Ah, mid-winter. The season-best for planning your landscaping for the next year. By now, the gardening catalogs are out and you are probably sitting there looking at pictures of flowers at their summer best.
This is when I go over my gardening journal and try to decide what to change for the next year. I like to keep what works, work on what could be better, and decided what to scrap.
All gardens are works in progress. So I compiled a list of past ideas for my backyard landscaping and I thought my readers might like to see them.
Pet Memorial Garden
When my 18-year-old Pomeranian passed away I thought it would be nice to have a memorial garden for her. All dogs like the outdoors but she seemed to really like flowers.
So I had a stone Pomeranian statue made and placed it over her grave. Around her grave, I planted what seemed to be her favorite flowers.
I started with daffodils and purple crocus. I planted them in the shape of a heart around the outside of the grave.
Then I added bright red poppies for a blast of late summer color. Oddly enough, I didn’t plant her late spring favorite: violets. Nature did that for me. All over her gravesite are the most beautiful bright purple flowers.
It’s small and in a corner of the yard out of the way, but it is a fitting tribute to a beloved friend.
Wetland
Everyone seems to have a spot in his or her yard that either is as dry as the desert or virtually a swamp. If you have a wet area, consider putting in a small koi pond.
The kits are now widely available, inexpensive, and even have a solar panel so you no longer have to run electrical lines underground.
Or you can do what I did with a back corner that got a lot of suns but never seemed to dry out: I planted a yucca garden. 3 Adams Needle Yucca and a year later and it’s finally dry.
Yucca may be a desert plant but all that means is that they can live with very little water. They grow much faster when given plenty of water however so are great in an area that gets wet and seems to stay that way.
Desert
Have an area that is overly dry and you don’t want to irrigate it? Plant a rock garden with desert plants such as Yucca, Hens, and Chicks, and Cactus.
Color Block
Many overly busy people just don’t have time to spend hours a week in the garden. They mow their lawn and plant shrubs. While nice, a little more effort can reward you with a block of color.
If, like many, you have a large expanse of lawn bordered by a few shrubs, pick a spot in the middle of the lawn. Then go UP! A dozen landscape timbers make a great border, just place them 3 high and secure. Do this to form a large square.
Run black landscape material inside the square (it allows water to seep through but inhibits weeds). Then fill with dirt and plant.
I used an anchoring shrub of dwarf flowering almonds. It’s cut back in the fall and never grows above 3 feet tall. It’s a ball of pink flowers for weeks each spring and then a deep green for summer.
Around that, I planted a mass of bulbs: Daffodils, crocus, and tulips for spring. Then poppies and daylilies for summer along with a selection of whatever annuls strike me each spring.
It takes about 2 hours of work a year and the color never stops.
Fountain
Fountains aren’t just for the wealthy anymore. There are thousands of different varieties and there is sure to be one to strike your fancy.
You just get it, fill with water and plug it in. I have one in an out-of-the-way shady nook. I filled in the area around it with hostas and caladium.
Then I added a chaise lounge and a small table. It’s a great place to read on a lazy summer afternoon.
