Tag Archives: landscape

Winter Outdoor Decor

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I came across these most exquisite, Winter containers in the Better Homes and Gardens magazine. One of my favorite things about Summer is planting containers that overflow with  plants and color. I yearn for something interesting to happen in the yard during the Winter months and so when I saw this article it inspired me.

“Deborah Silver is a landscape and garden designer whose firm, Deborah Silver and Co Inc, opened its doors in 1986.  She opened Detroit Garden Works, a retail store devoted to fine and unusual garden ornament and specialty plants, in 1996.  In 2004, she opened the Branch studio, a subsidiary of the landscape company which designs and manufactures garden ornament in a variety of media.”

Her blog is inspirational and these Winter pots are fabulous.

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Posted by Andrea

Landscaping Tips

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Yard work, when many people hear that word they grimace in pain. Not me, I actually love yard work. There are a few things that I have learned a long the way that help cut down on  the “work” part of landscaping and still produce, what I think, are great results.

TIP #1
Spring Color
There is a simple solution to having great spring color. Most people go for the tulips and daffodils, but I am not a huge fan. I hate having those bulbs stick around in my soil, they are always in the way of other annuals I want to plant. So instead I prefer pansies. They provide great Fall color and then you get to enjoy them again in the Spring, double your pleasure!

Pansies
 

TIP #2
Establish a Framework
I think that the success of a good flower bed is rooted in bushes and shrubs. Bushes and shrubs can establish a great framework that require little attention on your part but can make your flowerbed look full and colorful. Here are some of my favorites.

Lace Leaf Japanese Red Maple
 

Japanese Variegated Iris 

Variegated Euonymus

Goldmound Spirea (in front) and Dogwood Shrub (in back)

Red Barberry

Red Leaf Maple Tree
 

TIP #3
Groupings
The key to making bushes and shrubs work together and provide you with great color all Spring, Summer, and Fall is how you group them together. Make sure and put your bright greens next to your deep reds and combine the variegated plants with solid green leafed bushes. When you do this and mix in just a few annuals you will have full beds with tons of color.

Here I’ve got the Japanese Red Leaf Maple as the background, day lilies off to the side, a dark granite rock, some yellow pansies, and a white-flowered flox. Full and colorful!

Here is another good grouping. Peonies, which bloom in late Spring with this amazing deep pink colored flower, variegated iris in the background, and a variegated euonymus next to it.

TIP #4
Rocks
I think it is important to mix in rocks, whether big or small, throughout your flower beds. They provide a different texture and structure that contrasts really well with the bushes and flowers.  

Here is a picture of our front flower bed. We haven’t planted anything yet this Spring and it already is full and has good color.

Posted by Greg