A Spectacular Garden in 5 Easy Steps

It’s spring time once again – that magical time of year when plants and shrubs come alive with bloom, and the fragrant smell of flowers permeates the air.  This year, take your garden from pretty to unforgettable with these five easy tips:

1.  Select annuals with an eye for color, height and visual interest.  When you’re filling out the empty spots in your garden beds with annuals, add in a variety of colors and heights to keep your garden visually interesting and appealing.  A mixture of plants of varying heights will keep the eye trained on it, and searching out little treasures.  Don’t have much room?  Look for unique plants that have enough beauty to stand out in the crowd.

2.  Add decorative edging to garden beds.  Stone or faux-stone, brick, slate and other garden edgings are relatively inexpensive and help protect your garden investment.  The edging provides a barrier making it visually easier to avoid accidentally weed-whacking or mowing over precious blooms.  They also add an interesting architectural element to the garden, and can help plants to really stand out from your lawn.  Installing your edging in a curved pattern can help provide a sense of movement to the garden, and contrasts nicely against the straight lines of most house faces.

3.  Add seating to your yard.  Whether you choose a stone bench, wrought iron chairs, or even plastic chairs for your yard, arrange them in such a way that you can sit on long summer evenings and enjoy the sounds of nature and the sights and smells of your garden.  This will not only help you to better appreciate the hours of work you’ve put in on your garden, it will also provide a nice, lived-in feeling to the gardens themselves, inviting admirers to sit down and enjoy the beauty contained therein.

4.  Feed the birds.  Add birdfeeders to your garden area, either hanging from a sturdy tree branch, or on specially designed shepherd’s crooks and watch your garden come alive with life!  Depending on your zone, a hummingbird feeder may entice those beautiful, busy creatures to linger in your garden.  Living creatures to observe adds to the charm of a garden, and can also help keep garden pests down.

5.  Decorate your garden with garden ornaments!  Adding wind chimes, garden gnomes, decorative garden stakes, stepping stones, garden statues, garden wall plaques and garden fountains to your garden enhances the charm and visual interest of the garden.  Choose a theme, or just select pieces you love, and watch your garden come alive with your personality!  Each personalized touch you add proudly announces to the world that this is your garden haven- as unique and wonderful as you are.

By following the five steps outlined above, you too can take your garden from ho-hum to spectacular.  Add curb appeal, personality and visual interest to your garden today for a garden you’ll treasure for years to come!