6 Easy Design Tweaks You Can Do Right Now – To Make Your Garden Look Like a Professional Styled It
Expert tips to get your outside space ready for summer
Having survived the wind and even snow of winter, our gardens can look pretty beaten and uninviting for the warmer months ahead. Thankfully, there are a few simple tweaks that you can make to your front or backyard to make it look styled by summer.
Read on to discover horticultural experts' easy fixes and tips on how to create an outdoor space you will want to spend time in when the weather warms up. From large borders to small patios, here are six easy design tweaks to style a garden by summer.
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Layer Heights for Instant Depth
Providing depth, structure, and lushness, layering plants is an easy method to create form and interest in an otherwise bare garden or patio.
Jessica Mercer, Senior Content Marketing Coordinator and plant expert at Plant Addicts, suggests, ‘Start with one backbone plant per area, and build down from it. In a sunny bed, that might be a panicle hydrangea or an upright grass in the back (or center of an island bed).
'Then select medium-sized plants, like coneflower, salvia, or daylilies for the midlayer, and in front, create a low edge that repeats, such as sedum, creeping thyme, or coral bells. Keep the tall plants slightly behind the mids (not in a straight line), and plant in small groups of 3-5 to create visual harmony.’
If you do not have beds or borders, tiered planters, such as this Costway 3-tier black metal deck box planter, available from Lowes, are a great way of layering plants, whether for a balcony, porch, or patio, and are excellent where space is at a premium.
Jessica Mercer, PhD, is the Senior Content Marketing Coordinator for Plant Addicts. As a 'plant collector', Jessica enjoys growing many different plants and learning about the best cultural practices for each. Writing for Plant Addicts is a real joy for her, as she can use her science background to research interesting plant topics. She carefully considers how to best present the information to other gardeners, with a focus on sustainability and the environment.
Coordinate Color
Coordinating a plant color scheme can seem a daunting task for both new and experienced gardeners, but it needn’t be. If you stick to the general principles of choosing a limited number of colors and use those that complement each other, you cannot go too wrong.
When asked for her advice on coordinating colors, Jessica replied, ‘Pick two colors that play well together and let green foliage tie the planting together. Complementary colors purple and yellow are easy to combine: think catmint or salvia with coreopsis or black-eyed Susans.
These colors look bright without feeling garish. Another natural pairing is blue and orange, e.g., Russian sage or blue salvia with orange daylilies or marigolds. You can always add a little white (white alyssum, white phlox, white petunias) to calm down the palette if necessary.’
Producing low, wide carpets of pure white flowers, Carpet of Snow Alyssum, available from Burpee is ideal for toning down vivid hues or lining a pathway. Equally, plant it in a container and let it spill over the sides for a softer look.
Create Focal Points That Anchor a Space
Another tip to help style a garden by summer is the addition of a focal point. A key element of garden design, focal points have many benefits, including drawing attention away from unattractive areas.
When it comes to using focal points, Karen Daubmann, Director of Garden and Programs at Massachusetts Horticultural Society, says ‘A focal point is typically put at a distance, sometimes at the farthest part of the garden. It is a clue to the safety of the path, a visual reminder of the boundary and available space.
'This anchor is the spot your eyes will go to in the distance, and often the perspective will feel lengthened by the addition of this element. It is where your eyes rest, it is a constant no matter the season. The backdrop may change; the approach may change, but the anchor survives.’
From garden art to a topiary shrub or water fountain, focal points can be anything, so it is worth finding something that gives you pleasure to look at. As Karen advises, ‘they should reflect you, and your personality and interests.’
Water can be a calming addition to any garden and will even help to attract wildlife. Suitable for placing in a border or on a patio, this Crescent garden delano oval planter bowl from Amazon, could provide an interesting focal point when planted with succulents or filled with water.
Alternatively, if you prefer the warm rusted patina of Corten steel, this Gardener's Supply Company Corten Steel sculpture, from Amazon would provide a restful spot in a border for your eyes to linger.
Karen Daubmann is the Director of Garden and Programs of Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS). For over 25 years, she has led and contributed to the success of many great gardens across North America, including New York Botanical Garden, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Olbrich Botanical Gardens and Longwood Gardens.
Patio & Border Styling
If you are wondering how to make even a small outdoor space feel designed, you will be pleased to know that just a few tweaks can make all the difference. For example, just the presence of some clean lines or layered containers can add a designed feeling to your garden.
Intentional, defined boundaries are an effective way to create clean lines and make a backyard appear uncluttered and calmer. A key feature of minimalist gardens, you can achieve clean lines through using lawn edging, such as this Colmet steel landscape edging available from Lowes, or clean-cut pavers and defined pathways.
When styling a border, applying a mulch around the planting can instantly improve its appearance. Not only used to lock in moisture and suppress weeds, a mulch like this Sta-Green premium black mulch from Lowes also provides a uniform backdrop to your plants and a professional-looking finishing touch.
For patios, you may be limited to pots and planters, but this by no means limits your styling potential. Odd numbers of plants are always advised, as this can produce a more natural and balanced appearance.
Karen suggests, ‘Groupings of three are incredibly helpful when you’re buying plants and containers,’ furthermore, ‘Choosing some neutrals as your basics, and splurging some pops of your favorite color will help to make your garden feel fresh each year.’
Don't Forget Scale & Proportion
It is all too easy to fill a shopping cart with enticing plants without considering their final, mature size. But, to avoid an overly-filled and unbalanced border or patio space, giving some thought to how they will look when fully grown is required.
When matching plants and shrubs to a garden space, Jessica recommends ‘matching the plant’s mature size to the space, not the tiny pot it came in. In a small front bed, one larger shrub is usually enough, and everything else should be mid-to-low so the planting doesn’t swallow the walkway.
In a bigger bed, you can repeat a few larger anchors interplanted with mids and groundcovers to avoid empty mulch islands. If something feels too bulky, swap in a slimmer upright plant (like an ornamental grass) instead of adding more low plants to hide the problem.’
Scented shrubs are ideal for adding an extra element to a container or a border and having grown many lilacs in the gardens I have managed over my career, I always look forward to their spring blooms and appealing scent.
Considered hardy in zone 3 and above, this Bloomerang® dark purple lilac from Nature Hills, produces intensely fragrant deep purple flowers from spring onwards.
Seasonal Timing
Spring is a glorious time of year to enjoy a garden. However, it is also a busy month if you want your yard to look its best over the coming months.
To stay ahead of the game, Jessica suggests that ‘March is the best time for clean-up and spacing decisions. Cut back old perennial stems, edge the bed for a clean outline, top-dress with compost, and mulch after the soil starts to warm. You can also divide and replant any crowded perennials while they’re still dormant.
If you want a full look by summer, fill gaps with fast growers, like hardy annuals or early container plantings, so the bed doesn’t look sparse while the perennials wake up.’
Hardy and half-hardy annuals are perfect for filling in any last-minute gaps and can either be grown from seed or purchased as plugs or plants. Adored for their long-blooming season and a magnet for pollinators, cosmos are available in both pastel and vivid hues.
However, for a classical white, these Psyche white cosmos seeds from Burpee are perfect for containers and borders and look stunning at dusk when the light levels drop.
Keeping up with garden design tips is a brilliant way of making sure your outside space looks on trend. However, not every design is sure to work in every garden. Discover why garden design tricks might look amazing on Pinterest, but fail in real life, and what the experts recommend you do instead.
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