benefit from aeration, then don’t hesitate to contact us your lawn experts. Now, let’s get started:
Tips for the Perfect Flower Bed
The perfect flower bed brings together form and function by applying a few simple tips in order to create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
- Focus on Framing
Part of the “form” part of creating the ideal flower bed for your home is going with a melange of perennials, annuals and shrubs for variety and framing.
In the same way that what’s in the background on a stage set can help to frame all the action going on in the foreground, you want a “framing device” in the back of your flower bed to draw your eye into the action.
A good rule of thumb is to plant tall perennial plants in the back of your garden to get the most out of everything going on upfront.
If you’re on a tight budget or you want to make a simpler landscaping project for yourself, then you can always put shrubs behind your perennials and annuals as well.
- Blend Perennials and Annuals
Annual flowers cycle through the germination, seeding, flowering and expiration process in one single year whereas perennials are able to grow from one year to the next with an off-season of dormancy in the winter.
The good news is that perennials like roses, daylilies, and peonies tend to play nice with annual flowers like marigolds and zinnias when it comes to finding the right balance between earth tones and more vibrant colors for your home garden.
- Combining Earth Tones and Vibrancy
In particular, the pink of a blossoming peony tends to work beautifully with the vibrant red of most roses. Marigolds and zinnias can also work well together if you’re looking to combine more tropical orange and yellow tones into your next flower bed.
Zinnias are actually easier to cultivate than most annuals and come in a myriad of colors that can make any garden really pop and dazzle guests.
You can find zinnias in purple, crimson, rose and scarlet to suit your tastes and make a flowing color combination with actual roses or even peonies when it comes time to get going.
Putting on the Finishing Touches
Once you know the kind of look that you’re going for and how to frame it with shrubs and/or tall perennials, then you want to move onto decorating fences or surrounding wall structures.
For this the beautiful pink and purples of an annual flower like the climbing snapdragon or greens, purples and yellows of passion flower can work very well.
Peony and roses upfront with climbing snapdragon or passion flower snaking along overhanging structures are an awesome want to frame your garden as well as beautify your home and complement your other landscaping efforts.
For help with aeration, irrigation, gardening or regular landscaping maintenance, or just to find out more tips like these, get in touch with DK Landscaping today.
