Making your yard look its best is key to enjoying all the nice weather has to offer. It also helps with your property value, and choosing the perfect blooms for your garden is an easy way to add to your curb appeal. However, choosing the wrong plants for your garden space can mean that your time and financial investment is wasted or not utilized to its fullest advantage.
Understand Your Climate and Sun
Understanding your climate and your USDA hardiness Zone can ensure that you will choose plants that will thrive in your area. While you can do your research online, if you are new to gardening or want to be extra sure, check in with a local plant nursery that can give you guidance specific to your local region. Don’t forget to assess where you would like to plant within your yard and understand how much sun it gets on a typical day. Certain plants require high sun, and some require shade. Choosing the right plants will ensure that they flourish and that your garden looks beautiful. Most plants are divided into three categories for sunlight needs.
These include:
- Full Sun (6+ hours daily): roses, sunflowers, zinnias
- Partial Shade (3-6 hours): hydrangeas, begonias, impatiens
- Full Shade (less than 3 hours): hostas, ferns, astilbes
Choose Your Look
Just like your interior design can have a style, so can your garden. Decide if you want your garden space to look more curated and tidy or if you would like a more free-flowing and organic look. For a curated formal garden feel, choose plants that are easily contained and can be trimmed to your preferences. Think roses, structural plants such as fast-growing hedges, evergreens and climbing flowers that can be guided along a trellis or structure. Flowering bush plants like hydrangeas can also lend extra visual interest, preventing the garden from feeling too sterile while allowing you to focus on symmetry and design.
To achieve an organic and wild feel within your garden area, choose large flowering bushes and flowers that make for good ground covers. Don’t forget to attract pollinators to your space to ensure an outdoor oasis that benefits everyone. Butterfly bushes, creeping thyme and foamflower or lilyturf are excellent additions to your yard. No matter what style you choose, don’t forget to plant a few items that make for good stem cutting so you can bring fresh flowers inside during the season’s peak.
