There are a lot of good reasons to grow plants in raised beds. The most important is that they give you more control over soil conditions. You can create the perfect blend and ensure good drainage. Raised beds are also easier to manage, especially if you have any mobility issues.

On the other hand, raised bed gardening has one major issue: water. Like containers, the soil in a raised bed will dry out faster than soil in the ground. This means you need to spend more time watering, unless you use one of these nifty strategies or easy-to-find tools and materials to create beds that are mostly or entirely self-watering.

Here are the four easiest and most effective ways to turn your raised bed into a self-watering garden that can withstand summer heat and drought or that you can leave for vacation and not worry about wilting.

1. Build a Wicking Reservoir

A water wicking reservoir is an underground irrigation system. The reservoir stores water at the bottom of the bed. A wicking material allows the water to move upward into the dry soil as needed.

With this type of wicking raised bed system, you only need to fill the reservoir every few days or weekly, depending on the weather. It prevents overwatering and encourages strong, deep root growth.

You can find self-watering raised beds on Amazon that already have a water reservoir built in, buy a self-watering insert from Gardener's Supply Company, or make your own water wicking system from simple materials.

Line the bed with plastic sheeting or a pond liner to make it watertight. Create a reservoir on top of the liner using large, clean rocks or perforated drainpipes. Cover this with landscape fabric to act as your wicking material.

Finally, you just need a vertical PVC pipe on the side of the bed that reaches down to the reservoir. You’ll use this to refill the reservoir as needed. The wicking material allows water to be pulled upward into the soil, but only when the soil is dry so overwatering isn’t an issue.

2. Use Watering Spikes & Olla Pots

There is an even simpler solution to creating self-watering beds that is best for small raised beds. Watering spikes, olla pots, and similar products are an easy way to let your beds water themselves. They work in a similar way to a wicking reservoir, but are easier to install.

These devices are made from unglazed terracotta. You fill them with water and bury them in the raised bed soil. The clay of the terracotta is porous, so moisture slowly seeps out into the dry soil around it. This is a low-tech, easy option for watering beds. The downside, however, is that each pot or watering spike only covers a small area of soil.

One olla pot, like this one from Amazon, will cover a growing area of 4 to 6 square feet (1.2-1.8 m), so it’s a great solution for small raised beds. Watering spikes, which you can get from IKEA, are best for individual plants. So if you have a few thirsty plants, like tomatoes, a handful of spikes can keep them happy and reduce the amount of time you need to spend watering.

3. Set Up a Drip Irrigation Kit

Adding a drip irrigation setup to your raised bed turns your garden into a self-sufficient system in just one afternoon. These kits come in a range of sizes and those designed for smaller areas, like raised beds, can be as low as $30, like this simple drip irrigation kit from Home Depot that Content Editor Laura has used in her garden for years.

The kits include a hose or pipe system with multiple holes. You’ll install this in a bed and connect it to a hose. A hose-faucet timer, like this one that Laura also recommends, allows you to set the system to water at regular intervals.

Once installed, this is a hands-off watering system, so convenience is one of the biggest benefits. With some kits, you can even connect to an app and control watering from your phone.

Drip irrigation kits are also highly efficient, so if water usage is limited in your area, they are a great option. You’ll use up to 70% less water than using a regular hose and nozzle to water.

4. Create a Gravity-Fed Drip System

Instead of the pressure from a faucet and hose, you can use gravity to water your beds through a drip hose. You need an elevated source, like a rain barrel, and some tubing. Water moves down under the force of gravity and into the raised bed.

Like a drip irrigation system connected to a faucet, you get the benefit of water conservation, but you don’t need the pressure of the faucet. This is a good DIY drip irrigation option for a bed that isn’t close to the faucet.

Start with an elevated rain barrel, like this one with a built-in stand from Home Depot. If you have taller raised beds, you will need to place your rain barrel even higher. You can use cinder blocks, bricks, or old pallets to build a simple platform to lift your barrel above the height of your raised beds.

Next, add a drip irrigation system to get the water to your beds. You can make your own drip irrigation system or use a premade kit. Just make sure the kit you buy will work in a gravity-fed situation. Some drip irrigation kits need water pressure from a faucet or hose to function. But this drip irrigation kit from Amazon works with low or no water pressure.

No single solution for creating a self-watering bed is perfect, but one of these ideas might be better than others for your garden. You can also combine strategies to make watering easier. For instance, use a wicking reservoir with mulch to keep moisture in the soil longer. Or use a drip irrigation system with watering spikes for your especially thirsty plants.

Whether you install a simple drip irrigation kit, build a wicking reservoir, or just add mulch and a timer, these upgrades can dramatically reduce maintenance while keeping plants healthier and more productive. With the right setup, you can spend less time watering and more time enjoying your harvest.

If you have a long, narrow garden, it's likely that your outdoor space feels as if you have far less square footage than you actually do. While the planning stage is important when designing any outdoor space, it's especially important when you're working out how to make the most of a plot that's far longer than it is wide. Because there are plenty of clever ways that landscape designers use to make these corridor backyards feel far larger, that you can achieve yourself.

The challenge with this yard shape is to interrupt the view that runs down the garden to the end of the plot, so everything isn't seen immediately. By not revealing the whole of the garden as one continuous design, you add elements of exploration, surprise and mystery, making a garden more interesting and distracting from the plot's shape.

Reconfiguring the space creatively to offer partial glimpses beyond with carefully conceived sight lines is just the first step. Visual tricks that distort perspective to make the garden feel wider, and draw the eye across the space rather than straight down it, are also key. Using airy plants to create natural screens bring movement as well as staggering views, and dividing a long garden into distinct areas with different purposes brings outdoor living benefits, too.

So, if you're wondering how to design a long narrow garden to make the most of your space, here's all the inspiration you need.

1. Zone the Space to Distract From its Shape

Landscape designers often break up a long narrow garden into separate spaces or 'rooms', each with a different purpose such as a dining space and outdoor kitchen (like this design by Will Williams), relaxation area, zone for quiet contemplation, or utility space for tools and a shed. The size and shape of each 'room' should support and reflect the importance of the purpose it will be used for. Alternatively, the different areas can be compartmentalized according to what you grow in them, such as a vegetable garden, shade garden or wildflower patch.

With this style of design, it's really important that you don't fully enclose each 'room' but give a hint at what's going on further down the garden. The open-slat pergola defining the cooking and dining space in this garden is a perfect example. The idea is to create anticipation and offering a distraction from the narrow dimensions, without giving it all away at once.

2. Use Curves to Create a Meandering Journey

Another way of breaking up a long narrow plot is to introduce curves like this garden created by landscape designer Tom Hoblyn. An offset winding path in a pale sand or gravel tone is a great way to draw attention away from the linear boundaries and create more of a meandering journey through the garden. The curved theme in this design is continued with flowerbeds and raised beds.

An offset path is an easy idea to replicate, and one of the most effective landscape design tricks for a long, narrow garden. Think about adding a curving path to your garden together with raised beds and flower beds that have curved edges too, so they smudge the straight lines and layer up interest with grasses and tall, airy flowering plants.

Curves slow down movement through any space and create a more naturalistic, fluid, explorative feel compared to a straight view of the garden, too. They work particularly well in a long, narrow garden because your eye will naturally follow the curves from side to side, creating the illusion of wider plot.

3. Repeat Circular Shapes to Bounce the Eye Around

Circles are often used in rectangular, square and long plots to soften linear boundaries and introduce flow to the design. You can test this out for yourself by looking at this garden for a few moments: it's likely that your gaze from sphere to sphere. You probably looked across the image from fence to fence, too, rather than focusing on the summerhouse at the end of the garden first.

To create this effect in your garden, simply place multiple circular features so they overlap. Incorporate landscape features such as circular lawns, island flowerbeds, dining circles and round patios into the design, then add plants and accessories with circular or spherical shapes. Here, the table and hanging chair add to the strong circular look that's picked up in the planting by globe alliums and clipped evergreen balls.

Stylish Circles

4. Downplay Boundaries with a Dark Color

When it comes to color ideas for a long narrow garden, consider dark shades for boundary walls and fences, like the one featured in this design by Angus Thompson. Disguising a boundary with dark paint is just one of many clever tricks landscape designers use to make a small garden yard look bigger that you can DIY yourself.

Dark colors absorb light rather than reflecting it, so black or other dark colors visually push back the boundaries of your yard, making the space feel more open. Dark foliage will also contribute to this effect, tricking the eye into thinking a space is bigger than it really is, and this is such an easy way to bring depth and spaciousness to any garden. As well as retreating into the background, a dark boundary will highlight planting, too. For a durable black paint that delivers long-lasting color and protection try Evolve Barn and Fence Black Paint, available here at Amazon.

While black fences blend into the background shadows, making it difficult to see exactly where the garden ends, by contrast light-colored fences clearly define the perimeter of your garden, and draw attention to any limitations. So, by using a lighter tone for the end boundary at the bottom of your garden, too, you'll magically make a long plot appear squarer.

6. Stagger Planting to Create Natural Screens

Using planting as a screening device on alternating sides of the garden obscures the line of sight, causing the boundaries of a long narrow garden to disappear. It's a form of creative screening that has multiple uses, and no one will have a clue where the garden starts and stops.

It's a case of thinking diagonally. The idea is to alternate wide, generous planting beds with lavish planting on each side of the garden, so your attention moves from side to side. Staggered planting beds will also blur hard boundary edges and restrict views down the garden. It's a good way of including natural landscaping ideas, where everything can become a little more relaxed. Tall but airy plantings of ornamental grasses and flowering perennials such as Gaura 'Whirling Butterflies' will let light pass through so the garden doesn't feel blocked in.

Another method of adding planted dividers to the garden is with trellis ideas that cut across the width of the space. Clothed with fast-growing vines that won't scramble out of control like jasmine and honeysuckle, they'll create leafy screens.

7. Place Containers Strategically to Play With Scale

Pushing plants out to the edges and leaving an elongated rectangle of lawn down the center of the garden simply emphasises its long, narrow shape. Instead, try drawing attention away from the boundary with supersized containers, strategically placed away from the garden edges. Potted up with big shrubs or small multi-stemmed ornamental trees such as Japanese maple, these will be become focus garden features.

There are many beautiful drought-tolerant perennials that thrive in containers, too, or ornamental grasses typically do well in large pots. As they mature, the stems will help to obscure the sight line too. Or how about combining the two, with a small tree underplanted with smaller perennials? Containers are a great opportunity to add plants that you might not want to plant in the ground in a smaller garden, such as this clumping bamboo from Nature Hills. It grows up to 10 feet tall, making it perfect for screening, but flourishes in a container.

Do go big though, as a big plant in a big container plays with the sense of scale in a narrow garden, bringing the vibe of a much larger plot.

Another landscape-designer trick with containers in a long, narrow garden is to place a second pot that's smaller but of the same design closer to the house. Your brain will presume the containers are the same size and your garden will instantly feel shorter and wider.

Small Trees That Are Happy in a Large Container

8. Create an Inviting Destination Point

A common design trick with this shape of garden is, rather than positioning the focal-point outdoor living patio or deck directly next to the house or at the end of the plot, locate it two-thirds of the way down. As well as encouraging your gaze to stop travelling down a long garden at this point, positioning a main seating and relaxation area here, with a comfortable outdoor sofa and a fire pit to gather round, allows you and your family and guests to enjoy several different views of your backyard – all of which are shorter than if you were sitting at either end of it.

Frame the space with a pergola, add a DIY water feature or choose a wow-factor accent plant that landscape designers love, and the destination seating area becomes even more of a garden focus.

The stunning planting and curved seating area in this design by Tina Worboys is the perfect example of how to create a destination seating area that doubles as a garden feature.

It's a good idea to add a further, smaller destination point at the end of the garden, and perhaps one just outside the house, too. These should be quiet, cosy spaces to linger and relax. Think of a nook where you can get away from it all and enjoy a moment's solitude, a surprise element in your garden design that is slowly revealed.

9. Use Repetition to Pull the Design Together

Repeating planting, colors, shapes or landscaping materials adds cohesion to any garden, but that's a particularly important factor in a long, narrow garden design, especially if you're compartmentalising it into different zones or 'rooms'. Planting with repetition brings harmony, and is a trick that landscape designers use in practically every garden to pull the design together.

Planting with repetition also punctuates the garden, especially if you combine it with the new color rules used by landscape designers when choosing a planting palette. This encourages you to make connections and pause on your journey through the garden, again creating a meandering path rather than a linear one. As garden design tips go, it's a super-easy technique to capitalise on that will add a professional looking finish, too.

Now find out about the key garden trends for 2026 to give your refreshed garden design the edge.

We’re seeing a huge trend in container ponds this heatwave summer, and no wonder! Floating solar fountains have made it so cheap and easy to create a stylish water feature that brings cooling sound and movement to our too-hot gardens. And now, next-gen solar fountains lit with LEDs are allowing us to take DIY microponds to the next level, with illuminated cascades of water that will pretty-up any patio, looking beautiful at night as well as bringing a cooling soundscape by day.

Making your own micropond with a watertight container and floating fountain is so quick to do, yet the soundscape and soothing water movement can transform a garden, creating a focus to make small gardens feel bigger or adding a pleasing detail to a larger backyard. As container garden ideas go, it’s a winner for sure! Water features you can install yourself without calling in a plumber or electrician are so cost-effective, too. And there are lots of clever ways to get creative with a cheap floating solar fountain, so you can fashion a unique feature bespoke to your garden style.

You can even make a budget water feature planter with a $25 fountain, adding beautiful blooms to the water show!

Not all LED solar fountains are created equal, though, so it’s good to understand a few basics before you start to DIY your cooling cascade of water. Luckily, everything you need to know to get a great result is right here, so you can get cracking and DIY an illuminated water feature this weekend. I've included plenty of product links so you know exactly what I'm talking about, but do support your local retailers too. Here’s exactly what to do, if you want to make a stunning water feature this weekend…

1. Choose a Watertight Container

Any container will work for a DIY water feature, as long as it’s wide enough to contain most of the fountain splashes, though obviously the bigger it is, the less frequently you’ll have to top it up. Containers purpose-made for a garden micropond are often expensive, but there are plenty of more budget-friendly options to try.

Pots intended for succulents don’t usually have a drainage hole, and a wide bowl planter such as this from Amazon makes a stylish alternative at a fraction of the price. It's also worth looking at planters intended for both indoor and outdoor use such as this well-priced half-barrel from Lowes, as they often don't have drainage holes either.

If you’ve already got an old plastic, resin or metal planter then it’s a quick and easy job to seal the drainage hole with a marine silicone sealant like this from Amazon. The same goes for repairing patches of damage on a vintage vessel to make it watertight. Being able to seal drainage holes and seams also opens up the world of resin containers such as this amazing urn that's on sale at Target. Have a hunt around your local hardware store, too: this steel tub from Ace Hardware would make an awesome micropond, as would this utility bucket from Home Depot.

2. Work Out How Powerful Your Solar Water Fountain Needs to Be

A floating fountain is powered by its solar panels and there’s a huge range in terms of quality and capability. The amount of energy the solar panels are capable of generating is measured in watts, which you’ll find in product descriptions as ‘W’ and it’s important to match this, which governs the force and shape of the spray, to the size of the container you're using.

While you want to enjoy a decent water flow and fountain height, it’s also vital to also think about minimizing water loss so you’re not forever having to top up your micropond. Water loss happens when the spray pattern is wider than the container, but also because of wind, so is affected by the height of the fountain, too.

A 1W or 1.5W solar fountain is typically designed to operate in a birdbath so will produce a pretty gentle bubble. If that's what you want, great. But because there are LEDs as well as a water pump to power, an illuminated fountain rated around 3.5W or 4W is best for most patio-sized containers. You’ll also find fountains at 5.5W and 6.5W which suit a larger diameter vessel if you're making a sizeable water feature.

Look at what material the solar panels are made of too. Glass panels are far more efficient than plastic, so will still generate plenty of energy on a partially cloudy day.

Best Solar Fountains For a Great Light Show

Most solar fountains come with a handful of interchangeable nozzles that create different spray patterns in varying heights and widths, too. By combining a powerful energy rating with a nozzle that gives a narrow spray, you can enjoy maximum water flow without too much water loss.

In a small or shallow container, it's also worth looking for a design with stabilising arms. These prevent the fountain floating close to the container rim, and so help to reduce water loss. While you're reading the small print, check the fountain has run-dry protection so it automatically shuts down if there’s insufficient water, and a filter to prevent debris from entering the pump.

3. Check the Fountain Has a Battery Before You Buy

Some solar fountains have a battery to store the energy generated by the solar panels so it can still operate when the sun isn’t shining, whether that’s because it’s nighttime or simply a cloudy day. Some fountains don’t, which means they’ll only operate when sunlight hits their solar panels. You would think that all illuminated solar fountains are fitted with a battery as they’re intended for use after dark, but that’s not the case.

So, do check the solar fountain has a battery, and that the battery's capacity is relevant to its wattage and number of lights, as this will dictate how long it will run for after dark. Depending on how many LEDs it has to power, a typical 3.5W fountain with a 2000mAh battery will likely run for around 3 hours after sundown, after a full charge on a sunny day. If you want a fountain with a lot of lights, or one that runs for a long time, look for a higher-capacity 3000mAh or 4000mAh battery.

Best Solar Fountains for Battery Capacity

4. Position Your Water Feature Well

Depending on the size of your water feature, it’s a smart move to position the container before filling with water. You’ll need a fairly sunny spot to ensure the solar panels get fully charged, but most quality fountains with a battery fitted only need 4-6 hours of sun for a full charge.

Choosing a position which gets a little shade for part of the day will reduce evaporation and the frequency your water feature needs topping up. It’s also a good idea to position your feature away from overhanging trees or plants that may drop leaves into the water.

Consider other light sources, too, as the darker the area is, the more the illuminated water cascade will stand out.

5. Add Some Decor, if You Fancy

How you choose to pretty-up your water feature is entirely up to you – and honestly, a container with a floating fountain is simply lovely as it is. But you could add a compact water plant such as lesser spearwort (Ranunculus flammua) or water forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpioides), both available from specialist supplier Pond Plants of America. How about adding a few rounded pebbles such as these from Amazon to the container itself, or around its base? And you’ll find all sorts of cute pond ornaments such as these floating faux water lilies from Amazon or this fishing tortoise figurine, also from Amazon, to add charm to your water feature.

A small wildlife ramp to ensure critters can climb out of your micropond, should they fall in, such as this from Amazon, is a must.

6. Fill With Water and Enjoy!

Now fill the container with water, pop the floating fountain in, and wait a few seconds for the sun to power it up. If you’re growing aquatic plants or want wildlife to use your micropond, it’s best to use harvested rainwater, otherwise tap water is fine. To enhance the reflections of the lights in the water, you can add a drop of black pond colorant like this from Amazon.

Then the only job left to do, once the sun starts to set, is to pour yourself a cooling drink, pull up your favorite patio chair, and enjoy your beautiful new garden water feature.

If it’s already feeling too hot in your backyard with summer barely started, a garden water feature will bring the cooling sound of a babbling stream to your yard. Our brains are deeply encoded with the love of moving water because, once upon a time, we humans depended on it for survival. So hearing that trickling noise instantly makes us feel safe, and we relax. Research proves that the sound of moving water makes us feel calm, lowering heart rate and reducing blood pressure – which makes us feel cooler.

So if you're looking for ideas to turn your patio or deck into a comfy outdoor living area without spending a fortune this summer, a water feature is a great place to start.

There are now many different types of water feature you can easily install yourself, without the expense of calling in a landscaper or plumber. Some barely take five minutes to set up, while other let you get creative and put your DIY skills to good use.

I’ve broken down the various water feature options that you can easily install yourself, both powered by electricity and solar power, so you can decide which will work best for you. There are four types to choose from, catering for all budgets and backyards, as prices have plummeted as these soothing garden features have become more popular. So, by next weekend, you can test out that research for yourself, relaxing beside your new water feature.

Which Water Feature is Best For Your Garden?

The exact right type of water feature for your garden will depend on your budget, and how handy you are. But don’t fret: Even if your budget is $20 and you’re a rookie when it comes to DIY, you can enjoy the sound of babbling water in your backyard.

1. Solar-Powered Microponds

Petite DIY water features made with a container and a solar-powered floating fountain are a huge trend this summer, and no wonder. Making a solar-powered micropond is cheap and easy to achieve, yet can be an absolutely magical garden addition. You simply need a watertight container, and using a marine sealant such as this from Amazon means you can plug the drainage hole in an old planter or fix a damaged vintage vessel, opening up a world of creative possibilities. Fill with water, add a floating solar fountain, and you’re done!

You can dream up all sorts of clever ways to incorporate a solar-powered micropond into your garden, from a sizeable mid-border water feature to a fresh drinking fountain for your dog. Or how about fashioning a splash-park for your garden birds?

2. Plug And Go Water Features

Your second option for a near-instant water feature is to buy a plug-and-go design. You'll need an outdoor plug socket as they're powered by electricity, but then all you need do is fill it with water and switch it on. A plug-and-go water feature can be placed in sun or shade, and be switched on and off as you wish.

If you don’t already have an outside electricity socket, this is a relatively cheap job for an electrician, especially if it's positioned on the other side of a wall to an indoors socket.

Do check the length of the cable before you buy, and ensure it allows you to position the water feature where you want it.

3. Standalone Solar Water Pumps

If you like a little DIY project and fancy creating a one-off water feature, unique to you, then a standalone solar water pump allows you to magic up all sorts of ideas. All you need is some sort of watertight container and your imagination! Standalone solar water pumps typically come with a separate solar panel which needs to be positioned to absorb maximum sunshine, a pump, tubing and a fountain head with various nozzles.

It’s important to choose the right level of power to suit the size of your water feature, and solar pumps range from around 12W to well over a whopping 55W. Most of these pumps don’t have a battery back-up, so water only flows when sunlight is hitting the solar panel.

The large solar panel creates more energy for a higher water flow, so you can use these pumps as fountains or water bubblers in larger containers such as these corten steel troughs.

The separate parts and length of tubing also allows you to create more complex water features. Put simply, this type of pump allows you to move water from one place to another. Armed with a drill and the right bit (a diamond tile-cutting bit such as this from Amazon is best for drilling ceramic) and marine sealant like this from Amazon, you can create all sorts of water features where one vessel empties into another.

How about using reclaimed materials with a pipe emptying into a metal trough, like this?

Perhaps you could utilise a slope and a pond liner and pebbles to make a natural stream-like feature, pumping water from a small pond made from a sunken tub back to the top.

The other benefit to having the fountain head separate to the solar panel is that you can position a water feature in a shady area, with shade-loving plants.

You can also sink a base container so it's flush with the ground, for a sleek look.

If you choose a solar fountain without a battery that only works when the sun's out, a neat tip is to add a drop of black pond colorant such as this from Amazon. The harmless dye makes the water surface far more reflective, creating appealing images of reflected cloudscapes or overhanging foliage. The darker color will make the ripples more obvious when the pump is running, too.

4. Plug-In Water Pumps

If you want to make your own water feature but don’t want to rely on the sun being out for it to work, an electric pump is a better choice. There are all sorts to choose from, starting with basic water pumps which simply suck water in and power it up through a spray nozzle to create a fountain, such as this from Amazon. There there are more complex pumps such as this, also from Amazon, with tubing that enables you to move water from one vessel into another.

Whatever you choose, make sure the pump is for outdoor use, as many designs are for indoor aquariums. Do check the length of the cable, too, as this will dictate how far away from an outside plug socket you can position the feature.

You'll also find lots of plug-in kits that provide the pump and fountain parts to be used with a container of your choice. This is a great half-way house, letting you add a customized water feature to your yard with hardly any DIY.

Creating shade in the garden is essential in summer. Whether you love to entertain outdoors or simply want to relax outside with a book, these stylish ideas for patio shade will make the experience so much more enjoyable once the weather heats up.

However big or small your backyard and your budget, you'll find patio shade inspiration here. There are quick, affordable fixes such as stylish parasols and decorative screens for a DIY transformation, as well as high-end additions like a louvred pergola or elegant pavilion to take your garden design to the next level.

Don't forget the power of plants as a natural shading device, either. Growing a beautiful botanical screen over a pergola, adding flowers and fragrance as well as shade from the sun, is just one of many contemporary patio ideas. Which idea for patio shade will you choose to try, to make your outdoor space more liveable this summer?

1. Keep it Simple with a Parasol

If you want to add shade to your garden, a parasol should be top of your list. There is a lovely simplicity to opting for a parasol, especially as you can move it around to customise your shade requirements. As well as being a flexible choice, there are so many beautiful parasol options available that you don't have to sacrifice design for function, either.

A simple garden parasol is both decorative and practical. They come in all shapes and sizes, and in every color imaginable. Most are adjustable in height, and many have stands that can be angled to easily customize exactly how much shade it throws. Some can be dismantled and packed away once summer comes to a close, too.

The 'patio culture' trend that's big news this year is all about extending your living space outdoors. So, if you want to turn your patio into an outside living room without spending a fortune, a parasol is a smart choice.

Pretty Parasols

2. Hang a Shapely Shade Sail

A sail is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to shade a patio. Simple to set up and offering a sleek unobtrusive element, shade sails are designed to be fixed to a house wall or sturdy fence post or pole.

Giving durable coverage, a shade sail can be put in place in an afternoon, making this a great option for pretty much any garden space. It's a good idea to look for styles that also repel water, so you can stay outside during a shower too.

Also known as sun canopies, shade sails come in various materials and sizes. As well as using one large sail, you can hang several smaller shades to extend the coverage while creating an appealing design feature. This is the perfect choice if you're looking for small patio ideas, for example if you have a courtyard garden, as close boundaries make it easier to fit, and you don't lose any precious patio ground space.

3. Invest in a Modern Louvred Pergola

"Pergolas offer an aesthetically pleasing way to create shade in your outdoor space," says design expert Joe Raboine, vice president of design at Oldcastle APG. "The traditional overhead beams and open lattice structure allow sunlight to filter through while providing partial shade underneath. This can significantly lower the ambient temperature, making the space more comfortable, especially during hot summer days."

You also have the option of adding a roof, or sections of fabric or curtains for additional shade, which will also enhance your garden privacy. If you can stretch your budget, there also are louvered pergolas available with retractable coverings, allowing you to adjust the level of shade according to your needs.

Alternatively pergola kits offer ease of installation, particularly for DIY enthusiasts. Recommended kits come with pre-cut, pre-routed, and pre-riveted parts, requiring only simple assembly and eliminating the need for specialist installation skills.

4. Extend your Space with a Shady Veranda

A permanent feature, a veranda will create a seamless indoor-outdoor space and transform your patio into an extension of your home, as well as adding a shady retreat where you can escape from the sun. It's the next step up from a pergola, as it can be used year round, offering a more sheltered area that protects garden furniture and accessories as well as shielding you from the sun.

An informal veranda such as this works well with wooden and rattan furniture, combined with natural-looking accessories in earth tones and textures. It's always a good idea to think about lighting and heating options too, which will further extend the time you can spend outside.

Do check your local municipality's building codes and permits to ensure your planned structure meets required guidelines before starting construction work.

5. Install an Automated Patio Awning

An awning is a smart option if your patio is positioned directly outside your home, as it can easily be fitted to an exterior house wall. The latest models add a stylish design element as well as being functional and durable. Most are easy to operate at the touch of a button, rather than the older-style winch handles.

"The biggest trends we're seeing in outdoor shades right now are to build socializing and living areas outdoors," says Jason Turner, co-founder at PowerShades. "There is a significant trend in people enclosing their outdoor kitchens and living areas with motorized shades. In the warmer months, these help keep the patio shaded, and coupled with fans, can make the patio far more bearable through the hot months."

There are many smart ideas for patio shade available that allow you to design your space as you wish. Due to their sturdy construction, this type of awning is suitable for covering larger patio areas. They can also be equipped with extra options such as wind protection and extra privacy, light or infrared heaters.

6. Add a Stylish Pavilion

If you like the idea of retreating into the garden on hot days, consider creating a covered patio area away from the house, surrounded by immersive planting. While this is a more expensive option, a permanent structure like a garden pavilion allows you to use the space all year round, as well as offering a shady sanctuary in summer.

The elegant pavilion in this design (above) has a series of pivoting translucent screens that can be opened or closed as required, making it a versatile outdoor living space. A pavilion offers privacy, too, and brings appealing year-round structure to your garden.

7. Plant a Natural Canopy of Climbers

Using climbing plants to form a canopy on a pergola is one of the best ways to add shade to a patio. Train fast-growing plants to climb over an existing structure and it's quick and affordable, too. Use trellis or wires that complement the structure to train the vines up the pergola posts and to support the additional weight of the foliage as it grows.

A natural screen of foliage and flowers is a visually stunning and eco-friendly option that will change with the seasons. To cloak a whole pergola, choose climbing flowering plants to grow together such as jasmine, honeysuckle, wisteria, roses or bougainvillea. Another option is to simply fill the south-facing pergola side using vertical wires and fast-growing vines that won't scramble out of control.

If you're restricted to growing your climbing vine in a planter, then clematis is a good choice, and there are clematis varieties to suit every space. As you'll only need the shade in summer, growing annual vines is another good option.

Climbing Plants

8. Use Decorative Screens

A quick solution to block sunshine without enclosing a space is to add strategically placed timber or metal screens. This not only offers dappled shade, but is a smart way to add privacy to your garden, too.

Fix screens to pergola sides to create an outdoor living room, or choose affordable standalone privacy screens that you can move around your patio to give just the right level of shade you're after.

Many ornamental metal screens have laser-cut patterns that add a unique design element as well, and a wide variety are available so you can choose one that segues seamlessly with your outdoor aesthetic.

Landscape designers always use plants to blur the harsh, geometric lines of a garden’s structural features, whether that’s a patio or path edge, retaining wall or side of a raised bed. And not just any plants! Garden professionals purposefully choose plants with particular characteristics such as slender flower spires, ruffled foliage, creeping stems, and wiry stalks that move in the slightest breeze. Why? Because these aspects create a hazy margin between areas of hard and soft landscaping. And this merging of living and innate is a vital element of any garden design, and one of the primary factors that gives professionally designed gardens their cohesive, put-together look.

Once you know which plants to use, this blurring of boundaries is easy to achieve yourself, and will transform your garden. Blending hard and soft landscaping is a must if you want to make a small garden look bigger or pull the many parts of a large backyard together. As path or patio ideas go, it's a must. But the best bit? You will enjoy these benefits without the hassle of any more garden maintenance because all these plants are incredibly easy to look after.

It’s a fact that most folk who employ a landscape designer don’t have the time, or don't have the gardening knowledge, to do it themselves. Either way, to ensure their clients are happy long-term, as well as selecting for blending characteristics, the professionals choose plants that will survive without much care. Plants that are drought-tolerant, resilient through winter, and don’t need any more TLC than an annual snip to remove old growth. Plants that are tolerant enough to thrive in a pot as well as in the ground. Plants that perform for months on end. These plants, in fact:

1. Creeping Rosemary

Instead of growing into an upright shrub, creeping or prostrate rosemary spreads outwards, draping its 1-2 foot-long stems of pale blue flowers and needle-like leaves over pot rims, retaining walls and raised bed edges. Because it’s native to the Mediterranean, creeping rosemary is a highly drought tolerant plant, and its silvery leaves have evolved a waxy coating and tiny hairs to protect from heat scorching. This means Salvia rosmarinus ‘Prostratus’ can cope with growing directly against hard surfaces such as paving that can get extremely hot in direct sunlight.

In zones 8-11, creeping rosemary is an evergreen perennial. Do still grow it in cooler zones but house it in a planter so it can be overwintered in a sheltered spot as it’s only reliably hardy down to 15°F.

Creeping rosemary looks fabulous en masse so is often sold in good-value multi-packs of plants,

2. Coral Bells

With shapely, ruffled leaves, Heuchera is a fabulous plant to use to soften the line between hard and soft landscaping. Evergreen or semi-evergreen, the foliage looks great year-round, and plants require minimal maintenance. But the best thing about coral bells is the huge assortment of colored cultivars available, from zingy greens to warm reds and dramatic deep purples. There are speckled and veined leaves of contrasting tones, too.

This means you can match the hue to your hard landscaping, perhaps choosing a caramel cultivar to reference brickwork, or a variety with almost-black foliage to go with slate pavers.

Most coral bells do best in partial shade, so suit a wide variety of garden spots, and there are varieties that have been bred to cope with full sun and deeper shade, too. They’re mostly suitable for zones 4-9 and, as heuchera typically grow to a foot or two tall, are perfect for path and paving edges. And while the leaves are the main feature, flowers bring an extra bonus in summer.

3. Catmint

If you haven’t grown Nepeta for a fair few years, it’s time to take a fresh look at this low-maintenance lovely. Catmint earned itself a reputation for being an untidy plant with a tendency for stems to splay outwards and to self-seed rather too enthusiastically. But modern hybrids have been bred to form more compact mounds with stems that don’t collapse, while retaining catmint's unfussy, cold- and heat-tolerant nature. All our recommendations produce sterile seeds, too, so they can’t self-seed and will stay exactly where you put them.

A zero-hassle plant that softens any path or patio edge, catmint brings soothing color and plenty of pollinators to your garden. And while cats adore its scent, it repels deer and rabbits.

4. Muhly Grass

Also known as hairgrass, Muhlenbergia capillaris will have all your neighbors green with envy. What’s fabulous about this ornamental grass is that the leaves are only around a foot long, and naturally grow into a neat mound. Then in late summer or early fall, those tidy clumps explode with 3-4 feet-long stems clothed in spikelets, creating a pink haze that lasts all through fall into winter.

Unusually for a grass, pink muhly grass grows well in partial shade as well as full sun: as long as it gets at least four hours of sunshine a day, it’s happy.

This is a fast-growing grass so it establishes quickly, and it’s feasible to plant en masse using cheaper, younger plug plants to make your money go further, too, if you have the patience. Pink muhly grass is typically evergreen in zones 6-9, though a hard freeze can cause temporary dormancy.

As well as the pink variety, look out for the less well-known ‘White Cloud’ which, as its name suggests, isn’t pink! It grows to the same height but tends to flower a little later in fall and creates slightly narrower clumps.

5. Lavender

Lavender has a lovely habit of moulding to whatever spot it’s grown in, its stems gently spilling but never needing staking. Plant it in a corner of a raised bed and lavender will slowly mound over the sharp angles. Put it alongside a path and flower stems will lean over it but not fall. In a pot, the plant will billow into a cloud of scented blooms.

This is a super choice for a seating area or path because of its pleasant perfume. Give lavender a gravel mulch to get more flowers and stronger scent, and plenty of sun.

6. Sea Thrift

Not all boundary-blurring plants have to be big, as this little poppet proves. Armeria maritima is an evergreen perennial that only grows to a foot-or-so high and wide, but its clump-forming mound of dark green, needle-like leaves and pretty pompom flowers are so useful for breaking up big areas of hard landscaping. As its name suggests, sea thrift has evolved to grow in coastal environments and can often be found on cliff ledges, so it’s highly tolerant and will flourish pretty much anywhere as long as it enjoys some sunshine.

Landscape designers love to pop a few sea thrifts in place of a paver in a patio or a couple of cobblestones in a path, or use it as punctuation in a sweep of gravel. And don't worry, this robust, resilient plant can withstand the baking heat of being surrounded by hard landscaping. Its evergreen foliage means it looks good year-round, and the flowers keep coming for months if you deadhead.

Grocery stores are stacked with bargain bedding plants right now. From petunias to geraniums, lobelia to busy Lizzies, these fast-growing annual plants are destined to brighten up hanging baskets and borders. And in gardens up and down the country, that’s where most of these little lovelies will spend the summer, the supporting cast in a garden of bigger, showier perennials. But with a little imagination, you can take advantage of bedding plants' easy-going nature and give them a moment in the limelight with a unique garden highlight that will delight for months to come.

Few plants are as tolerant as annual bedding plants. Bred to cope with life in the exposed environment of a hanging basket, and to carry on flowering even when everyone forgets to water, they’ll happily survive in all sorts of weird and wonderful containers. They don’t require deep soil – or even much soil at all – and don’t mind a jot about seriously good drainage. All this makes them very versatile to use in creative DIY garden projects.

Another benefit is their low cost: often sold in multi-cell plastic trays, you can often buy a dozen plants for less than the price of a coffee.

Most varieties have been grown to flower continuously and, as long as you keep deadheading, bloom to the first frost. This means they’ll produce far more flowers over the summer than most perennials, making for a dramatic display. And then yes, you’ll need to throw these annual plants onto the compost heap, but guess what? That means you can create a whole new garden centerpiece next summer! Which of these easy ideas will you try? As quick and clever planter ideas go, they're all winners!

1. Use a Basket as a Planter

This is such a simple, quick-to-do idea, yet it looks so stylish. Choose a bedding plant that loves the combination of sun or shade you have. One with spilling stems, such as this petunia, works well. Line your basket with sturdy plastic – an old potting-soil bag is perfect – and fill with an all-purpose potting mix such as this from Amazon. Add your bedding plants, water well, and enjoy!

2. Grow a Living Flower Wall

Many bedding plants grown to grace hanging baskets have trailing stems so they’ll quickly cover up the mechanics of a living wall to create a fabulously abundant flower wall. You’ll need plenty of plants, so stick with those at the cheaper end of the market, such as the aubretia and petunias in this fabulous living wall. The wall itself doesn’t have to be expensive, either, as you can use vertical felt grow bags with multiple pockets, such as this from Amazon, that are well priced and come in many different sizes. These wall planters typically have reinforced grommets, making them easy to attach to a fence or wall.

You’ll need plants that like good drainage for the top rows, though those in the lower rows will benefit from water dripping down from above.

3. Plant Cups and Mugs as Patio Table Accents

Here’s a quick upcycling project I completed just last weekend, using a couple of teacups and saucers that had sat in my kitchen cupboards, unused and unloved, for years. The idea would work just as well with mugs, too, and bring a cute interior vibe to a patio coffee table.

To drill a drainage hole in the base of a china or porcelain cup or mug, you’ll need a small dry diamond drill tile bit like this from Amazon. Support both sides of the surface with good-quality masking tape, and let the drill do all the work. If you want to see how I did it, here’s a closer look.

4. Make a Hot Air Balloon Planter

Here’s a clever idea that’ll work with any bedding plant that loves good drainage like these pretty geraniums (pelargoniums), and it’s such a cute way to decorate a pergola for a party.

Cover a blown-up balloon with papier mache (layers of torn newspaper mixed with wallpaper paste) and leave to fully dry. Use outdoor acrylic paint to decorate – a kit such as this from Amazon gives you multiple color options, or you can buy individual colors. If you want to leave your hot air balloon outdoors all summer, you’ll also need to protect it with a few coats of a multisurface exterior waterproofing sealer spray like this from The Home Depot, or hang it in a covered area.

Pop your plant into a pot with potting soil and use twine to fashion a holder, attached to your balloon.

5. Create a Cascading Flower Tower

How fabulous is this? And it’s quick and easy to create with stackable planters. Originally designed to grow strawberries, the great thing about stackable planters is that each tier is a single shaped pot. That means there’s a good volume of soil so it holds onto moisture for longer, reducing how often you need to water.

There are plenty to choose from, such as this five-tier planter with 20 planting pockets from The Home Depot. There are also stackable planters on wheels such as this from Amazon, to create a flower tower you can move around your deck or patio.

Annual plants that naturally grow into a mounded shape as well as have spilling stems – which many flowering hanging basket plants do – are perfect for this project, as they’ll quickly cover the planters.

6. Wrap a Plant Into a Mossy Kokedama

Kokedama is a Japanese gardening technique that wraps a plant’s root system in a ball of soil, enclosed in moss and bound with string. This ancient art practised for centuries usually uses ferns, but I’ve found it works really well with bedding plants, too.

I’ve made kokedama with pansies and violets, and currently have this little cutie hanging in the shade of my summerhouse. I used wire to bind the ball of soil and moss for strength, and it was surprisingly simple to do. They've lasted so well, too: I made these in November and they're still flowering away six months later! Take a closer look how I did it here.

7. Upcycle Old Gardening Equipment

If your shed is anything like mine, it has a corner filled with gardening equipment that’s no longer used. So how about upcycling any old kit that offers a planting pocket into a characterful container? These old watering cans create a fabulous trio of hanging planters and, as well as looking good, upcycling means you get to keep that trusty old gardening kit rather than consigning it to landfill!

Whatever you use, just be sure to drill drainage holes in the base.

Get Lush Results

Any plants in a container are reliant on you for food and water, and while bedding plants will tolerate pretty extreme conditions, keeping them consistently fed with nutrients and moisture will bring more abundant flowers. Adding a few magic ingredients to make containers low-maintenance is also a smart move.

8. Top Bamboo Poles With Drought-Tolerant Plants

I spotted this clever idea at a flower show earlier this year, where a line of planted bamboo posts had been sunk into the ground to create a screen. This idea would work just as well with plastic pipe bought from a hardware store, especially if you choose a diameter that perfectly holds whatever plastic plant pots you already have.

Rust-Oleum Universal Interior/Exterior Spray Paint transforms just about anything into an object of beauty, and adheres to most surfaces including plastic. Lowe’s has a great range, with many effects such as this bronze hammered finish that would make cheap pipes look like far more expensive metal.

While these poles are planted with succulents, any bedding plant that’s drought-tolerant would work in this elevated spot, such as geraniums (pelargoniums) or moss rose.

9. DIY a Vertical Pot Display

If you’ve got a stash of old terracotta pots, then here’s a super way to use them to create a vertical display spilling with bedding plants. You’ll need a steel rod, and the cheapest way is to buy one that’s meant for strengthening concrete and masonry from a hardware store, such as this 5’ Steel Works Rebar from Ace Hardware. Do check that its diameter will fit through the drainage holes of whatever pots you have, though terracotta is soft enough to easily drill with a masonry bit.

Start by pushing the rod into the ground by at least a foot, then thread on the pots, feeding the drainage holes over the rod. Arrange the pots to sit at different angles so the base of one rests securely on the rim of that beneath it. Then simply fill with potting soil and plants, and water well.

Because of the angled pots, trailing plants look particularly dramatic in this vertical display idea.

10. Have Plants Spill From a Fallen-Over Pot

This is a great way to use a broken terracotta pot, and it looks so effective on both a small and large scale. I’ve seen this idea used with petunias spilling from 10-inch pots in a small urban gravel garden to huge terracotta amphora cascading with lobelia in the landscaped grounds of a grand country house.

It’s easy to do. Simply scrape a shallow depression in the ground, as the pot looks more natural if it’s a little sunken. Lay your pot on its side and firm the soil around it. Add some potting mix inside the pot and pop your plant in. If you like, you can plant more into the ground, to accentuate the spilling effect.

I first heard the term “defensive hedge” when I talked to Basque neighbors in the small town in France where I bought my little home. My land – at that time perhaps 5 wild acres – had exactly three trees on it, all 300-year-old oak trees. I wanted more trees, but every time I planted a young seedling, Basque ponies called pottoks that roam the hillside would hurry over and eat it!

For me, the issue of landscape design was completely interconnected to keeping pottoks out. I ended up installing stake and chicken wire fencing, but doubled up by planting defensive hedging along it, including shrubs with thorns. I have been told frequently over the years that the hedging is the reason I’ve never had any criminal mischief at my little house on the mountain.

But that is far from the only landscaping option that will help keep burglars far from your house. Here are five of my favorite landscaping tips to prevent burglars breaking into your home.

Landscaping Tips to Prevent Burglars

Good landscaping is about so much more than making your home look pretty. Yes, a well-groomed lawn and beds of bright flowers goes a long way toward winning curb appeal and kudos from neighbors. If you are selling your home, quality landscaping can up the sales price, raising your equity in the property.

But even if you don’t care much about popularity among neighbors and you aren’t selling your house, carefully considered landscaping can protect your property from intruders – whether it be Basque ponies seeking green shoots or burglars looking for jewelry. While a little creativity is your best friend in thinking of defensive landscaping, I’ve got some smart tips to get you started.

1. Grow a Defensive Hedge

Okay, why not start with my own greatest success? Pyracantha, also known as firethorn, has been my best friend when it comes to protecting the boundaries of my property.

Pyracantha are evergreen shrubs in the rose family. These shrubs can get to 10 feet (3 m) tall, although mine have stayed below 5 feet (1.5 m). Plant in full sun or part shade. Their leaves are tiny and deep green, and creamy white flowers appear in spring. Pollinators like bees flock to the blossoms.

By autumn, the shrubs are covered with bright red berries that help feed the wild birds well into winter. My bushes produce red fruit, but you can find cultivars with yellow or orange berries as well.

Pyracantha make great defensive hedges because the stems have thorns. They appear in dense groupings of long, spiny, needle-like thorns. The thorns make pyracantha a cheap and very effective barrier against any person or animal seeking to enter. On the other hand, wild birds slip between branches and thorns to build nests inside the hedge because it’s safe from predators.

You can get a red-berried pyracantha shrub from Amazon.

2. Plant Thorny Shrubs Under Windows

You may not want pyracantha under your lower floor windows because birds often leave unwanted droppings from the berries on your windows. But there are lots of other prickly plants to choose from that work well around the base of your house.

Think thorny rose bushes, prickly pear cacti, or even needle bushes as an armed guard to prevent anyone climbing in your windows. Pick plants that work with the sun exposure, soil type, and hardiness zone where you live.

Explore beautiful and protective thorny rose bushes from Jackson & Perkins.

3. Grow Trees That Are Hard to Climb

I love having tall, climbable trees peeking into second-floor bedroom windows like oaks, beeches, or even willows. But if burglars are on your mind, pick trees that are not made for climbing.

In my neck of the woods in France, holly trees grow wild. They flower late in spring, then fill their branches fill with red berries – another good source of food for birds when the worms and insects disappear in winter.

But holly has another great attribute: it is evergreen. Its spiny leaves never drop and they are not kind to animals who would like to eat them or to intruders who may try to climb these trees either. They are lovely and green, yes, but they’re also stiff and spiny. When my daughter was young, she tried climbing a holly and emerged with deep scratches on her arms, legs, and face.

Holly is not the only unwelcoming tree, however. Look for any unclimbable tree, like money puzzle trees or other evergreens with sharp needles and few low branches. California bay tree is another species that offers few low branches. Or try a palm tree, if you live where it is warm all year.

Fast Growing Trees is a great place to shop tons of different types of trees, including hollies.

4. Keep Shrubs Compact

Any burglar that sneaks past a defensive hedge and comes into your landscape will be looking for hiding spots. So it’s a good idea to keep your shrubs, bushes, and inside hedging to 3 feet (1 m) tall or less to make them harder to hide in.

This makes sense as most would-be burglars stand over 5 feet (1.5 m) tall and will have trouble using low-growing shrubs as cover. It’s also reassuring to be able to look over your landscape and feel confident that you can see anyone present.

You can prune existing shrubs to keep them compact, but the best option is to plant dwarf varieties that stay small. Shop a wide selection of dwarf shrubs from Fast Growing Trees to find the perfect one for your yard.

5. Light Up Your Landscape

Many of us like our landscapes natural, romantic, and old-fashioned. But if you don’t mind a little tech, outdoor lighting can work well to prevent home intrusion. Use a motion-activated light, like this highly-rated outdoor security light from Amazon, that is solar-powered for easy setup and good protection in your yard.

If you happen to come in at night, the lights are helpful as well, but criminals on the property will not appreciate suddenly finding themselves in the spotlight. Try one or, better yet, a combination of these smart landscaping tips to prevent unwanted visitors coming on your property without permission.

Another option is to consider a family dog with acute hearing. My own dog Delilah alerted me recently in the middle of the night to two intruders outside my door. Luckily, they were just wild hedgehogs eating the cat food outside my door.

The best garden lighting ideas are key to extending the use of your garden into the evening. At night, an ambient lighting scheme can be used to uplight planting, pergolas, sculpture and water features, creating interesting silhouettes and focal points so your garden becomes a more sophisticated space to enjoy.

Lighting can also be used to make your garden more user-friendly at night. There's a practical element to good lighting as it helps to make your garden a safer place, lighting the way and framing entrances. It can also help to zone different areas for relaxing and dining such as patios and pergolas, or enhance gathering round a fire pit.

Outdoor garden lighting techniques can be used to design a look for your garden at night that will turn it into an enchanting space. There are several tricks that are easy to master and they work by accentuating the features you want to draw attention to. Our expert garden lighting ideas will help you create a wonderfully lit night garden that's a real design feature by revealing how to use these particular effects.

1. Match the Layered Interior Lighting Look

The trend for outdoor spaces becoming extensions of the home means a shift towards intentional garden lighting ideas. An outdoor chandelier can serve as a stunning centerpiece to reinforce the indoor-outdoor link. This covered patio with its elegant overhead lighting fixture makes the space feel more like an indoor room. The fire pit adds another dimension to the lighting, with flickering flames introducing soft layers to the overall look.

Patio areas used for relaxation and entertaining can be lit in a similar way to indoor rooms with statement lighting to add a contemporary look that transforms the space. The trick is to use lighting effects to create an intimate, cozy feel that is an invitation to linger late into the night instead of retreating indoors once it gets dark. This will increase the usable hours of your outdoor living space.

2. Uplight Favorite Accent Plants

When you're looking for ways to enhance your garden plants with lighting the trick is to use the right technique to make it as effective as possible. If you want to draw attention to a favorite area of planting to create interesting silhouettes, copy the techniques used by lighting designers for a natural look that doesn't feel contrived.

Many of the latest ideas feature warm lighting to highlight planting in an elegant way. An effective technique is to illuminate from the base upwards. The technique of highlighting is a simple method that uses directional lighting to draw attention to key features, such as a favorite accent plant. This targeted lighting spotlights the features you want to show off.

Try incorporating strategically placed adjustable solar garden spike lights like these ones from Wayfair or spotlights like these ones also from Wayfair into flower beds or borders to highlight planting. If you choose adjustable heads, you can point the light to illuminate the precise part of the plant you want to show off.

3. Illuminate Rocks & Gravel

The many angles and edges of rocks and gravel create a wonderful range of shapes, shadows and stone tones when lit. Even small rock garden ideas can be transformed into a dramatic night feature by installing lighting. A few well-positioned spotlights will add a suprising new element to gravel landscaping, too.

One of the best ways to light up a rock garden is with solar garden lights you can install yourself. Modern styles like these Outdoor Globe Lights with remote control from Amazon look particularly effective for rock garden lighting.

4. Upgrade a Greenhouse Into an Entertaining Space

A greenhouse can be so much more than simply a growing space, especially if clever layered lighting is introduced to the mix. The current trend is to choose a larger structure that can be used as part greenhouse, part lifestyle space for hosting or relaxing. And what could be more lovely than turning a greenhouse into a dining space for special occasions at night?

Rather than using one or two strong lights, choose a soft and enchanting mix of smaller string lights, pendant lights and candles to maximise the additional illumination offered by reflections on the glass walls. Plus, of course, showcase any greenhouse plants you have growing in the space too. If you entertain regularly, try a voice control function through an app or Google Home Smart Lighting which lets you dim the lights easily to create the right mood for your party.

5. Illuminate Garden Steps to Add a Sleek Modern Accent

There's currently a strong trend for integrating lighting fixtures in steps, decks, retaining walls and other surfaces such as planter boxes. One of the more practical aspects of garden lighting ideas is focusing on paths, steps and any other changes in level to ensure that any routes through the garden routinely used after dark are safely lit. Choose low, directional lighting such as recessed step lights or small bollards to guide the way

This sleek design shows how recessed lights can be used to throw a pool of light across step treads to safely illuminate the surface. The light source may be attached to the step riser or the tread itself by using LED strip lighting like these solar step lights from Amazon. This is especially important if you're looking for clever ways to cope with a sloping garden that has multiple changes of level throughout, meaning it can be difficult to navigate at night.

6. Create an Enchanting Patio Nook

Choose creative garden lighting ideas and you can create an entirely different look for your garden at night that's warm and welcoming. Soft, subtle patio lighting is one of the easiest looks to put together, and will cast a gentle glow that will transform the space into a sheltering nook to share with family and friends at dusk.

The current trend for layering the lighting is essential to get the right feel. Fix easy lights to any overhead structures – you can't go wrong with these Twinkle Star LED String Lights from Target. Add low-intensity downlights, then fix up hanging lanterns to further illuminate your patio seating area for extra warmth and ambience. Subtle uplighting from carefully positioned planters will complete the look.

7. Make a Water Feature Look Magical

Underwater lighting can really help to elevate a water feature or pond at night and turn it into more of a designer feature that is especially lovely if you're entertaining as it adds a party vibe. Lighting also helps make natural swimming pools more visible so it doubles as a safety feature after dark.

If your water feature has fountains or waterfalls, underwater lighting is also effective for enhancing them, especially when used in conjunction with spotlights. Just make sure that any products you choose are designed to be used in water. To get a similar effect to the design above choose a submersible pond fountain light pump kit like this one from Amazon, which adds a warm white glow.

For a quick solution, it's simple to create a DIY water feature with a solar-powered floating fountain, and some have LED lights and a battery to store energy for an illuminated H₂O show come nighttime.

8. Put the Spotlight on Wall Lights

If you prefer a more traditional look, try elegant ideas like wall lights, or wall sconces which project light both upward and downward at the same time. These can be used to highlight architectural features such as porches and garden rooms, as well as planting displays. In this design an antique-inspired copper light enhances the wall-hung planter as well as generally illuminating the space.

Alternatively choose wall light fixtures with a minimalist feel and simple design like this modern Outdoor Wall Light from Amazon, which has warm white LED lights to create a welcoming atmosphere for patios, balconies, and porches.

9. Turn a Tree into a Sculptural Statement

Deciding to light a tree will be one of the best landscaping decisions you make. It's a quick way to bring drama to the night garden, plus it's so easy to do. Try uplighting from the base of the tree to highlight the trunk, which will cast interesting shadows. This idea will work especially well to enhance the sculptural outline of a palm tree.

Alternatively place a light high in the tree, facing downwards, so it casts gentle light through the branches. This is known as 'moonlighting', and gives a calm, dappled effect that feels natural and soft. An adjustable solar spotlight will work well as you can get the angle you desire exactly right. Using a lighting technique like this will have the effect of making your garden feel polished and professional.

10. Give a Seating Arrangement a Warm Glow

You may have heard about the positive benefits of biophilia but may not realise that biophilic lighting has also been shown to help reduce stress and create more inviting spaces. It translates as using the right light so your garden feels like a restful and soothing place.

The delightfully warm amber tones in this design makes it perfect for enjoying the sunset as the lighting imitates nature, feeling both natural and comforting to enhance the scene. You can find outdoor amber LED bulbs here at Amazon. This is also the perfect choice if you want to create a wildlife garden as amber LEDs are far less disruptive to insects and birds.

11. Draw Attention to Repeated Elements

Repetition is a key element in garden design for a cohesive effect. You can use lighting to carry this pulled-together vibe from day into night, by illuminating a regular feature such as a row of pleached trees.

Using the same tone of lighting in multiple spots around your garden will also do the trick. For example, you could use a warm tone to create an amber glow around a fire pit area as well as to enhance a piece of sculpture on a pedestal.

It might be tempting to try a RGBWIC lighting system, which is in effect a more sophisticated update on color-changing LEDs. Combing red, green, blue, and white channels, along with an independent white channel, with RGBWIC you get precise, consistent color.

12. Dress a Pergola with Lanterns to Throw Patterns

Enhance both the functionality and aesthetics of a pergola structure with lighting ideas that utilize the open roof pattern of the struts. Lattice-effect lanterns can be hung from the crossbeams to throw magical silhouettes across the space. Lighting techniques like this help to transform a hard structure into a welcoming focal point that invites people inside.

Use a layering technique, first draping string lights through the rafters for a soft overhead glow. If you have pergola pillars clothed in climbing plants, tuck uplights or spotlights into the base of each one to highlight their texture. Finally, add multiple lanterns, pendant lights or glass globes at different heights. The result? Your simple outdoor pergola becomes an enchanting destination, thanks to the latest garden lighting ideas.

3 of the Prettiest Pergola Lanterns

If you're a dog person, you aren’t likely to want a “no-dogs” garden. Dogs love to be in the backyard on a sunny afternoon, romping around while you pull weeds, or enjoying a nap on the patio.

Is it possible to build a landscape that will welcome your pet while keeping those flowers and shrubs happy as well? A dog friendly garden isn't an impossible dream, as long as you take time to think through the arrangement.

I’ve had dogs all my life and currently travel with my best girl Delilah, a 50-pound rescue pup who feels at home in both my backyard garden in San Francisco and my bigger landscape in Sare, France. I’ve got lots of ideas on how you can make it work.

Letting the Tail Wag the Dog

Some gardeners design their dream garden, then look for some small part of it that can accommodate their dog. Not me. I never make any garden plans without thinking through what will work for Delilah. Some of my friends call the way I garden “letting the tail wag the dog.” And I assure you, it’s easier that way.

That’s because dogs naturally need places to sniff and run and play. Since these pathways must be an integral part of the garden, it’s a lot easier to plan for them in advance.

Doggy Runways

Sometimes dogs amble down the garden pathway, stopping to sniff here and there, then flop out in the sun. But many times, especially first thing in the morning, your dog needs something akin to an airport runway that allows them to dash along and work off some of their energy.

Creating effective dog pathways will not only make the garden inviting to your dog, but it will also keep big paws and sniffing noses out of your herb garden. Make sure that the path is wide and made of tough, stable material. This is not the place to use a gentle groundcover like thyme plants. In San Francisco we installed a flagstone pathway that runs up to the end of the garden, then circles around and comes back on the other side. Compacted gravel or decomposed granite would work well too.

These spacious side paths work well for me too, since it’s easy to wheel up the wheel barrow up wide passage ways. The stone pathways stay cool for dog paws and also look elegant.

Pet Service Areas

One of the big “problems” cited for mixing pets and gardens is the fact that pets use the bathroom outside. You could keep your dog out of the garden completely... or you could set up service areas.

Find a good bathroom area for your pet, far from veggie and herb gardens. The spot should have good drainage and, ideally, slope down and away from irrigation or other water sources. Cover the area with materials that drain well, like gravel, then plant “screening” shrubs to give your pet some privacy. You’ll need to steer away from dog-toxic plants. You'll want something dog-safe with lovely flowers, like hydrangeas or camellias. Install a stepping stone path through the planted area for ease of doggy access.

Patio for Sun and Shade

I have a wooden patio in San Francisco, a stone patio in France. There is a comfy dog bed on each patio plus a bowl of water, and each offers areas of sun and shade. My dog loves to hang out on the patio, moving from sun to shade as the mood strikes her. Sometimes she changes lounging areas from sun to shade then back again every 10 minutes.

I’ve planted shrubs and also trees around the patios to offer natural shade, but even shade from a pergola or an umbrella will work. Both pergolas and gazebos can create lovely shade where dogs can keep cool on hot summer days. The overhead coverage (cover them with grapes, kiwis, or other vines!) give this backyard area a natural, airy atmosphere.

Play Areas for Bouncy Pets

My dog is happy to run up and down the doggy walkways and lounge on the patio. I installed a veggie garden in the center of the garden in raised beds and my dog never romps there or even steps into that area.

But Delilah is quite calm for a young dog, and other dogs can be bouncier. If this describes your doggo, you’ll want to consider creating a dedicated area for puppy to play. The bigger your backyard, the more space you can devote to a fenced play area. Even the smallest dog will need at least 200 square feet (18 square meters) and bigger dogs may need twice that space to exercise.

What to plant in the doggy play area? Use ornamental grasses – they're tough, drought tolerant, and look attractive as play area borders. I’ve seen dog areas rimmed in sunflowers. They also provide food for wild birds when they're mature. But don’t forget that this spot is for the dog, not for guests. So logs and rocks are even better than gorgeous flowers, since dogs can incorporate these natural elements into their play.

Other Great Additions

These are just a few great ideas to add to the “barkitecture” of a pet-friendly garden. But with a little more time and money, you can make the backyard a doggy Disneyland. Try one or more of these and see how happy your canine becomes.

• Water feature – add a shallow wading pool in the dog area. If your dog is anything like mine, they adore splashing and playing when the weather is hot. Some of my friends have put in fountains - elements that both give the dogs flowing water to drink and play in and add beauty to the backyard.
• Tough turfgrass – you can replace your tender green lawn with a tougher turfgrass like resilient bermuda grass. It's renowned for its ability to tolerate heavy use without dying back, so your dog can run and play there.
• Doggy herb garden – some herbs just smell so good that even dogs enjoy passing by. Mint is one such herb that dogs enjoy. Plant it near the dog pathway, together with other safe, aromatic herbs like lemongrass and rosemary.

Barkitecture Essentials

Choosing a color planting palette is one of the first tasks landscaping designers do when creating new garden design ideas. Whether you're planning a new garden, refreshing the planting in an existing backyard, or just reimagining a border, it's a good idea to know your way around color theory before you make any choices about this important garden design element.

When creating a planting palette, first look at the color wheel to see the relationships of colors and how they work together. Colors from opposite sides of the wheel such as yellow and purple, or red and green, create dynamic, contrasting combinations, whereas adjacent colors such as purple and blue are more subtle and harmonious.

Another way to create planting palettes is to choose just one favorite garden color, then use plants in all its various tones such as the full range of blues from dark navy shades to the palest sky blue. In addition to flower color, remember that leaves, bark, berries, and stems all have a role to play as well, when pulling together ideas for garden design planting palettes.

It's well worth learning a little about how different color combinations work in garden design, as you can planting palettes can make a small garden feel bigger, or light up a shady spot, as well as dictate your backyard vibe. Discover how plant color works in garden design, and how particular planting palettes can affect the overall feel as well as improve the look of your flowerbeds and borders. Which of these inspirational plant color combinations would suit your backyard best?

1. Harmonious Hot Tones Bring Warmth and Vibrancy

Choosing colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel results in some of the most harmonious combinations in garden design. Known as analogous colors, a mix of red, orange and yellow, for example, or blue, purple and lilac, brings a look that feels instantly curated.

If you love vibrant color, picking a planting palette based on a 'hot' theme will definitely give you a design that's a talking point. The usual combination is a mix of red, orange, and yellow flowers, but widen the spectrum by throwing in the occasional splash of hot pink and this palette instantly looks more contemporary. The hotter the weather, the better this color combination works.

This design features an intense mix of orange and yellow achillea (also known as yarrow) 'Paprika', dark red achillea 'Pomegranate', and yellow Helianthus perennial sunflower 'Lemon Queen', plus touches of pink from Veronica (speedwell) and Echinacea pallida.

Hot colors look best in sunny gardens as they encapsulate the very best of sun-baked days and fiery sunsets. As light intensity increases, stronger hues such as vivid red and orange appear more brilliant than muted colors. Opt for true colors that will stand out most, and choose pale foliage to fill in behind the blooms to further enhance this intensity.

2. Opposite Colors Can Lift a Gloomy Corner

Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel are called complementary colors. They bring out the best in each other, making each appear brighter and more vivid, so is a useful technique to lift a gloomy corner.

Purple and yellow work particularly well as a planting palette. Rich, dark shades of plum and aubergine are guaranteed to bring drama, and purple looks vibrant during the day and the color intensifies at dusk. Pair with easy-going yellow to create a sumptuous color combo.

In this planting design, dark spikes of purple-blue veronica (speedwell) add a punctuation note to the planting. Choose cultivars like Veronica ‘Purpleicious’ or Veronica 'Royal Candles', available from Nature Hills. The purple planting is enhanced by clusters of flat-topped achillea in a warm yellow shade for a contrasting sunny accent. Choose cultivars like Achillea 'Moonshine', available from Amazon or the equally stunning 'Cloth of Gold'. Both veronica and achillea are great choices for filling garden borders with stunning color.

3. A Single Color Creates a Soothing Statement

A monochromatic planting scheme uses just one color for a dramatic yet cohesive effect. Repetition of one particular color throughout the planting makes quite a statement, but the unity it brings adds a strong sense of calm to your garden design.

The trick is to use different tones of your chosen color to layer interest. If you choose purple, for example, look at adding the full range of tones to your design, from dark notes of plum, grape and eggplant to warm maroon and mulberry hues, as well as pale lavender and lilac shades to offer a cooler edge.

This is one of the easiest planting palettes to achieve. Simply pick your favorite color and work with the various tones it comes in throughout your garden. Do ensure you use the full range of shades available, though, or planting can look flat.

4. White Softens Bold, Brash Colors

White is a useful element to add to a bold planting palette as it softens the effect of bright, brash tones. This means you can use a dynamic combination of flower colors for a dramatic look, but sprinkling white blooms through it ensures it stays highly stylish.

Adding white to your planting palette also makes the garden design feel light and airy. It's an especially good idea if you use your garden mainly in the evening, as white flowers will add a luminous touch once dusk falls. If your backyard is shady, or has a shady spot, then white will bring its own light into a dark space.

In this garden design, red monarda (also known as bee balm) is paired with drifts of airy white gaura in a timeless, beautiful way.

5. Pops of Lime Bring Zing to a Planting Scheme

Bold and punchy lime green is a real asset in garden planting schemes. Lime flowers and foliage can be woven through many planting palettes to freshen it, and its repetition will pull a design together. As a neutral color, lime goes with everything, bringing out the best in other colors and making them appear more punchy. This vibrant color is a standout in shady gardens, too, where it adds brightness.

There's a big selection of lime green plants to choose from, including top picks of Hydrangea 'Little Lime', Echinacea ‘Coconut Lime’, Nicotiana ‘Lime Green’, Zinnia 'Green Envy', and lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis). Euphorbia is a go-to as well for its distinctive lime bracts. In this design, lime-green hydrangea 'Little Lime', available from Nature Hills, is paired with the tall spikes of purple Salvia ‘Amistad’, available from Amazon, to make their dark, inky color radiate more brightly.

6. Silver Foliage Illuminates Any Scheme

Silver-gray is considered neutral in planting palettes and can effectively be used to lighten any color combination. This illuminating tone also brings an elegant note, and creates a backdrop to show off bright blooms or shapely foliage. In the same way as white is used, silver foliage can be woven through planting to brighten shady areas of the garden, too. It also offers an interesting and welcome contrast to classic green foliage.

Pairing naturally with dry garden schemes, silver-leaved plants are often found in hot, sunny climates. In a sun-baked garden, silver foliage plants such as sea holly (Eryngium), Santolina, Artemisia, and lamb's ears make the hotter colors pop and help to pull the whole design together.

7. Neutral Tones Create a Naturalistic Aesthetic

Choosing soft, neutral colors such as cream, beige, soft taupe and earthy tones in the garden creates a tranquil, relaxing outdoor space that's subtle, understated and above all, naturalistic. Think of it as taking one of the all-time favorite indoor decorating themes outside into the garden, where it will work just as well. It's a look that stands the test of time, too, as you're unlikely to tire of it as you might a more vibrant trending color scheme.

A combination of neutral colors brings focus to texture and shape, rather than tone, so this is a great way to bring a different aspect to your garden design. You could use neutrals throughout your garden for a stylish, naturalistic aesthetic, or simply employ the earthy tones of ornamental grasses as a soft backdrop to a punchier palette. These tones are also really useful to tie hard and soft landscaping together for a seamless garden design. Think of it as an easy way to add harmony and tranquility, especially if you're looking for ideas for meditation gardens, courtyard gardens, and outdoor seating areas.

7. Matching Intense Colors Creates a Focal Point

Even if you're using an unusual color combination such as yellow and pink, it will work just as long as you pick equally intense shades of both. Do this, and they'll work happily together in planting palettes to add a focal point to the mix that interests the eye.

Because an intense color combo draws all eyes to it, be careful where you use it. Place it on a far boundary and it can have the effect of making a garden look smaller, as the plants seem closer; but use it near the house and it will make your backyard appear bigger.

Strong yellow flowers include day lilies, coreopsis (tickseed), and the yellow variety of red hot pokers. Flowers with an intense pink hue that can easily match them include bright pink dahlia, hot pink gerbera daisies and dark pink spiky veronica.

Intense Yellow Color Pops

8. Soothing Green Shades Make For a Contemplative Space

It's easy to forget that green is the main color in most garden planting designs! In the plant world, there are more shades of it than any other color, so do consider its effect in your planting palette. In addition to forming the backdrop of most garden designs, it has many positive associations in terms of health and wellbeing, and studies show it reduces stress. It's also a calming color that is easy on the eye.

Green can be used on its own in a monochromatic planting palette, and this is a great option for a small garden as green is a cool, recessive color so will make any space appear bigger. It's also a very relaxing color, so perfect for moments of garden contemplation. The focus in a predominantly green garden often becomes about the shape, texture and sculptural qualities of the leaves, in addition to the range of tones on offer. Interesting plants like ferns, hosta, New Zealand flax, euphorbia and bergenia (elephant's ears) add definition.

9. Cottagecore Pastels Bring a Relaxed Optimism

If you're dreaming of harmonious cottagecore planting featuring hollyhocks and sweet peas, first familiarize yourself with the signature colors of this look: a pretty palette of mossy green, dusky rose pink, and washed out lavender-blue. These faded petal colors are one of the big garden trends for 2026.

As you can see in this pretty design, the introduction of a pop of deeper red, burgundy or purple anchors the mix of lighter pastels. Here, pink coneflowers, pale blue scabiosa pincushion flowers, and green lady's mantle are punctuated by the darker notes of tall shaggy red monarda stems. A cottage garden planting palette such as this feels in harmony with nature and is the perfect recipe for creating a relaxing, quietly optimistic vibe. It will attract plenty of pollinators to your garden too.

Perfect Cottagecore Pretties

Most edging solutions start with a trip to the hardware store. The English edge doesn’t. It’s a hand-cut V-shaped trench dug directly into the turf where lawn meets bed ≠ no materials, no installation, no eventual cracking or heaving. What it produces is a shadow line so clean it reads as intentional from twenty feet away, which is about all anyone can ask from a garden border.

The technique fits naturally into any range of edging ideas worth trying, but it has a few practical advantages the others don’t. It handles drainage differently than hard edging, it’s easier to maintain long-term, and it costs nothing. That combination is hard to argue with.

How to Cut an English Edge

The cut itself is straightforward.

• Push a flat spade into the turf at roughly 90 degrees on the bed side and angle it back toward the lawn at about 45 degrees – that creates the V profile.
• Work in short overlapping strokes rather than trying to pull a long clean line all at once.
• The removed material lifts out in wedge-shaped chunks; shake the soil back into the bed and discard or compost the turf.
• What’s left is a defined inner wall on the bed side and a sloped face on the lawn side, with a channel between them around 2–3 inches (5–8 cm) wide and deep.
• Starting at a corner or a fixed point and working in one direction keeps the line from drifting.

The shadow that forms in that channel is what does the visual work. Light hits the raised lawn edge and drops off into the trench – the contrast reads as a hard line even though nothing is physically installed. Done right, it’s sharper-looking than most plastic types of edging and considerably sharper than the soft, undefined transition that builds up in unmaintained beds over a season or two. Clay soils hold the wall particularly well; sandy soils may need that edge reset slightly more often.

The Drainage Benefit

The trench isn’t just cosmetic. During heavy rain, surface water running off the lawn hits the channel first, rather than sheeting directly into the bed. Mulch that would otherwise wash out onto the turf stays put better, held back by the lip of the trench. The channel absorbs the initial flow and lets it disperse more slowly – useful in beds where compacted soil or slope makes drainage tricky anyway.

Grass roots are the other thing it manages. Turf spreads through stolons and rhizomes running just under the surface, and a physical gap interrupts that horizontal movement in a way that painted lines and shallow plastic barriers don’t. The roots reach the edge of the trench and slow down drastically from exposure. That alone saves real time – fewer hours pulling grass from the front of established perennial beds is a meaningful return on what amounts to a one-time digging job. In beds with aggressive turf varieties, the difference is especially noticeable by midsummer.

Why It's Easier to Maintain Than Hard Edging

Plastic and steel edging both develop problems over time. Plastic heaves in freeze-thaw cycles, cracks under string trimmers, and eventually sits at odd angles that take more effort to fix than to just remove. Steel holds up better but still needs resetting after a few seasons and tends to leave rust staining in lighter-colored mulches. The English edge has none of those failure modes because there’s nothing installed to fail.

Touching it up once or twice a season with a flat spade or a dedicated half-moon edger is a quick task. A long-handled half-moon edger from Amazon makes the maintenance pass faster and keeps the cut cleaner than working with a standard spade – very much worth having if there’s more than one bed to maintain.

The other practical upside: expanding a bed is just more digging. No hardware to remove, no new material to buy, no seam to manage where the old edging ends and the new section starts.

Keeping the Line Sharp Through the Season

Grass will eventually creep back toward the trench – that’s just what turf does. The maintenance pass is about resetting the V profile before that creep becomes visible rather than after it already has. Doing it in early spring before growth accelerates and again in midsummer covers most situations. In warm climates where turf stays active longer, a third pass in early fall isn’t unusual.

Mulch depth in the bed makes a difference here too. Keeping it at 2–3 inches (5–8cm) right up to the edge of the trench – without letting it spill over – reinforces the visual line and slows moisture loss from the border zone where beds tend to dry out fastest. A quality bow rake from Amazon keeps mulch distributed evenly and lets you pull it back cleanly from the trench edge without disturbing the cut. The line stays visible, the drainage channel stays open, and the whole bed looks maintained rather than just planted.

A mid-century modern home has a way of making landscaping look easy when it’s done right. The flat rooflines, strong horizontals, big windows can complement a well-designed landscape beautifully. But it can also create a mishmash that fights the design of your home, if you pick the wrong plants.

Good mid-century modern landscaping works with the clean lines of the architecture instead. It’s restrained, graphic, and plants are chosen for their silhouette as much as for blooms. The selections that tend to work well in contemporary gardens share a few qualities: clean form, year-round presence, and tough plants that stay sharp without much intervention.

The 8 mid-century landscaping ideas below span a range of zones and conditions, so there’s something for every MCM home regardless of climate or site. No matter where you live, you can create a cohesive contemporary aesthetic that enhances the beauty of both your home and landscape.

Mid-Century Modern Plants

These aren’t the only plants that work with a mid-century modern aesthetic, but they’re the ones that often appear in beautifully designed MCM landscapes. Structure is what earns them a spot first and foremost – color is just a bonus.

1. Japanese Maple

Japanese maples pull a lot of quiet weight in mid-century landscaping. Their branching is layered and architectural – even without a leaf on the trees – and fall foliage color runs from deep burgundy to fiery orange, depending on the variety.

This tree is tough to beat, honestly. Weeping or upright both work wonderfully. The choice mostly comes down to how much room you have. If you have a small landscape, you can even grow Japanese maples in pots.

Partial shade is fine, which makes them particularly useful on the north or east side of a house where most sun-lovers struggle. Consistent moisture and a good mulch layer through the first season are about all Japanese maples need – after that they mostly take care of themselves.

Explore an array of wow-worthy Japanese maples from Fast Growing Trees.

2. Feather Reed Grass

Feather reed grass is about as close to mid-century geometry as a perennial can get. It's tall, arrow-straight, and not inclined to flopping. This low-maintenance ornamental grass emerges upright in spring and holds that posture clear through winter, which is more than most other grasses can manage.

Plant feather reed grass in full sun and average soil. Heavy clay and dry spells don’t really faze it, once it’s had a season to settle in.

Mass plants in a border strip or repeat by planting along a fence line. Either way, the repetition is what makes this grass work in a contemporary landscape. Cut it back hard in late winter and it returns looking sharp, season after season.

'Karl Foerster' is a popular cultivar of feather reed grass that you can get from Nature Hills Nursery or Home Depot online.

3. Agave

Drop an agave rosette in a bed of decomposed granite and these mid-century modern plants basically take care of themselves. The geometry is almost too good. Their form stays sharp year-round and some species go weeks without water.

Hardiness varies a lot by species, though, so it’s important to read the tag before buying. Cold-hardy types of agave plants push into zone 5, but others need zone 9 or warmer.

Full sun and fast drainage aren’t optional with agave. Working a gritty cactus and succulent potting mix from Amazon into the planting hole sorts out drainage from the start, which is vitally important for these desert-dwelling plants.

A Century plant (A. Americana) from Fast Growing Trees looks sharp in a pot or planted in-ground, if you live in a warmer climate.

4. Muhly Grass

Come September, muhly grass turns into a cloud of pink-purple haze that stops people mid-stride. That’s the moment it’s there for. That delicate, hazy texture sits well next to harder materials – concrete, steel edging, board-formed walls – which are common in mid-century modern design.

The other ten months, muhly grass is a tidy mound of fine green texture, quiet and undemanding. Heat and drought don’t bother it and neither does sandy or rocky soil. A little neglect suits this ornamental grass just fine.

Get a 3-pack of pink muhly grass plants from Home Depot.

5. Bird of Paradise

In warm climates, bird of paradise is one of the defining mid-century landscaping plants. Those paddle-shaped gray-green leaves and bold orange blooms turn up in practically every California and Arizona mid-century restoration – and the reason isn’t hard to figure out. The form holds year-round, and really all it needs, once it’s settled in, is decent drainage and sun.

In cooler zones, a large container that comes indoors for winter works fine. The foliage is worth the effort on its own. Divide bird of paradise plants every few years to keep them from getting crowded, but otherwise they don’t ask for much.

Pick up a bird of paradise plant from Costa Farms at Home Depot.

6. Mondo Grass

For something low-growing and graphic that holds a planting in place visually, mondo grass does the job reliably. The black variety is especially striking. Its foliage is deep purple-black, especially in full sun to partial shade. Black mondo grass looks more like a design choice than a plant.

Foliage color holds year-round, the plant spreads slowly, and shade doesn’t bother mondo grass at all. That's more than most ground cover plants can say.

When grown between stepping stones or pavers, it fills gaps no other plant will fit. Water plants through the first season, then you can mostly leave them alone – they're not going anywhere.

Get an 18-pack of mondo grass plants from the Home Depot to fill in your landscape fast.

7. Yucca

For cold-climate gardeners who want something with a real desert silhouette, Yucca filamentosa is about as accessible as it gets. This hardy yucca variety can survive down to zone 4 in a lot of cases, which is pretty rare for a plant that looks this sharp.

The leaves push out in a stiff rosette that reads well against a flat mid-mod facade. In summer, it throws a tall flower spike and the rest of the time it just ignores drought, bad soil, and hard winters.

Full sun and fast drainage are the two elements that are necessary to get right. Wet feet from heavy clay soil in winter is a near-guaranteed way to lose a yucca. Avoid that and, otherwise, it’s hard to kill.

Hardy 'Adam's Needle' yucca plants are available online from Nature Hills Nursery.

8. Ornamental Allium

Ornamental alliums give mid-century plantings something most of the other plants on this list can’t – a seasonal moment of exceptional color and form. Those perfectly spherical heads that appear on bare upright stems in late spring look almost unreal, like a landscape architect put them there on purpose. After blooming plants disappear cleanly, which is useful in structured plantings.

Plant bulbs in fall, give them full sun, and make sure they have well-draining soil. Bury bulbs about three times as deep as the bulb is wide. A bulb planting tool from Amazon makes putting in a mass planting of alliums a lot less tedious. It's well worth it to plant en masse because alliums look most striking in groups of ten or more.

Shop spring and summer-blooming varieties of ornamental alliums from Burpee.

If you want to upgrade a garden border, there are lots of easy ways to introduce a new look without replanting and starting again from scratch. Small changes can make a big difference, as you'll see from these design ideas. You can quickly transform the look of a bed by adding a sculptural plant with eye-catching foliage, or planting a climbing vine to scramble up a stylish obelisk, bringing a vertical accent as well as filling a bare space.

One of the most important principles of border design is rhythm and repetition, which bring coherence. So, simply dividing some of your existing border perennials to repeat the plant through a bed will make the whole border look stronger and bolder – and all without spending a cent!

Another key border design concept is to plant in layers to give depth. If your border is small and narrow, layer plants vertically; if it's larger then use the space to plant horizontally. It's one of the easiest solutions to the question of how to create an eye-catching flower garden border.

Which of these quick ideas will help you transform a border in an afternoon?

1. Bring in Wildlife With a Bug Hotel

Any border full of nectar-rich plants is already a pollinator paradise, and adding habitat for bees and butterflies not only helps these critters complete their lifecycle, but adds a clear focus to your border, too.

A bee hotel adds nesting habitat for an array of solitary bee species, and you'll find plenty designed on stakes for pushing into a border. Or you can easily make your own bug hotel with a combination of materials like twigs, pine cones, leaves, terracotta pots and old bricks.

To add more nectar, plant tall and airy wild carrot (Daucus carota) and salvia varieties such as Balkan Clary Salvia 'Caradonna', foxgloves and creeping thyme.

Border Bug Hotels

2. Use Rocks and Gravel to Create a Xeriscape Border

The best border ideas for gardens in hot climates need to factor in plant resilience to cope with extremes of temperature and reduced rainfall. So, if you live in a warmer zone, your borders are likely already packed with drought-tolerant plants that occur together naturally in hot, dry regions.

To bring a new look to such planting, pinch this xeriscaping design idea using boulders and gravel to accentuate the dry garden idea. These pair so well with plants like acid-green euphorbia (spurge), starry blue eryngium, and pops of orange calendulas and daisies, providing a backdrop that makes their colors look even more vibrant.

3. Shape Border Edges With Soft Curves

Curved landscaping makes a garden feel bigger by helping to bounce the eye across the space. Organic shapes work well in contained spaces like borders as they create calm, harmony and flow, especially when you add a relaxed planting style into the mix. This combination gives borders a softer, organic, and more fluid shape.

The curvaceous border planting in this design adds movement and depth. A winding path takes you through the different curved borders so you can appreciate the flowers up close. The big-leaved ornamental rhubarb (Rheum palmatum) together with graceful fern fronds anchor the planting by adding structure, while dark blue iris, pale blue campanula, and pink anemone multifada add graceful touches throughout the border.

If your border sits next to a lawn, it's easy to add curves like this by reshaping the edge. Lay a hose to draw smooth, curving lines, then cut the turf to shape with a half-moon lawn edger such as this from Amazon.

4. Add Pale Blooms to Create a Naturalistic Vibe

Naturalistic border ideas are a big trend right now. A relaxed mix of favorite ornamentals and native plants, this style often conforms to a soothing neutral color scheme of greens, pastels and white.

You don't need to replant your entire border to achieve this look. Simply choosing one standout variety with stylish white flowers, and adding a few plants through a border, will bring a naturalistic vibe. Our pick is the stunning Echinacea cultivar 'Pretty Parasols', available from Burpee. With a long bloom time from mid-summer into fall, they deliver a huge amount of flower power with winsome, swept-back petals in white with a soft flush of pink.

5. Position Planted Containers as Statement Features

There's no rule that says planters must sit on hard paving, and the addition of a supersized container can take a garden border to the next level. It's a fast, easy way to get a layered planting design that looks professional, adding instant polish and making the space feel more intentional. If there are any bare gaps in your border planting, strategic container placement is a simple way to fill them, too.

For the strongest impact, use a tall, sculptural plant such as the small multi-stem Prunus serrula (Tibetan cherry) seen here. Then underplant with lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis) for a layer of texture beneath. If your border isn't big enough for a huge container, use a tall planter with a small footprint and an architectural perennial such as Astrantia as the centrepiece.

Bold Border Statements

6. Add a Small Seating Area that Immerses You in Nature

If you love the idea of timeless beauty and elegance for border ideas, this design embodies the garden style of one of America’s founding cities, Charleston. A reclaimed brick pathway leads to an enchanting seating area enveloped by a border of beautiful planting, immersing you in nature.

If your border is big enough, adding a small seating area is straightforward to do yourself. This garden employs reclaimed bricks but you can achieve the same effect far more quickly by using landscaping fabric, a stabilizing ground grid such as this from Amazon and gravel.

This garden celebrates classic plants such as salvia, roses, hydrangea, and hardy palms. They were chosen for their historical resonance and ability to thrive in Charleston’s climate. The standout plant is Hydrangea 'Annabelle', available here at Nature Hills, which features white mop-head blooms all summer long. Pops of color are added by red Cosmos 'Cherry Chocolate' and purple Heuchera 'Palace Purple', available from Nature Hills. Graceful palms such as cycad (Cycas revoluta) and dwarf fan palm (Chamaerops humilis) fill out the layers with a sculptural note.

7. Introduce a Structural Plant For Focus & Definition

Structural plants form the backbone of any garden border design, providing a strong detail that enhances everything that grows around them. In this design, a sculptural cardoon (also known as artichoke thistle) grown for ornamental value adds shape, texture and height to the border design with its dynamic silvery leaves. It will grow up to 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide, so needs plenty of space to reach its full potential.

There are plenty of more slender architectural plants to choose from to create dramatic presence without losing so much growing space. Favorites include evergreen topiary and ornamental grass Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' (feather reed grass) which reaches heights of over 6 feet tall but has a clump-forming, upright growing habit.

8. Add an Accent With a Sunny Mix of Yellow Flowers

Sprinkling yellow flowers through a border is an easy design trick, whether these cheery blooms work as a complementary color to join fiery reds and oranges, or a contrasting tone to make purple, pink and blue blooms appear brighter. There are plenty of unique yellow garden flowers to grow, and pollinators are attracted to this vivid hue, too.

Favorite flowers for a yellow border accent include lupines with striking spikes of bright golden-yellow flowers, the 'Moonshine' variety of achillea (also known as yarrow), with flat corymbs of lemon-yellow flowers from early summer to early fall, and golden garlic (allium Moly), with its umbels of golden star-shaped blooms on wiry stems in early summer.

9. Contain Your Border with Neat Evergreen Edging

The best creative border edging ideas are the finishing touch for your planting display. The cute mini hedge seen in this garden uses miniature boxwood plants to add a neat edge to a border brimming with hydrangeas, salvias and hostas. It's a little unexpected, set against the flower-filled border, but that makes it stand out all the better, serving as a formal element that accentuates the relaxed abundance of the looser planting behind it.

Low-growing clipped evergreen plants like boxwood and hebe are good for edging borders, plus they add year-round structure and interest.

10. Claim the Vertical Space with an Obelisk & Topiary

In grand classical gardens, topiary and obelisks have been employed as design features for centuries, and they work just as well in a smaller backyard to bring height and sculptural form to borders.

Large clipped evergreens act as a focal point, especially when sculpted into sleek shapes to lead the eye around the space. An obelisk also adds vertical structure and height and is an eye-catching feature in its own right but can also be used to support a well-behaved climbing plant such as a clematis or climbing rose.

One of the easiest ideas is to drop a planted pot with an obelisk like this woven willow one from Anthropologie into a border – literally the definition of an easy upgrade!

If you’ve got a small backyard or a compact urban garden, there are all sorts of clever ways to make it feel larger, many of which are fast and affordable enough to do yourself. Garden designers draw on a catalogue of tried and tested rules to make the very most of a petite plot, using simple illusions to turn the limited room available into an outdoor living space that appears far bigger than it is. Some of these garden design ideas involve days of digging but there are plenty more that are quick enough to DIY in an afternoon.

These eight simple ideas can all be done in a weekend, and one can be achieved in just five minutes! I’ve included some product links for inspiration, so you can start thinking about what would work best in your garden, and to show you how easy it is to put these smart design solutions into practice.

While there are plenty of creative ways to bring style and growing room to a small garden, such as adding an imaginative planter box or using your vertical space with a trellis, all these ideas rely on optical illusions that magically make your brain perceive the outdoor space as bigger. Trying just one of these small-space tricks will make an impact in a compact garden; do all eight and you’ll not only get a light and airy outdoor space, but a designer look on a budget. Which big idea for a small garden will you start with this weekend?

1. Soften Edges Where Hard Landscaping Meets Boundaries

Our brains are constantly churning in the background to work out our position in relation to the environment we’re in. Those points where horizontal ground meet vertical walls are particularly important to this spatial reasoning process. So, by softening that hard line with planting, we will become far less aware of those limiting boundaries.

This garden uses this design principle particularly well by also cloaking the boundary fence with climbers and a living wall, to further blur the distinction between upright and horizontal. You can achieve the same effect by pairing a fast-growing climber that doesn’t scramble out of control with a low-grower that spills and thrills. All Gold Japanese forest grass (Hakeonechloa macra ‘All Gold’) is a super choice for a fully or partially shaded spot (available from Nature Hills), while Feather Falls sedge grass is better for a sunnier spot (also available from Nature Hills). Both thrive in zones 5–9, form mounds of cascading foliage, and are well-behaved enough for a small garden.

2. Paint Fences a Dark Tone to Make Them Recede

It might feel counterintuitive to paint boundary fences a deep color, but creating a dark backdrop works wonders in a small garden. It has the effect of making fences seem further away, and also makes the lighter colors in your backyard seem brighter, whether that’s flowers or furniture as in this tiny outdoor living space.

BEHR Solid Color House and Fence Exterior Wood Stain gives great coverage on wooden fences and is available in many shades at The Home Depot. Espresso Beans is a deep but characterful brown, Slate is a short but stylish step away from black, while Equestrian Green is every bit as classy as it sounds.

Then add some bright, fast-growing annuals for a riot of colorful flowers – job done!

3. Link Your Interior & Exterior Spaces to Blur the Boundary

Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you fit a set of bifold doors – we can all dream, right? – but by linking your interior and exterior spaces, you make both appear much bigger. There are so many ways to achieve this effect, and employing two or three different ideas really amplifies the illusion. In this garden, the outdoor storage cupboards next to the barbecue line up perfectly with the kitchen units, while the top struts of the pergola perfectly match the height of the ceiling indoors.

A super-easy way to achieve this boundary-blurring effect is to choose plant pots that can be used both indoors and out, and fill a couple with houseplants indoors and a few with foliage plants for your patio. Take a look at these well-priced Sun Bleached pots from Threshold at Target and, while you're there, these fabulous modern terracotta planters. Both are effortlessly stylish for indoors and out, yet are distinctive enough to make a big impact and visually tie the two areas together.

4. Demarcate an Extra Seating Area With a Fence Detail

This small table, chair and stool take up hardly any space, yet by the clever use of trellis to frame the seating spot, a stylish new area brings another dimension to this garden. Adding another ‘room’ to your backyard is such a smart way to make a small plot feel bigger, turning an underused spot into an impactful, welcome destination that adds to your garden design.

Another savvy trick employed here is the choice of slight, open-framed garden furniture. Rather than using solid furniture that truncates your view, this bistro set allows you to see the paving continuing under and behind it, so you perceive there to be just as much room as if this seating area wasn’t here at all.

Expandable willow trellis such as this 3' x 7½' panel from Amazon is cheap to buy and simple to fit to a wooden fence. What makes it work so hard to define this seating area, though, is its stylish, eye-catching shape: that’s easy to achieve by snipping the trellis to size with secateurs. This bistro set of table and folding chairs from Ikea would afford the same optical illusion of more space.

5. Hang Up a Mirror to Bring the Illusion of Extra Space

Our brains process so many thoughts every second, we continually make automatic assumptions to make sense of our environment. So while we know this is a mirror hanging on the wall of this small garden, we subconsciously perceive that the garden continues into the space behind the wall.

To achieve the same effect, this shuttered, distressed garden mirror by Esschert Design via Amazon comes in a stylish blue or green finish, while this framed window mirror from MirrorOutlet, also via Amazon, would be perfect for a modern garden.

6. Add an Abundance of Spheres For an Airy Feel

Our brains love to look at spheres and, as you can see from this pretty little garden, an abundance of them makes your eyes bounce from one to the other, creating the impression of a much bigger backyard.

Wayfair has all sorts of spherical goodies at the moment, from fibrestone planters to garden gazing balls, and a fabulous rocking egg chair. And how about planting the biggest blooming balls in town with a Hydrangea Incrediball, suitable for zones 3–9 and available from Fast Growing Trees?

The bulbs you see in this garden are alliums, which are hassle-free to grow from bulbs. The time to plant them is September so pop a reminder in your calendar, and take a look at Burpee’s lovely allium range as motivation!

7. Set Furniture at an Angle to Make Your Plot Look Wider

Your eye naturally follows any straight line and, if you position furniture at right angles to, or aligned with, your boundary fences, that will highlight the shortest distance across your backyard. Move furniture so it sits an an angle to your boundary fences, however, and your eye will draw a line that’s far longer, making you perceive the space to be much bigger.

Sound too simple to be true? Take a look at this cleverly designed garden for a moment, and notice where your eyes travel. I’ll wager your eyes follow the diagonal lines of the seating area or table edge, rather than noticing the boundary fences. Take a second, more objective look and you’ll see that this garden is actually far narrower than you first thought!

8. Employ an Accent Color to Link Your Garden Together

This is such an easy trick, but it works a treat! Your eyes are naturally drawn to color, and we love to find patterns, so using a particular accent shade in various spots all around your backyard will mean your gaze travels between them, all around the garden. And yes, you guessed it, that makes it feel bigger!

Consider what the common colors are among the blooms you already grow, and choose one to be your accent shade. It doesn’t need to be the most abundant color, but opt for a brighter or contrasting tone that stands out. Then all you need do is add a few outdoor cushions, an inexpensive patio rug and a color-pop patio table, sow some quick-to-bloom annual flower seeds in the same color, and you’re done!

Suspending a hanging basket from your pergola is another fast way to add accent color. As well as selecting a variety in the right shade, pick the best fast-flowering hanging-basket plants for your conditions and you’ll get far more abundant blooms.

The standard advice for saving money on landscaping is to buy smaller plants, shop end-of-season sales, and do the labor yourself. All of that is sound advice. But there’s a second tier of savings that most people never tap into.

Many gardeners don’t realize that you can find free or near-free material sources, discounted plant inventory that performs just as well as full-price stock, and cheap and easy-to-grow seeds that make nursery starts look like a genuinely bad deal for certain plants.

Most of this is about legwork, not cost – which is really the whole point of backyard budget landscaping done right. I’ve compiled my top tips for landscaping any part of your yard for a high-end look on even the tightest budget.

1. Check Municipal Mulch Programs

A lot of cities and counties give away free compost or double-ground mulch through recycling centers or public works facilities. They collect the material from yard waste pickup and then process it on-site.

It doesn’t cost anything and quantities are often large enough to cover a full yard’s mulching needs in one trip. The catch worth knowing about, though, is that municipal compost sometimes comes out of the pile before it’s fully finished.

Incomplete mulch material can carry viable weed seeds, so let it sit in a heap for a few extra weeks before you put it anywhere near your beds. Seeds that are going to germinate will do so in the pile rather than your garden.

To find free mulch programs near you and whether they offer pickup or delivery, give your local public works or sanitation department a quick call or check your local city or county website.

2. Search Curbs & Plant Share Sites

Spring garden cleanup produces a staggering amount of perfectly healthy plant material that often ends up composted or curbside. Neighbors may be dividing overgrown hostas, thinning out daylilies, or pulling volunteer plants to make room in garden beds. This leaves mature, root-established stock that would normally cost money, but is now free for the asking.

Nextdoor and local Facebook gardening groups are where much of this free plant material surfaces. Low-maintenance plants like hostas, ornamental grasses, black-eyed Susans, and shrubs appear in a consistent stream, if you’re watching for them.

A plant dug up from a neighbor’s garden is often larger and better rooted than a quart pot from the nursery. That translates directly to faster establishment. The end of the growing season is a time worth monitoring too, not just spring. Fall garden cleanup moves a lot of free plants from neighbors.

3. Ask Landscapers for Leftovers

Landscaping and hardscaping crews end jobs with leftover material regularly. It could be partial sod pallets, extra stone, more mulch than the job used, or landscape edging they didn’t need. You can also find cheap, almost invisible landscape edging from Lowe's, if you're not able to find enough leftovers to surround your whole garden.

Getting it back to their business or to a disposal site costs money and time and a lot of crews would rather hand it off than deal with it themselves. If there’s a crew working nearby, asking about leftovers only takes a minute. The worst answer is no. The best is a pallet of free landscaping stones or a truckload of sod for free or close to it.

Bulk mulch jobs are especially reliable for free landscaping materials. Delivery quantities are rarely exact and disposal fees give crews real incentive to leave the excess behind. Larger hardscaping jobs – driveways, paver patios, retaining walls – are also good ones to approach, since they tend to involve a lot of leftover material as well.

4. Check the Nursery Back Lot

Many plant nurseries and larger retail garden centers keep a secondary section for trees and shrubs that don’t meet standard grading criteria. These plants may have slightly asymmetrical canopies, minor trunk lean, or a lopsided branch structure. These cosmetic issues affect the price significantly, but have little practical bearing on how the tree performs once it’s in the ground.

A tree with a lopsided canopy at purchase will often correct itself over two or three growing seasons as it responds to available light and fills in naturally. A minor trunk lean can frequently be staked and corrected during establishment and a set of tree stakes like these from Amazon make short work of it.

These clearance plants may not be in the main part of the nursery – some facilities keep it entirely out back and you might have to specifically ask garden center employees about it. But savings of 30-50% off top-grade specimens of the same species and size are common.

If you're not able to find what you want in person, look online for sales as well. Fast Growing Trees has a clearance nursery section where you can get high-quality trees and shrubs for great discounts.

5. Use Seeds for Filler Plants

Zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, bachelor’s buttons, and nasturtiums. These are plants most people buy as starts even though starting flowers from seed is the better option.

A $3 to $5 packet of zinnia seeds has enough in it to plant a 20-foot (6 m) long row and produce dozens to hundreds of plants. The same coverage in nursery starts would run well over $100, with each individual plant costing the same as a packet of seeds.

These flowers germinate fast and reliably when direct-sown after last frost with no special treatment and no fuss. The only real trade-off is timing. Buying starts gets you blooms a few weeks earlier. But for anyone not working towards a specific date, that’s not really a big deal.

An assortment of seeds, like this pollinator-friendly seed mix from Amazon, covers several of these species in one purchase and costs a fraction of the equivalent starts.

Burpee has a huge array of perennial and annual flower seeds for just a few dollars per packet. You can find almost anything you want in their wide collection.

6. Buy Bare Root Plants

Late winter to early spring is when bare root plants usually show up in nurseries and from online retailers. You can find tons of trees, shrubs, and perennials sold dormant with no soil and no container – just the plant. That’s where the price difference comes from.

No pot, no potting mix, no greenhouse time can mean around half the cost of a container-grown equivalent of the same species and size. Bare root roses, bare root fruit trees, and bare root ornamental trees are quite common, but there are even a wide range of bare root perennials now, too.

Mail-order nurseries carry species in bare root form that local garden centers rarely bother stocking, which opens up your plant selection considerably. The window to plant is short.

Bare root stock has to go in the ground while plants are dormant, so you need to plan a season ahead. But establishment is comparable to container stock when the timing is right and, on a multi-tree order, the savings add up fast.

Shop a mix of edible and ornamental bare root plants from Jackson & Perkins.

The best sloping garden ideas use multi-level garden layouts to reimagine the space creatively and make it more useable as well as aesthetically pleasing. The key is to view any changes of level as an asset rather than a hindrance, using them to add interest and variety to your garden design as well as making the best practical use of the space.

A garden that is completely level is a rare thing. Some might have a slight slope while others lean towards much steeper level changes, plus there are varying degrees of gradient in between. But any incline is a real benefit to landscape design, as it immediately creates interest and expands possible views. Steps that link different levels can be used as a feature in themselves, while creating several tiered terraces in a steeper slope can bring separate yet cohesive spaces, each with its own function for outdoor living.

Which of these sloping garden ideas will inspire you to make the most of your multi-level backyard?

1. Step Down into a Secluded Seating Area

If your garden slopes downwards, the incline presents the perfect opportunity to create a secluded destination space that's not seen from the house, giving privacy and also a wonderful sense of reveal when you reach it.

The dream garden has plenty of interesting spots to pause or linger in, with different places to sit, eat and relax. This allows you to spend as much time outside as possible, enjoying moments of solitude as well as sharing time with family and friends.

This project features lushly planted herbaceous beds on different levels, creating a layered garden design effect. Inviting, curved steps descend to a sunken seating area enveloped in greenery. The bench offers a place to pause while admiring the beautiful planting.

2. Create an Elevated Focal-Point Patio

When landscaping a sloping site, you'll want to create at least one flat terrace garden area as a usable space for patio ideas, deck or outdoor dining area. While most gardens position the patio or deck next to the house, siting it at the end of a sloping backyard turns it into a statement outdoor living space that feels really special.

This contemporary design introduces a paved space into a multi-level garden, sheltered by a boundary hedge and fronted by beds planted in a muted palette of white, cream and green with just an occasional splash of color. An enticing plunge pool adds to this tempting backyard retreat.

You could attempt to take on a project like this yourself if you're a confident DIYer and have people to help you. But depending on the site and degree of difficulty, building a patio as part of your sloping garden ideas may need a professional construction team to deal with key issues like drainage and foundations (try the American Society of Landscape Designers Find a Firm guide).

3. Anchor a Slope with a Rock Garden

If you live in a mountainous region and you're looking for sloping garden ideas then hillside rock gardens are a natural choice. But for any sloping garden, this design idea can offer a more natural look than a retaining wall. This can be a low-maintenance option, too, as many drought-tolerant plants love growing in a stony environment, especially when rocks are paired with loose gravel. Rocks also provide basking spots for butterflies and other pollinators.

Creating a rock garden and including some steps and low-maintenance perennial planting will make the most of a slope. The key to a design like this is that the rocks balance the plants. Rocks add year-round structure whatever the season, and work like an anchor in your planting design.

It's also a great way to keep the soil where you want it and prevent it moving down the slope. You'll need to dig in any big landscaping rocks so that at least a third are buried in the soil. In this tiered space, stacked rocks offer strong structural appeal and are combined with a cascading waterfall and mixed perennial planting to create a naturalistic composition.

Good Plants for Rock Gardens

4. Build Affordable Gabion Walls

Filled gabion baskets are a cost-effective option to landscape a sloping garden and, if you're dealing with a gentle slope, can be installed yourself. This heavy gauge welded gabion basket from Amazon is a good place to start if you're looking for an easy way in. There is one proviso, however. The steeper the slope, the more likely the need for expert advice from a structural engineer, especially if the gabions will be used as a retaining wall.

As well as being a practical and affordable choice, gabion walls play a decorative role in the garden. They can be filled with a wide range of rocks, crushed concrete, slate or limestone, widely available from companies like Gabion Supply. Why not grow a well-behaved climber or a clematis vine up your gabion wall, or top a pair of gabions with timber to create an attractive bench?

5. Make a Statement With a Wide Sweep of Steps

Incorporating steps into your sloping garden opens up the space and adds visual drama, as well as allowing easy access. Steps should be designed in scale with the rest of the space so, if your garden is large, opt for wide steps to create a statement; narrower steps are better suited to a small garden due to practical restrictions.

Adding a gentle curve to steps lends an element of surprise to a design, and is a lovely way to stage a conversation pit or other relaxation area.

Try framing the steps with symmetrical planting either side, as has been done in this garden with Pink Moon Allium Plants available from Burpee: these have a long flowering season from July through September and are low-maintenance, always a plus on a sloping site. Find out more ideas for plants that grow on slopes too.

6. Plant Groundcover Between Terraces

If you're creating several level outdoor living spaces in a sloping garden, then a creative but extremely cost-effect way to add color and texture in between is to use groundcover plants rather than grass to cloak the slope. This also avoids the often tricky task of mowing steep inclines.

Many groundcover plants can be started from seed in spring, making covering even a big area an affordable job.

7. Hide a Secluded Nook

The sculptural walls in this design swirl through a sloping garden to enclose a calm seating area, sited against a backdrop of generous drifts of planting. A smooth bench carved from oak provides a quiet spot for contemplation and conversation.

The idea of creating a tranquil space works well in the context of a sloping garden, as you can use steps to add a sense of journey. Even better, site the seating area in the furthest corner of a yard with trees that to form a canopy overhead, and the space will feel immersed in nature for welcome garden serenity.

Wooden Benches For Quiet Nooks

8. Grow Layers of Tiered Planting

Another budget-friendly way to make more of a sloping garden is to use layered planting. This means creating a tiered, multi-level planting scheme to stage plants as if they're in a theatre. Use raised bed garden ideas to build up planting pockets to shape the slope and make it work in your favor.

In this design, a series of circular raised beds create a tiered effect. Made from perforated terracotta clay containers, they're filled with low-maintenance and resilient plants such as fragrant herbs, tactile foliage and edible plants. At the heart of the design is a seating area.

9. Integrate Multi-Level Water Features

A big advantage that sloping gardens bring is the possibility of moving water. By creating multiple features for water to drop down, with a pump installed to transport water back from the lowest to the highest, you can create spectacular effects even in a small space.

This is an excellent solution for a multi-level urban garden, which often present awkward small spaces that are difficult to design. Perfect for courtyard gardens and other town gardens that might be affected by noise from traffic and neighbors, integrating a beautiful pond feature with water spouts will add a soothing soundscape as well as being a visual treat.

Enveloped in lush planting, this water feature has transformed a tricky slope into the centerpiece of the garden. Surrounded by shade-loving plants like ferns, the cascading water that begins from a trio of antique waterspouts creates a lush, welcoming backyard retreat.

Feeling your space is your own is crucial to enjoying time spent in the garden. Backyard privacy screening can play a key role if you'd rather not be seen – or if there are things you yourself would rather not see! As well as being overlooked by neighbors, views to buildings or ugly structures can spoil your outside experience.

Creating privacy in your yard is important, especially if you don't want to feel the outside world is invading your space. From fast-growing hedges, layered climbing plants and clever use of trees to retractable roof covers, ingenious containers and inspired boundary ideas, there are lots of simple design tricks that help make your garden feel more peaceful and secluded.

As well as blocking an unwanted view by raising boundary heights or choosing to plant a privacy screen, shift attention to a more absorbing alternative such as an enticing conversation pit or enchanting water wall.

Which of our innovative garden privacy ideas is best for your backyard?

1. Raise a Fence-Line With Pleached Trees

Planting pleached trees along fence lines is one of the most elegant ways to screen your garden. As well as being aesthetically pleasing, it has the added bonus of being a great way to block any unwanted views. It also helps to muffle street sounds.

This type of leafy screen looks stylish as soon as it’s planted too. The lateral branches of pleached trees interlace to form a tall, narrow screen. The slender sculptural trunks and trained branches combine to create the effect of a tall hedge on stilts.

When selecting trees for pleaching, it's important to consider how they relate to the rest of the planting scheme in your garden. Choose trees with an upright habit and pliable branches for shaping. Popular choices of tree for pleaching include hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), beech (Fagus sylvatica), and lime (Tilia). You can also pleach fruit trees such as apple, pear and quince. Fast Growing Trees offers several apple trees that are perfect for pleaching.

The 'Lucas' hornbeam is a sleek tree with a vertical accent that's perfect for pleaching as it responds well to pruning. Find the 'Lucas' hornbeam here at Nature Hills.

2. Choose a Unique Decorative Screen

Careful placement of decorative panels is one of the quickest ways to screen your garden and make it feel more secluded. Choose a material like Corten steel with ornamental laser-cut patterns. The stunning sunburst motif pictured here adds a unique design element to this garden.

When positioned correctly, patio privacy screens can give you much-needed seclusion. It's best to opt for a lattice or fretwork style that allows light to filter through so the space doesn't feel too enclosed. Decorative panels can also double up as boundaries or to zone the garden, adding a creative backdrop that will look stunning paired with vibrant planting.

If you're looking for a more affordable way to add privacy without losing the essence of your space try screens made of natural woven textures like this bamboo fencing, or wicker. Alternatively, try freestanding panels, like this subtle white option from Amazon.

Decorative Privacy Screens

3. Adopt a Layered Planting Approach

The idea of layering a combination of airy privacy plants and materials is one of the cleverest ways to screen your garden. While all are see-through, together they're very effective at blocking a view.

Fast-growing evergreen climbing plants such as Clematis armandii and star jasmine can be used to scramble over a pergola, wall, fence or trellis to soften hard lines and add an extra element to help screen out unwanted views. An added bonus is that evergreen climbers offer year-round cover. Don't dismiss climbers if you have a small garden as there are plenty of pretty varieties that grow fast but never scramble out of control.

Tall multi-stem trees with slender trunks and airy canopies add another vertical screening element without overshadowing the garden. Elegant ornamental grasses are another great asset when finding ways to screen your garden. They can be used to fill in beds and borders, adding depth to the planting, creating a distinctive and attractive vertical accent, and introducing subtle layers that help garden boundaries fade away.

Clumping ornamental grasses like Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' (which grows to over 6 feet) and Giant Miscanthus (over 10 feet) are a great choice if you want to create an informal screen.

Ornamental Grasses for Screening

4. Plant a Fast-Growing Living Screen

Planting a privacy hedge is a great idea if you're looking for affordable ways to screen your garden, especially if you want to attract more wildlife. The good news is you won't have to wait forever if you choose a fast-growing hedge variety. You'll soon be enjoying a lush green screen that blocks out your neighbors and makes your yard feel more secluded.

For fast results, look for hedge cultivars with rapid growth such as American arborvitae (up to 1–2 feet a year), Giant Green arborvitae (up to 3–5 feet a year), English laurel (up to 3 feet a year), and Flame Amor maple (up to 2 feet a year). Do bear in mind that fast growth may mean more trimming, so do check the eventual size of plants to ensure they're suitable.

Alternatively opt for instant hedge screening options that look good within a few hours of installing them. These pre-formed hedge plants are at least five years old and come with 90% of the roots intact, ready for slotting into your garden where they will quickly become established.

5. Sink a Cocooning Conversation Pit

One of the more design-led ways to screen your garden is by introducing an intimate sunken seating area for socializing. Known as a conversation pit, it typically includes features like a fire pit or outdoor coffee table surrounded by built-in seating with cushions.

A modern sunken feature like this is designed with privacy in mind. The idea is to create a comfortable space for gathering that's not overlooked by neighbors. The change of elevation means it will feel especially secluded as any surrounding screening such as trees or fences seem much taller. The seclusion is enhanced with a surrounding of tall delphiniums and lupines.

A simpler way to enhance privacy in a similar fashion is to use raised beds filled with plants as an edging device around a seating area. This will create a similarly immersive quality when you're relaxing.

6. Add Walls to a Pergola

With the addition of thoughtful materials, a pergola can be transformed into an integral design feature that works as a room within your garden. Giving your pergola 'walls' is one of the quickest ways to screen your garden successfully.

For a fast fix, opt for retractable screens that can be adjusted to suit the level of seclusion required. Adding dense vertical planting gives a sense of permanence to your design and lends a 'built-in' quality, especially when greenery is interspersed with bamboo panels or even bricks.

A hedging screen is a good choice for vertical planting. Choose a reliable hedging plant with a close growth habit which can be clipped into a neat architectural shape that doesn't encroach on the space. One of the top choices is privet like this North variety from Nature Hills, with hawthorn and viburnum both viable alternatives.

If the pergola is overlooked by high neighboring windows, a louvred roof that can be closed at the touch of a button is another option to consider.

7. Fill Moveable Planters for Flexible Screening

Lightweight planters on wheels are an inspired idea that lets you move privacy screens around easily according to where you most need them. They let you mask or block specific views to create privacy, in addition to holding the eye and attention within your garden.

Some movable containers come with integral trellises like this Metal Planter Box with Trellis Privacy Screen from Amazon. These are ideal for training easy climbing plants like Coral Star honeysuckle, available from Nature Hills, to give you vertical screening exactly where you want it. This variety has a compact climbing habit reaching 8-12 feet tall, making it a good choice for a vertical garden feature.

Growing graceful ornamental grasses such as Miscanthus sinensis and clump-forming bamboos in a planter add both height and movement, and will grow quickly to form a soft, natural screen.

8. Integrate Sound to Soften External Noise

The stunning blackened ash water wall in this contemporary garden design is a great idea to enliven boundary screening because it introduces an element of sound. Not only does running water help to immerse you in nature, its bubbling, babbling noise makes an effective acoustic barrier against any external din, whether that's traffic or squabbling neighbors. The movement also helps to divert your attention from unsightly views outside your garden by shifting your focus inside it.

The latest beautiful pond ideas can also be used as a way of drowning out the sound of the city and noisy neighbors.

TikTok user @Cherishmd87 recently shared her brave decision with the gardening community on the platform, and it quite literally stopped me mid-mindless scrolling. The video starts off with footage of her front yard, and I thought, “Oh, what a pretty garden!” However, I then read the caption: "Last year I tore out the grass in my front yard.” Wait, what? I was immediately intrigued.

It’s something I’ve fantasized about for ages, but never got around to doing: tearing out the grass in my front yard and replacing it with a beautiful, gently sloping, deer-resistant flower garden. The result was genuinely stunning, and she has the kind of yard that certainly makes people slow their cars down.

If you're in need of some garden gloves before you get started, Target sells these adorable sunflower patterned ones made from canvas.

Here's exactly what she planted, and how to recreate the look yourself.

The Plant List

1. Nepeta

Nepeta is doing most of the visual heavy lifting here. Also known as catmint, it’s a frothy, lavender-blue perennial that spills out softly and smells absolutely wonderful. Deer hate it, pollinators love it, and it looks basically the same all summer. Essentially, it’s a dream plant.

2. Golden Mop False Cypress

This is the structural star of a whole garden. It’s a light, feathery, golden-yellow evergreen shrub that gives your yard year-round visual interest, including in winter. Golden mop false cypress works perfectly on a slight slope as it grows slowly and softly into a rounded mound.

3. Red Creeping Thyme

As its name suggests, creeping thyme creeps along between other plants which fills in gaps that would otherwise need weeding. Even better, it erupts into tiny, deep-pink flowers in the summer. It’s walkable, smells amazing when you brush past it, and it’s completely drought-tolerant once it’s established.

4. Hyssop

Hyssop is highly underrated, and it’s an herb-meets-ornamental plant that seriously earns its place. It has blueish-purple flowers with tall spikes, and stands upright, which adds vertical interest to your yard without looking too wild. Bonus: Bees are absolutely obsessed with it.

5. Salvia

Salvia is the workhorse of the deer-resistant world, as deer seriously hate it and it blooms for several months. The deep blues and purples match perfectly with nepeta and hyssop, which will give your front lawn turned garden a cohesive color story rather than a jumbled mess of random plants.

6. Calendula

This is where some warmth and cheer come in with pops of orange and yellow that will stop your yard from looking too cool in tone. Calendula is old-fashioned in the best way possible, easy to grow, and re-seeds all by itself, meaning you will get more every year without the work or extra cost.

7. Peonies

Peonies are truly show stoppers. When put toward the middle or the back of the border, the big, fluffy blooms can be seen from the street. They only flower for a few weeks in late spring, but like any good love story, those few weeks are absolutely worth it.

8. Lamb's Ear

When I was a kid, I loved touching lamb’s ear due to its velvety leaves, and you’ve probably seen it without knowing its name. In the TikTok video, it’s creeping along the front edges of the sidewalk, and that silvery tone ties together all the different green, purple, and orange hues.

How To Get The Same Look

The reason this front yard is such a showstopper isn’t just the plants, but the layering and the mulch.

Here's the basic formula:

• Tall, structural plants should sit toward the back and middle (false cypress, salvia, hyssop, peonies), low and spreading plants at the front (creeping thyme, lamb’s ear, and nepeta spilling over the edges), with a generous layer of mulch between everything.
• In this case, mulch is doing some serious work. It makes the planting look intentional, suppresses weeds, retains moisture, and gives the whole garden a clean, professionally designed feel.
• This Premium Gold Wood Mulch from Amazon is the perfect color if you're going for the same look.
• The slope from the sidewalk to the house helps enormously here. It means the plants sit naturally at different heights, giving the whole border real depth without all that complicated landscaping.

How To Tear Up Your Lawn?

Obviously, before you plant even one peony, you need to get rid of the grass. Exactly how you do this depends on how much time and money you want to spend.

A budget friendly option is called "lasagna gardening," and it's also the easiest. Lay a piece of cardboard straight over the grass, wet it down, pile compost and mulch on top and let the grass die underneath. The only downside is that it will take a few months, which isn't ideal if you're short on time or not very patient.

You can also rent a sod cutter at Home Depot for less than $100 a day. It slices cleanly under the grass and lifts in up in strips which will give you a clean slate to work with. If you garden is quite large, you can also rent a motorized sod cutter (which will seriously save your back).

Ditching Your Lawn Doesn’t Have to Mean Chaos

This front yard is proof that ditching your lawn doesn’t have to mean chaos or a garden that looks half-finished for several seasons. With the right combo of structural evergreens, tall perennials, some ground covers, and a good mulch, you can create something beautiful.

Plus, no more mowing. Ever. I really can’t stress that part enough.

A planter box is a beautiful way to add more plants to your garden. It gives near-instant results, and the style of planter you choose will add to your backyard vibe. And there are so many ways to use planter boxes creatively in your garden. Many planter designs are purpose-made to fit a particular spot such as a balcony or windowsill, letting you add color and texture to sparse areas of your plot.

Planter boxes can redefine garden areas, too, turning a forgotten patio corner into a lush sanctuary to relax in, or your front yard into a vegetable patch to grow your own fresh produce. Or do you want to add privacy to your patio, or more personality? A planter box is the simple solution.

Be inspired by these planter box ideas and give your garden a fast upgrade this weekend.

1. Create Patio Zones With Wheeled Planter Boxes

Let's start with one of the most useful as well as stylish patio ideas. Using a wheeled planter to define a temporary zone on a paved area, perhaps to outline a seating area when you’ve invited friends or family over, instantly makes your patio into a more versatile space. Or how about using a wheeled planter to grow herbs so you can move it alongside your barbecue or outdoor table to create a dining zone with fresh pickings when entertaining? With a mobile planter box, you can switch up the look of your patio week after week.

There are practical benefits, too. The wheels raise the base off the ground, improving drainage and, by moving the planter regularly, you won’t be left with stained paving.

A good trick to keep a deep planter as light as possible so it’s easy to move around is to put chunks of polystyrene in the base. This also cuts the cost of filling the planter with potting soil.

2. Add Personality With a Painted Wooden Planter Box

Give an old wooden planter box new life with a bold design based on your garden palette. Even if you don’t consider yourself to be creative, it’s simple to paint a design of undulating lines such as this. You’ll need exterior paint, and this DecoArt Patio Outdoor Paint Set, available from Amazon, has 24 small pots of color for a vibrant design. It’s suitable for metal, plastic, concrete and terracotta as well as wood, so can be used for lots of other garden projects.

3. Bring Color With Windowsill Planter Boxes

Windowsill planter boxes are so charming, bringing a touch of romantic whimsy or cottagecore vibes to any home. And don’t fret if you don’t have huge windowsills. All you need are some metal planter brackets like these from Amazon and you can fix a windowbox pretty much anywhere.

The trick to making these slim planter boxes low maintenance is to use a small evergreen like trailing rosemary for year-round structure, then swap in easy-going bloomers like violas, marigold and petunias.

4. Use Ornamental Grass to Create a Privacy Planter

If your patio is overlooked by nosy neighbors, add welcome privacy with a planter of ornamental grasses. The clever idea behind a grass-only planter is that it will give maximum privacy in summer, when you use your patio most, because the plants will be at their peak. In winter, even if you leave the flowerheads for structure, the planter will let more of that precious sunshine through. This also gives maximum shade in summer, and makes for an extremely low maintenance planter.

5. Grow Herbs & Salad Leaves in a Raised Planter

A raised planter doesn’t just make gardening more comfortable, it keeps plants better protected from slugs and snails. Because you can so easily feed and water in a raised planter, you can also pack plants really close together, reducing the back-splash from soil for cleaner leaves. For these reasons, many gardeners choose to grow herbs and salad greens in a raised planter for easy pest-free pickings.

6. Upcycle an Old Wooden Crate or Drawer

Vintage items will bring an authentic, earthy aesthetic to your patio and old crates such as these, stamped with lettering, make such characterful planters. Wooden drawers from unwanted furniture are another ideal option. A lot of vintage items are made from hardwood such as oak, which is a far more durable material than the softwood pine or cedar used to manufacture many modern wooden planters.

It's important to protect the wood from moisture before planting up your box. Drill several drainage holes in the base and apply an exterior wood sealant such as Garden Box Armor, available from Amazon. Then line with strong plastic to keep the soil away from the wood. An old compost bag turned inside out works well, and can simply be stapled to the wood. with holes poked in the base.

7. Claim Your Vertical Space With a Trellised Planter

A planter with a trellis lets you grow climbing vines to create an attractive wall of foliage and flowers. Choose to cloak it with a fast-growing vine that won’t scramble out of control, or why not try growing vertical veggies such as peas or butternut squash? Use the height of the trellis to disguise an ugly wall or to define a garden space.

8. Fill a Planter With Summer-Flowering Bulbs

There are heaps of summer-flowering bulbs that you can plant in spring, and many are wonderfully colorful. They tend to be tender, however, meaning you need to dig up the bulb (or tuber or corm) and store it in a frost-free space over winter, then replant the following year once the weather has warmed up. Growing these beauties in a planter makes it easy to lift them in fall. Some, like these color-pop oriental lilies, can be left in the planter once the soil has dried, and the container simply moved to a frost-free space.

9. Adorn a Balcony or Railing With Spilling Foliage

It takes seconds to cheer up a balcony or railing with a hooked planter box, and when it needs some TLC, it’s super-easy to hook off again. The elevated position offers the opportunity to grow trailing plants for a cascade of lush leaves, and it’s a quick task to swap low-maintenance annual blooms in and out if you want to add some color.

10. Plant-Block With One Species Per Planter

Garden designers love to create blocks of the same plant for a modern look, and this idea works just as well in planters as in the ground. It's extremely low-maintenance, too. Choose evergreen plants that will look good year-round for some of the planters. Broadleaf evergreens have wide, flat leaves that are often waxy so reflect light, for wonderful texture. Add in a low-maintenance flowering plant that has plenty of petite blooms, such as lavender or Erigeron, for a similar texture treat.

11. Make a Veggie Patch in a Forgotten Corner With a Metal Planter Box

Metal planter boxes without bases are cheap, cheerful, and allow you to create a productive vegetable garden in a small space. They look smart, too, so why not put your front garden to good use, and start growing the freshest veggies with zero air miles? Without a base, these planter boxes are positioned straight onto the ground, meaning plants can access the nutrients and moisture in the soil.

To cut the cost of filling a veggie bed with soil, put a layer of straw in the base. This will also provide plants with a steady supply of nutrients as it slowly rots down.

Small gardens can be weirdly frustrating, and making them seem deeper can be even more frustrating. You move things around, swap plants, add a new pot or two, and when you finally stand back to admire a fuller spectacle, it can look… basically the same. Not bad, just not bigger or deeper. It’s that quiet moment where you start wondering why nothing you change seems to change how the space actually feels.

The thing is, the secret to making a smaller space seem deeper or longer isn't necessarily about manipulating the square footage itself – it’s in the science of perception. By treating your garden like a landscape painting, you can use color to create depth without moving a thing. This small garden idea isn't just a gardening whim; it’s a concept called atmospheric perspective, deploying a mix of hot colors and cold colors in particular places to convey the impression of distance.

Think about a mountain range in the distance – the peaks closest to you are vibrant and sharp, while the farthest peaks look hazy, pale, and blue. Brains are hardwired to associate "blue and blurry" with "far away" and by mimicking this in a 20-foot garden, you’re essentially hacking your brain’s depth perception. You’re painting a 3D landscape where the plants do the heavy lifting for you, making the fence line seem to melt away into a distant horizon. Here’s how this clever color trick can be used in your yard to create the impression of more depth and length.

Can Color Make a Yard Longer?

Small gardens don’t usually feel small simply because of measurements. They feel small because your eyes hit the edges of the boundary too fast and just stop. What’s interesting is that your brain is already used to reading color as distance, even when nothing is actually moving. Certain shades naturally pull forward, while others drift back, and that split-second interpretation shapes how big a space seems before you ever think about square footage. When it comes to small garden landscaping ideas, this is one of the easiest ways to make more of your space.

Cold and hot colorful plants tap into that instinct in a powerful way. By shifting where stronger and softer tones sit in the yard, you can stretch how far the garden appears to go, even though the fence hasn’t moved an inch. It’s the same visual shortcut your brain uses outdoors every day, just applied on purpose – so it is possible to suggest depth using perception instead of physical expansion. If you deploy a warm and cool palette in sequence, you manipulate how that space is interpreted and felt.

Warm tones near the front of a yard pull focus and feel closer, while cool tones at the back make things seem to recede into the distance. Smart small garden design ideas often rely on tricks like this, using perception to make spaces work harder. This hot and cold color trick is easy to achieve in your own yard.

Stick to a palette of blues, purples, and whites at the far end of your garden, with contrasting warm tones at the front. Colors like reds and oranges advance toward the eye, while cool colors recede, making your back fence, hedge or boundary feel significantly further away. Use this front-to-back planting idea to stretch your garden’s footprint using just plant color combination and texture to create a spacious feel.

1. Warm Colors Near the Door

This is the first part of the hot and cold trick, building depth through color. Warm tones near entrances create instant impact and draw the eye inward. To make the foreground feel solid and close, you want to plant reds, oranges, and hot yellows within the first 6-10 feet (1.8-3m) of your main viewing area (like a patio or back door). These colors are energetic "advancing" colors – they demand attention, anchoring the foreground, and establishing the starting point of your visual journey.

• Bold Blooms: Plant black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’), orange coreopsis, or fiery red salvia (Salvia splendens) like these vibrant Park Seeds’ Vista Fire Engine Salvia Seeds from Amazon for front row energy.
• Warm Tones & Weighty Foliage: Use plants with chunkier leaves or bronze tones to anchor the space. Think bronze heuchera (like ‘Caramel Coral Bells’ from Nature Hills) or the dramatic, broad leaves of Canna lilies (Canna indica).

For the middle section of the yard, between the hot and cold areas, good colors to incorporate tend to be soft pinks and pale yellows. Choose Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’ (coneflower), Achillea millefolium ‘Moonshine’ (yarrow), and Rosa ‘Apricot Drift’ to create a natural, effortless visual transition that organically helps take the eye into a very different “color zone” in yard.

2. Cool Horizons at the Back

While warm colors rush forward, cool tones like lavender, blue, and silver are receding colors. When placed at the back edge of the garden, they carry a soft, hazy quality that makes them feel further off, even if the reality is that they are only a few steps away. Fence lines will seem to dissolve. Cool blues, pale purples, and silver grays effectively push the boundary line back visually, so it feels like it's retreating into the distance.

• Haze Makers: Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), dusty miller, lamb’s ear, and catmint (Nepeta × faassenii ‘Walker’s Low’) are the kings of distance. Their airy textures mimic the look of distant hills and evocative space. You can buy Nepeta Seeds from Amazon for soft hazy mounds of cool color.
• Cool Classics: English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’) and blue fescue (Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’) add that pale, washed-out tone that screams distance to the human eye.

Avoid planting bright reds or oranges at the very back of your yard. They rush forwards visually, break the illusion, undo the depth you’re trying to convey, and bring that boundary crashing forward. Try Clovers Garden Russian Sage from Amazon for a reliable back-zone performer.

Your Quick Color To-Do List

Ready to stretch your space the easy way? Here’s how to use this specific garden color palette with changing tone and texture to play with perceptions. Follow these steps to transform your garden’s visual runway:

1. Define Your Sightline: Stand at your back door, patio, or main viewing point. Identify your "end point" (this is usually the back fence). Draw an imaginary line between from your feet to that furthest point – this is your axis of depth.
2. Anchor the Front: Within the first 6 feet (1.8m), place your largest-leaved, brightest plants for the “hot” zone – the heavy hitters, if you will. The larger the leaf and bolder the color, the closer it feels. Choose large-leaved plants like hostas (Hosta sieboldii) and cannas, and thick shapes like sedum rosette swirls. This gives the foreground some weight. The larger the leaf and distinctive plant shape, the closer it will feel. Try stunning chartreuse ‘Stained Glass’ Hosta from Nature Hills.
3. Create the Gradient: Clear out any hot colors (reds and oranges) from the back of the garden and move them towards the patio or front of the visual space. This instantly stops the back fence from jumping toward you. Your middle space can be filled with pinks and softer yellows, shifting to cooler blue and silver at the back.
4. Blur the Boundaries: Plant your fine-textured “haze” plants (like Russian sage, feathery fennel, Mexican feather grass, or Blue Fescue ‘Elijah Blue’ from Nature Hills) against the back boundary. This softens the hard line of the fence and makes it look like the yard continues into a suggestive distant mist (just like those mountains).

Foliage color keeps the effect going even when flowers aren’t in play. Blue-green leaves tend to slip into the background, while gold and bronze shades step forward. When you blend both through your planting layers — warmer foliage closer, and cooler, silvery tones behind — the yard keeps its sense of depth long after the blooms fade. So space still feels stretched and layered across the seasons.

Hot and Cold Tricks with Lighting

Lighting amplifies color in garden design, and it can amplify the hot and cold trick when placed strategically. Placing warm-toned uplights near the front will highlight foreground plants and make them pop even more at dusk. Keep these lights low and focused – 3000-2700K bulbs cast a warm, advancing glow that reinforces your color palette. You can buy Mancra 3000K Lights from Amazon for the front of the yard.

Cool-toned lights at the back serve to do the opposite to help with your distancing trick, reinforcing the "warm-near, cool-far" color science after the sun goes down. Blue-white LEDs (5000K or higher) or moonlighting through the back trees will mimic natural distance and make rear boundaries recede further. Try cool-toned Kohlrabi Blue Firefly Lights from Amazon for the back boundary.

Don't overlight the back: just keep it subtle and mysterious, so the eye reads it as distant rather than spotlighted. The contrast between well-lit warm foreground and dimmer cool background stretches perceived depth significantly, especially once the sun drops and the garden color palettes shift into shadow and glow. Position lights behind silvery foliage for that extra hazy effect.

Other Ways to Stretch Yard Space

This hot and cold color trick is a fantastic way to create visual shorthand in your yard to create space, but why not add some of these landscaping power-moves to double your distance?

• Mirror Illusion: Mount a weatherproof garden mirror in a side fence, framed with climbing ivy. This portal effect suggests an “Alice in Wonderland” style secret doorway, indicating further space lurking just beyond the yard you can see. Try an arched mirror like the Ebern Designs Arched Wall Mirror from Wayfair.
• Curved Pathway: Add a path that curves as it heads towards the back of your garden. A slightly curved path, maybe made of stepping stones like fake slate Arlmont & Co Decorative Stepping Stones from Wayfair, creates a longer "journey" for the eye than a straight line, making the back boundary line feel further away.
• Vertical Gateways: Install a slender garden arch or pergola, like the Adorox Trellis Metal Arch Frame from Amazon, halfway down the yard. Walking through something makes the brain register that you’ve traveled a bit more distance, making the yard feel segmented and long, and suggests the illusion of multiple garden rooms.
• Focal Point Placement: Place a specimen tree or birdbath about three-quarters of the way down the garden, rather than right at the end. This gives the eye a rest stop before it hits the back, stretching that visual journey before the destination.

Remember, your color gradient from hot (front) to cold (back) doesn't need to be perfect. The trick works because of the overall impression, not a rigid adherence to color charts. Start by identifying your main viewing point, map your zones, and let the colors do the heavy lifting. Adjust based on what actually grows well in your conditions, and factor in light and shade.

A few warm accents mid-garden won't ruin the effect, as long as the overall pattern flows from hot to cool. You'll be amazed at how a few shifts in the palette with this hot and cold trick can make your weeny yard feel like it finally has room to breathe.

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The golden ratio hides in plain sight across nature and art, guiding eyes toward effortless harmony. These principles have guided artists and architects for centuries, from the Parthenon to the masterpieces of Leonardo da Vinci. Regardless of your garden's size, these divine proportions translate surprisingly well to modern planting schemes, too.

Used thoughtfully, the golden ratio layers beautifully over even the simplest space, transforming it into something that feel instinctively pleasing and balanced. Think of it as one of the golden rules of gardening, in fact – adding subtle polish to all types of spaces, from sprawling rural beds to tight urban courtyards. New garden beds will look established much faster, while mature plots will feel instantly refreshed.

The same divine proportion that makes a painting feel right can turn a jumbled bed into something effortlessly pleasing. Once spotted in action, the difference stands out clearly, and spaces flow instead of fighting for attention. So why not use the golden ratio to take the guesswork out of garden design? Here’s how the golden ratio works – and how to make it work for you.

The Mona Lisa Factor

Certain borders pull gazes smoothly from one plant to the next. Others can look distractingly cluttered or bafflingly empty, despite having similar plants. The difference often comes down to underlying proportions that echo patterns found everywhere in nature.

Leaves, petals, and branching patterns often follow the Fibonacci sequence – a series of numbers where each is the sum of the two preceding ones. We don’t usually notice the math, but our eyes recognize those rhythms and settle into them naturally, and they appear frequently in nature. Sunflowers pack seeds in divine proportion spirals, and pinecones follow the same geometric logic.

Leonardo da Vinci placed the Mona Lisa's face along golden ratio lines to create a magnetic balance that still captivates centuries later. Garden designers borrowed this for Renaissance parterres, spacing hedges and fountains to guide movement. Today, whether you are designing a formal boxwood knot garden or a breezy perennial flower bed, you can also use these ratios so your space feels composed rather than chaotic.

What is the Golden Ratio?

Balanced garden layouts often borrow patterns straight from nature, even when nobody's out there with a calculator. The golden ratio is roughly 1.618 (that's 1 plus the square root of 5, divided by 2 if you're curious). This might sound technical, but the beauty is you never have to crunch numbers to make it work.

The trick boils down to skipping even splits. Instead of placing a focal point (like a bird bath, a bench, or a large flowering shrub) dead center in your yard or planting space, nudge it to a 60/40 spot along a bed. This slight asymmetry is more dynamic and natural to the human eye.

An even simpler shortcut is the rule of thirds. Imagine your space sliced into a grid of nine squares, then drop key elements where those lines meet. Similarly, using Fibonacci numbers (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13...) explains why certain groupings hit differently. Three shrubs, 5 pots, or 13 bulbs settle in more comfortably than just throwing down random even numbers in a yard. Arbitrary even-numbered items can look stiff.

Historic formal gardens used clipped boxwood in precise ratios for symmetry and grandeur. Knot gardens wove herbs in interlocking spirals following the sequence. Today's soft and informal cottage garden styles keep those underlying proportions, and drifts taper width-wise at golden divisions for gentle transitions. Contemporary minimalist plots rely on hardscaping ratios for clean lines and negative space emphasis.

A Simple Approach to Visual Harmony

A practical start way of approaching a typical backyard, planting space, or garden border is to shoot for a 60/40 split. In a border, this could mean taller anchor plants like upright eucryphia or towering Joe Pye weed claiming the back 60 percent of the depth, with lower-growing fillers handling the front 40 percent.

Container gardens and arrangements also shine when these rules and ideas are applied. So 3 or 5 pots of varying heights create a rhythm that draws the eye upward in a way that tidy pairs cannot manage. In the border, repeating colors or textures in these odd counts can keep a scheme from looking overplanned. Heights can drop from strong anchors in the back, stepping down in loose ratios towards the front, copying the way plants might layer on hillsides or woodland edges.

So while we are talking about a rule, we aren’t suggesting that your yards need to look meticulous or overly defined (unless that is your taste, of course). The goal isn't mathematical perfection, but a relaxed, flowing proportion that allows the garden to settle into its surroundings in a subtle but balanced way.

Golden Rules for Gardening

To adapt these classic principles for your own plot, don’t stress the math too much. This is just about giving you a fun and satisfying way of adding balance to beds and borders – so just factor in some of these simple ideas:

• Mapping the Sweet Spot: Measure your border length and mark a point at roughly the 60 percent mark. A flexible measuring tape like the Vaxato Pi Measuring Tape from Amazon can help. This point is your golden ratio anchor point – the perfect place for a specimen tree, a large architectural plant, or a garden bench.
• Tiered Planting: Follow the 60/40 rule vertically. Use the rear percent of your bed depth for tall structures like delphiniums, foxgloves, or ornamental grasses) and the front 40 percent for lower-growing edgers like nepeta, heuchera, or hardy geraniums.
• Curving Paths: If you are laying a pathway, avoid straight lines. Curve the path in a gentle arc that widens slightly as it reaches a focal point. This mimics the golden spiral found in seashells, slowing the pace and inviting exploration.
• The Power of Odds: Group plants in 3, 5 or 7. For instance, 5 lavender plants can create a drift that feels like a natural colony, whereas 4 plants can look like a line of soldiers. Grouping 5 alliums (like 'Purple Sensation') creates a rhythmic pop of color that feels more intentional than a single lonely bulb. Grouping containers in 3 or 5 graduated sizes, like this Fcacti Terracotta Pot Set from Amazon, can create rhythm.

Putting This Ratio into Practice

If you’re still unsure where to make those key changes in your yard that can draw admiring comments from friends and neighbors, try these ready-made plant trio combinations. They use the height sequencing and texture rules we’ve discussed to create instant harmony:

• Sunny Golden Border: Your thriller (back 60%) can be feather reed grass like ‘Karl Foerster’ from Nature Hills for vertical height and movement. The filler (mid 30%) can be rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ for a solid block of color. For the spiller (front 10%), try Mexican fleabane to soften the edges with tiny, daisy-like flowers.
• Lush Shade Retreat: Choosing alpine wood fern as the thriller (back 60%) creates a bold backdrop. For the filler (mid 30%), try a hosta like ‘Halcyon’ from Nature Hills as its broad, blue-toned leaves contrast perfectly with ferns. Then for the spiller (front 10%), Japanese forest grass drapes over the edge like a golden waterfall.
• Low-Maintenance Gravel Bed: Try Verbena Bonariensis Seeds from Burpee for your thriller (back 60%) for tall stems that don't block the view. For the filler (mid 30%), grow Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ for deep purple spikes for structure. For the spiller (front 10%), Sedum spurium ‘Dragon’s Blood’ is a hardy, ground-hugging succulent.

When to Break the Rules

Strict ratios can feel rigid with a wilder aesthetic. In a wildflower meadow, it’s good to embrace a little chaos, where seeds scater freely and surprises emerge yearly. In small spaces, tiny balcony gardens limit divisions. Simple symmetry or bold singles are best when space is limited, and more helpful than forcing math into cramped quarters.

Personal taste should always trump formula, and an "imperfect" garden can evoke its own special, unique character. Overthinking proportions can stress more than helps sometimes, especially in evolving spaces with unpredictable growth.

Nature rarely hits exactly 1.618, and slight variations add the movement that rigid adherence misses. Gardens evolve and ratios may need to be refined over seasons as plants fill or spread beyond plans. So use the ratio as a guide, not a ruler, and embrace the happy accidents like unexpected self-seeding flowers that break your patterns with spontaneous joy.

Other Ways to Use Numbers

The golden ratio is a fascinating way to create balance in a playful manner, but it is by no means the only way to adapt your yard with numerical shortcuts. Here are a few other ways to use numbers to bring harmony, depth, rhythm, and visual order to your yard:

• The 70/30 Color Rule: For a harmonious color palette, try using a primary color for 70% of your plants (shades of green and white) and a punchy accent color for the remaining 30% (purple or hot orange).
• Triangulation: Instead of planting in a straight line, plant in triangles. Placing 3 identical shrubs in a triangular formation creates depth and makes a small border feel much wider. Placing a trio of identical boxwood balls or silvery lavender mounds in a triangular formation creates depth and makes a small border feel much wider.
• Height Sequencing: Aim for 3 distinct layers: the thriller (the tall, dramatic centerpiece), the filler (mid-height mounding plants), and the spiller (low plants that tumble over the edge of the bed or pot).
• The Power of 3 Textures: To make a corner of the garden pop, combine 3 leaf textures: one bold/broad (like hosta), one fine/wispy (like Mexican feather grass), and one medium/serrated (like a rose).

Finding Your Own Balance

The golden ratio is simply nature’s way of showing us what it likes. By borrowing these proportions, you aren't just following a math rule – you’re tapping into a design language that humans have loved for millennia.

But remember, the most important element in any garden isn't a number – it’s you. Use these divine proportions as a helpful scaffold to build upon, but don’t be afraid to let a stray poppy grow where it wants or to keep a rule-breaking bench exactly where you like to sit and drink your morning coffee. After all, the most harmonious garden is the one that makes you want to spend time in it.

Golden Measuring Kit

The golden ratio gives you the basis of a gentle framework, rather than a rigid formula. Apply loosely to your landscaping and hardscaping plans for harmony that feels organic rather than engineered. These measuring tools can help you achieve balance, order, and accuracy in your yard:

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Interior designers swear by one dead-simple color rule that makes rooms look polished and intentional – now gardeners are borrowing it to craft borders that feel vibrant, balanced, and effortlessly stunning without the usual clash or chaos.

What is it? It's called the 60-30-10 rule.

The 60-30-10 rule makes choosing garden colors simple, with a striking result. It helps avoid the common pitfall of too many competing shades that can make beds feel messy, scattered, or oddly flat. Borrowed from interior design, it gives gardens a polished, intentional look – no art degree required!

Many gardeners wrestle with color harmony, often juggling too many shades that clash or sticking to safe greens that feel dull. Gardening with color lays good groundwork, but this rule adds instant structure, turning trial-and-error into confident, cohesive planting that draws compliments every time.

What Is the 60-30-10 Rule?

The 60-30-10 rule divides your palette into three clear parts – 60 percent dominant (usually green foliage as the calm backbone), 30 percent secondary (a supporting bloom color for interest), and 10 percent accent (bold contrast for excitement). It mirrors how eyes process visuals, resting on the majority while enjoying highlights without overload. The percentages aren't rigid – think of them as rough guides that flex with your space and style.

The simplicity lies in restraint – fewer colors mean stronger impact. Interior designers rely on it for rooms that feel curated. Using it in the garden lends the same intentional polish, making even beginner layouts look thoughtfully designed.

Why it Works So Well in Gardens

Green dominates naturally in foliage, making the 60 percent easy to achieve. Think evergreens, grasses, and hostas form a steady base that stays attractive even when flowers fade. The 30 percent secondary introduces your main theme – cool purples with lavenders and catmint for serenity, or warm oranges with geums and crocosmia for energy that lifts spirits on sunny days.

The 10 percent accent delivers thrills – bright red scarlet sage or hot pink dianthus, popping against the greens without chaos. The ratio prevents clutter; eyes rest comfortably on the dominant while the accents surprise pleasantly. It adapts across seasons – foliage carries winter structure, secondary blooms peak in summer, and accents punctuate transitions like spring flushes or autumn tones.

Applying the Rule Outdoors

Start with dominant greens – about 60 percent shrubs or perennials like boxwood, ferns, or ornamental grasses for structure through seasons, anchoring the layout visually and providing year-round framework that hides bare soil.

Layer 30 percent flowering support – roses in soft pink for romance, blues with agapanthus for cool calm. Space evenly for rhythm and repeat varieties for cohesion across longer beds.

Add 10 percent thrill – yellow coreopsis or scarlet zinnias for punch. Cluster accents sparingly for impact, placing near paths or entries where visitors notice first.

Plant and Palette Ideas

Cool schemes: hostas and ferns as the base, blue salvias for the middle layer, and white astilbe as accents for serene shade that feels calm and layered.

Warm palettes: chartreuse grasses as dominant foliage, orange helenium as the secondary color, and purple verbena for contrast in sunny borders that buzz with pollinators.

Monochrome twists: varying greens for dominance, silver artemisia as the secondary tone, and lime heuchera for subtle accent in modern plots with clean lines and low maintenance.

Containers and Hardscape, Too

You can even follow the rule with your containers! 60 percent neutral terracotta like these pots from Amazon, 30 percent colored glazes like these from Amazon in a secondary tone, and 10 percent bright accents like these pots from Amazon for punch. Group in odds for flow and vary heights for dimension that mimics natural drifts.

Paths or benches in dominant tones ground the space quietly, avoiding visual competition while guiding movement smoothly. Furniture sized proportionally blends without dominating views or crowding plants.

When to Tweak or Ignore the Rule

Wild meadows thrive on chaos – skip strict ratios for natural scatter and yearly surprises from self-seeders that add biodiversity and unexpected charm.

Tiny spaces sometimes benefit from simplified palettes where a single dominant color carries the whole design without visual clutter.

Personal favorites always win – lean into colors you love even if they nudge the balance off, because gardens should feel personal, not textbook-perfect.

Seasonal Planting Makes the Rule Even More Powerful

When choosing your 30 percent and 10 percent colors, think about bloom timing, not just hue. A border can follow the rule perfectly and still feel dull if everything flowers at once, then disappears. Mixing early, mid, and late-season bloomers within your secondary and accent colors keeps interest rolling for months.

Spring bulbs can serve as early accents, summer perennials take over the middle stretch, and late bloomers or foliage color carry things into fall. This staggered approach keeps your palette consistent while the cast of plants quietly rotates, making borders feel fuller and more dynamic without changing the overall design.

For many of us, winter is a time when a raised bed becomes a receptacle for old plant matter, relics from summers past, hastily discarded empty pots – and questionable-looking soil. Believe it or not, knowing how to prepare raised beds for winter is a huge win for future planting. And your raised beds deserve so much more than to spend the next few weeks as glorified boxes for bad weather and stubborn weeds.

Now we're past the final straggly tomatoes and spent annuals, it’s tempting to turn our attention indoors, and focus on festive plants like poinsettias or great ways to use evergreen trimmings around the home (guilty as charged, your honor). But this time in the gardening calendar is a golden opportunity to elevate your raised bed horizons. Raised gardens are a vital asset during winter, as they drain better and warm up faster than in-ground plots. Neglecting them means they are left vulnerable to erosion, nutrient leaching from heavy rain, and compaction from snow.

These quiet months are your chance to nurture some timely crops and soil boosters, support local wildlife, and optimize growing conditions for next year, setting yourself up for lots of fresh growth when spring arrives. The following jobs are geared towards preparing raised beds for winter and early spring. So carve out some time between the tree decorating and mantel displays for this vital 5-point action plan.

5 Easy Jobs for Raised Beds in Winter

There are a few approaches to making more of your raised beds during this quieter time. It’s a chance to replenish and rejuvenate the condition of the growing medium, excising any residual issues ahead of the new planting year. You can do this either by protecting the ground by introducing a physical barrier, or by making soil amendments. You can also tackle active growing projects, both to enhance the quality of the ground and cultivate raised vegetable garden plants for harvests. Raised beds can even be deployed as a way to support (and enjoy) local wildlife.

Several tasks are cheap, or free, and some involve using organic matter you may already have. The best part? Almost all of these jobs are fast, most only taking a weekend afternoon. You get an immediate benefit by protecting your soil from plummeting temperatures and heavy rain, and a massive benefit next year with fewer weeds, earlier planting dates, and quicker growth. Whether you’re growing at scale or in small raised garden beds, this is a brilliant ‘pay it forward’ scheme, where you benefit directly and in volume later for small efforts now. So do take time to tick off these important winter tasks!

1. Cover to Protect Soil

For many of us, winter is about dodgy weather. Extreme cold, heavy snow, unforgiving rainfall, and drying winds can all take their toll on exposed raised bed soil. Because raised beds are elevated, they freeze faster and dry out quicker than solid ground. Exposure to the elements can ravage the contents, leading to leaching and erosion. Even simple protective covers for raised garden beds can make a world of difference. Before you cover raised beds in winter, do pull out all the dead plants, weeds, and debris left over from the summer.

The most effective cover is a mini greenhouse or cold frame. These structures sit directly on top of your raised bed and create a microclimate, trapping solar heat and insulating the soil. You can use cold frames, mini cloches and small greenhouses creatively to keep soil protected, and optionally protect anything you choose to grow. Models with twin-walled polycarbonate are ideal. Twin walls offer superior insulation, making them highly effective against deep freezes. Try the following:

• Hinged Cold Frames: Lift-up polycarbonate lids allow easy access and ventilation on slightly warmer days. Look for top-lifting panels, or front-opening options. You can get Firwood Mini Greenhouse Cabinets from Amazon with green or brown wood.
• Extended Cold Frames: Taller, often modular, frames are great if you keep taller crops such as kale growing in winter.

That said, there are some decent thick plastic options that protect against rain, and shield raised bed soil. Quictent has some great tall options to shield growing plants, with panels to access beds during the winter. The Quictent Reinforced Waterproof Mini Cloche from Amazon is resilient and great for beginners. If your budget doesn’t stretch to this, you could use common household items like bubble wrap as raised bed covers in winter, although I prefer jute or burlap as windbreakers to reduce soil erosion, as they are breathable. They also help soil warm up faster in spring.

When covering raised beds for winter, never use thick, black plastic sheeting for long periods, as it traps moisture and heat, which is conducive to mold and rot. If you know you aren’t going to want to look at your raised bed for the next couple of months, a simple winter fleece, tarp or cover like the Luckiplus Cover with Drawstring from Amazon is inexpensive, breathable, and helps protect against extremes of cold.

2. Grow Cold-Hardy Vegetables

Why stop growing and harvesting crops? A winter raised bed garden is ideal for cold-hardy vegetables. Their excellent drainage prevents the waterlogging that often rots roots in the ground. For many veg planted in winter, using a cold frame with a raised bed helps to prevent sudden death caused by bad weather. But you don't need a cold frame for many cold-hardy veg, as they tolerate lower temperatures. Indeed, in some cases, frost can improve flavor. Try these in a winter raised bed:

• Kale: One of the most cold-tolerant crops, kale leaves get sweeter after a frost. Plant established seedlings now for a continuous harvest throughout the winter.
• Spinach: This leafy green is perfect for overwintering. Spinach will slow down dramatically in freezing weather, but the leaves remain usable, and it will be one of the very first things to bolt (produce new leaves) in early spring.
• Purslane: A lesser-known gem, this succulent green is extremely cold-hardy and offers a slightly tangy, fresh flavor for salads in the dead of winter. Purslane grows close to the ground, which helps it use the soil's warmth. Survival Garden Seeds Purslane from Amazon have excellent germination rates for newbies in winter.
• Carrots: Root veg store well right in the ground. Plant them now and cover the tops with a thick layer of straw. You can harvest carrots as needed through winter as the soil thaws. There are some lovely cold-hardy Carrot Seeds at Burpee for sowing even now.

Other great options for winter include wintercress, endives and spring onion. If possible, move portable raised beds to a sheltered spot, like against a south-facing wall. If you don’t know what to do with raised garden beds in winter, cold-hardy crops are perfect. But stick to hardy greens and root veg at this time of year.

3. Plant Cover Crops

There are other ways to get the soil working for you in winter. You can grow cover crops and green manures to prime your soil for the year ahead. These crops are the true legends of the winter garden. Sowing them protects your soil from rain and erosion, suppresses weeds, and replenishes key nutrients that you can dig in later. While alive, winter cover crops for raised beds help to insulate the soil's surface and improve soil structure. Great options to direct-sow now include:

• Winter Vetch: This nitrogen-fixing legume pulls nitrogen from the air and stores it in root nodules, releasing it when you turn it over.
• Phacelia: This fast-growing plant suppresses weeds and attracts beneficial insects when it flowers. It helps capture nutrients that otherwise wash away.
• Crimson Clover: Another nitrogen-fixer and excellent erosion control. Grab Everwilde Farms 500 Crimson Clover Seeds from Walmart for a jumbo hit at a bargain price.
• Winter Rye: This cover crop grows a deep root system that tunnels through compacted soil and improves its structure.

As well as cover crops, it’s also worth sowing a few seeds for early germination of key crops in the new year. Sow the likes of radish and borage now for satisfying early harvests early in spring while many other plants are sleeping. I love starting some borage over winter for a cheeky early burst of blue and white flowers in late spring. You can sow borage in warmer climates (ideally USDA 9-10) from November to spring. Buy Sweet Yards Borage Seeds from Amazon in large packs.

4. Mulch to Prep for Next Year

This winter lull is the perfect time to replenish the soil in your raised beds. Through summer, crops have been pulling nutrients out, depleting the goodness, and that weary soil needs your help now. Top up beds with a thick layer of organic material to top up nutrients and also insulate the soil. My absolute favorite organic mulch is Back to the Roots Mulch from Amazon, for a bespoke blend of yucca and gypsum, but there are other mulching options, including a few you can source closer to home:

• Shredded Leaves: There should still be a few leaves about, and they make a nutrient-rich humus. Run through a lawnmower before adding.
• Straw: A lovely way to insulate the soil. However, avoid hay, which contains seeds and may lead to issues with weeds.
• Compost or Aged Manure: Use these well-aged organic materials to ensure that a steady supply of nutrients slowly feed the soil before spring arrives.
• Fabric Mulch: Cover with a thick tarp or landscaping fabric to suppress weeds and protect the soil from rain. You can get ExtraEasy Weed Barriers from Amazon that still allow some air to reach the soil.
• Pine Bark Mulch: This option looks great as well as breaking down slowly. Look for fine-grade pine bark nuggets.

There’s no need to add fresh potting soil now. Focus on improving existing soil quality in raised beds with organic matter over winter. Wait until March to topdress with potting mix right before you plant in earnest. To optimize the soil now, use a gardening fork to aerate and loosen the texture, and break up compacted hunks, then rake it to create a level surface. This helps drainage and improves oxygen flow.

5. Create a Wildlife Station

If you have a raised bed situated near a window, winter is the perfect time to repurpose the empty space as a habitat to attract local garden birds, bringing a flurry of life to your yard. By adding a bird feeder, native berrying shrubs, or small dish of water, you provide a crucial lifeline to birds when natural food sources are scarce.

Platform or standing feeders are ideal for raised beds, as they can sit directly on the surface or be secured to the rim. Use weather-resistant options like the Flanagan Heavy Duty Bird Feeding Station and Pole from Amazon, with a baffle to deter squirrels. Remember, winter birds rely on fats and proteins in winter. Choose simple bird food such as suet for woodpeckers and chickadees, peanuts and mealworms for robins and bluebirds, and black oil sunflower seeds for small birds to crack open with their tiny beaks.

To make the most of your winter bird watching with raised beds, give some thought to placement: make sure feeders are sheltered from harsh winds, and be mindful of predators. Don't place near walls that cats could leap from. And maintain good levels of cleanliness with any feeders. Brush away old seed hulls and clean feeders at least once a month.

Essential Raised Bed Checklist

As you rattle through these winter tasks for raised beds, here is a quick, actionable checklist for raised beds ahead of spring. Make sure you have ticked off all these winter raised bed jobs before spring!

• Tidy Things Up: Remove weeds and unwanted plant matter to reduce the risk of spreading contaminants and depriving crops of goodness.
• Check and Cover: Give wooden raised bed frames a check for rots, loose screws, or warping. A quick repair now will prevent a massive problem later. Add cloches, cold frames or miniature greenhouse covers to keep the soil warm in winter.
• Add Organic Matter: Ensure you have a 3-inch (8cm) layer of organic material on the surface of your raised beds to keep soil at its best and to prevent erosion.
• Cultivate New Crops: Grow cover crops or cold-hardy vegetables to give soil an extra boost whilst cultivating useful plants in cool months.
• Support Birdlife: Keep birds well fed with well positioned bird feeders that you can enjoy from your window.
• Clean and Store: Clean cold frames or polycarbonate sheets with soapy water. If you have a rolling raised bed and you're sure you won't be using it until spring, store it in a dry place like a garage.

By dedicating just a few hours to your raised beds now, you are making one of the wisest investments a gardener can make. You’re not only protecting your soil from the harsher elements but actively building a richer, more fertile environment that can service you much sooner, and for much longer. So embrace this quiet season, and you will be rewarded with healthier growing and more abundant returns.

Need more ideas for getting the most from your plants, indoors and out, and looking for the best seasonal expert advice delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for the free Gardening Know How Newsletter!

Your garden changes with the season and so should the plants that add to your home’s curb appeal. The front yard, porch, and front entrance are all great opportunities to highlight fall plants and spectacular autumnal color for a truly show-stopping display.

If you're looking to make an impact in your front yard this fall, then choosing the right fall-blooming flowers and plants is essential. Here are some of the most fabulous fall plants to boost your curb appeal this season (and all year round).

1. Hardy Mums

Chrysanthemums are the quintessential fall flowers. They come in a variety of autumn hues, including brick red, golden yellow, burnt orange, and cream. They also last well into the fall or even early winter in some areas.

You can find hardy mums this time of year nearly everywhere, from your grocery store to the local nursery or garden center. You can even shop mums online from Walmart.

Though these ubiquitous fall flowers are perennials, most people grow them as annuals. You can keep them in containers or add them to beds for another colorful display next autumn.

Fall mums look lovely when mounded in colorful clumps or as edges around garden beds. Grow mums in pots as festive front door décor alongside pumpkins or corn stalks.

Provide mums with plenty of water in well-drained soil and in a spot with full sun or partial shade. Deadhead mums as flowers fade to encourage more blooms.

2. Marigolds

Marigolds are native to hot climates, but they are suitable annuals nearly anywhere and actually thrive and flower well into fall in many areas. They’ll bloom up to the first frost, so grow marigolds in containers on the front porch or line your front yard garden bed with these cheerful flowers.

The colors of marigolds are perfect for fall. You can find various petal types and bloom shapes in rich shades of red, orange, and yellow. Explore a variety of different marigolds for sale at the Home Depot.

Marigolds are not fussy about growing conditions as long as they receive full sun. Keep deadheading marigolds by pinching off spent blooms to prolong the fall flowering period.

3. New England Asters

New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) is a fall-blooming perennial suitable that's for USDA growing zones 4 through 8. These plants are true show-stoppers with mounds of abundant, daisy-like blooms in blue, pink, purple, or white.

In the cooler parts of its range, you can plant this aster from spring to fall. In warmer areas, plant in the fall. Summer temperatures can be damaging as the plant becomes established.

Plant New England asters in full sun and acidic soil with good drainage. Use quality potting mix or add compost or fertilizer to the soil to create a fertile mix, as these flowers are heavy feeders.

Use these late summer flowers for pots that look amazing through fall or plant them in the ground to add a wow factor to your front yard that will return year after year.

Shop New England aster seeds and live plants on Amazon.

4. Black-Eyed Susans

Another perennial with great fall color is the black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). These knockout native flowers bloom in summer and well into fall and are hardy in zones 3 through 9.

Grow them in front beds, along walkways, or in groups of mass plantings for a whimsical cottage garden style. Black-eyed Susan flowers best in full sun but aren’t picky about soil and don’t need fertilizer.

For autumn colors, it’s hard to beat the black-eyed Susan. The classic type is golden yellow with a dark center, but you can find plenty of black-eyed Susan varieties in pretty fall shades.

‘Cherry Brandy’ has deep red flowers, ‘Prairie Sun’ has orange and yellow petals, and the petals of ‘Toto Rustic’ are burgundy with gold tips. For the ultimate fall color, try ‘Autumn Colors’ rudbeckia from Home Depot. This stunning cultivar has golden orange petals touched with rust and bronze.

5. Panicle Hydrangeas

For a show-stopping fall shrub, you can’t do much better than a panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata).

Sometimes grown as tree-form hydrangeas, these large shrubs grow up to 15 feet (4.6 m) tall. What makes them so spectacular for fall, however, is their abundance of creamy cone-shaped flower clusters that transition to deep pink in fall.

Panicle hydrangeas are easy to grow in zones 3 through 9. They grow in full sun or partial shade in well-drained soil with light moisture.

For the best curb appeal, use a mix of different panicle hydrangea varieties as a foundation planting around your house or as a hedge at the border of your property.

Explore gorgeous panicle hydrangeas at Fast Growing Trees.

6. Fothergilla

Fothergilla is a southeastern U.S. native shrub with great fall color. Appropriate for zones 5 through 8, dwarf varieties only grow about three feet (0.9 m) tall, so you can use them as front foundation plantings or as a low hedge.

The fall color on fothergilla is truly spectacular. The green leaves progress through shades of red, orange, and yellow, providing a show-stopping mix of color.

Fothergilla will grow in partial shade, but its fall colors truly shine in full sun. Plant in soil that is organically rich, acidic, and moist with excellent drainage.

Shop high-quality fothergilla plants from Green Promise Farms on Amazon.

7. Japanese Maples

Japanese maple trees (Acer palmatum) are popular ornamentals for curb appeal because they have unique growing habits, feathery leaves, and a compact size.

They are also one of the best trees for fall color. While some types are red throughout the growing season, some Japanese maple varieties shift color in autumn, turning bright orange, yellow, or bronze.

Use a Japanese maple as a front bed specimen or accent tree. You can grow it in beds in the lawn or, thanks to its small size, close to the front of the house. Japanese maples are hardy in zones 5 through 9 and grow best in partial shade and acidic, well-drained soil.

Shop brilliantly-colored Japanese maples from Fast Growing Trees.

The front of your home is as important as the back. While the backyard is often filled with veggies, herbs, and fruiting trees, the front of the house tells its own story. It’s typically the first thing people see, setting the tone and influencing how they perceive your home – and even you and your family. Real estate agents often tout a well-appointed front yard as having “curb appeal”, signifying a favorable first impression of the home. Installing a front yard fence is one way to significantly enhance this appeal.

Of course, the primary question becomes: “What kind of fence is right for you?” Will it be a living fence or one constructed from traditional materials? And will you be hiring professionals, or is this a DIY project? If so, you might want to look into easy fence landscaping ideas. The myriad fencing options available mean your choice will depend on your personal preference, your fencing goals, budget, and desired aesthetics.

Below, we’ll explore front yard fencing ideas to inspire you, but first, let’s consider some key factors.

Front Yard Fence Considerations

Before you spend a lot of time and money on a new fence, consider the following:

• What are your primary goals for the fence? Is it for privacy, to delineate your property line, to accent plantings, or for security?"
• Consider the size of the front yard. For example, if you have a smaller yard, don’t opt for a fence that is tall and grand, as it will overpower the landscape. Instead, choose a shorter or more delicate option that is cohesive.
• A new fence should always complement your home's architectural style and the existing landscape. Think of it as an extension of your home's personality.
• Consider how the fence will impact views, both from inside your home looking out and from your neighbors' perspectives. A solid, tall fence might block desirable scenery, while a more open design could preserve views.
• Think about the best type of materials to use. A fence can be made from a mix of materials, from man-made to natural or even plants. In fact, a fence incorporating more than one medium is often of great interest and more unique.
• How much upkeep will the fence need? Beyond the initial cost, consider the long-term maintenance commitment. Will you need to regularly paint, stain, or repair a wooden fence, or would a low-maintenance option like metal or vinyl be more suitable for your lifestyle?
• Does your municipality or homeowners' association (HOA) allow the type of fence you want to build? Thoroughly research local zoning laws and HOA regulations, as these may dictate fence height, materials, and other design requirements.
• If a primary goal is to keep pets safely within the yard, ensure the fence's height, spacing between pickets or slats, and gate security features are suitable.

Front Yard Fence Ideas

There are many fences and alternative boundary options that will set the right tone for your home. Unless your goal is total privacy, it's usually best to opt for a shorter version of one of these designs, to maintain curb appeal and visibility.

1. Picket Fence

An enduring classic, the little white picket fence is an iconic choice. For certain smaller period homes, it remains the quintessential option. It is also adorable and conducive to the cottage core trend, combined with vintage perennial flowers.

While this is a simple-looking fence, its construction involves individual posts, stringers, and pickets, making it slightly more complex than some other fencing options. It is also not as cost-effective as building a fence using pre-made fence panels. However, it is a very sturdy option that will last for years, particularly if you choose vinyl over wooden pickets, such as WamBam Fence's easy-to-install Newport white privacy vinyl picket universal fence panels, available at Lowe's.

2. Stone Walls

Remarkable for their longevity, these types of boundaries are built to outlast your ownership of the home, provided they are installed correctly. Stone walls project an air of both permanence and strength.

The stones can be set in one of two ways: dry stone or mortar. Dry stone relies on friction and placement for stability, while mortar essentially cements the stone together. Here, you begin with a shallow trench and lay your largest stones at the base, then work your way up with a combination of large and small stones that ensure stability.

While attractive, stone is not always the cheapest option, so to keep costs down, consider high-quality stone-look concrete blocks, such as these Ashland blocks from Lowe's.

3. Reclaimed Wood Pallets

You have no doubt seen this type of fencing as it has grown in popularity over the last decade or more. Wood pallets can often be obtained for free, making this one of the best cheap fence ideas. Because the pallets are already constructed, a fence made from them is quite simple to assemble, as you are essentially working with pre-made fence panels.

You will also need treated lumber posts or metal stakes to secure the fence to the ground, such as these from Amazon, and 4 x 4s or the like to elevate the bottom pallet, keeping it off the ground, which will extend the fence's lifespan.

4. Chain Link

While perhaps not the most aesthetically pleasing option, chain link fencing does offer practical advantages. It is a lower-cost alternative, especially when compared to wood split-rail or post-and-rail fences. While it doesn't inherently provide much privacy, privacy slats can be woven through the mesh to mitigate this. Although often perceived as utilitarian, chain link can be softened and adorned with flowering vines and other perennials to conceal its stark appearance.

Buy vinyl-coated chain link fencing wire from Walmart.

5. Hog Wire

A significant step up from both chain link and chicken wire fencing, hog wire is typically combined with wood posts, lending the structure a more rustic aesthetic. It is generally more affordable than traditional wood fencing and offers greater longevity with reduced maintenance. Buy hog wire from Amazon to make your own custom fence.

6. Bamboo

Bamboo fencing offers the benefit of being a natural material that integrates seamlessly with the landscape. It is available in either rolls or panels that can be attached to posts. Strong and resilient, bamboo introduces a touch of tropical flair and is an environmentally friendly option. While the initial cost may be comparable to wood fencing, its minimal maintenance makes it a more economical choice in the long run.

This bamboo fencing from Walmart is 4 feet high, making it an ideal choice for front yards.

7. Corrugated Metal

Corrugated metal offers a modern aesthetic for fencing. As a low-maintenance option, it is typically made from aluminum, galvanized steel, or other metal alloys. Metal fences are resistant to pests, rot, and rust, thus requiring minimal upkeep. They provide excellent privacy and security, and can also be quite decorative. Cost-wise, they may be less expensive than wood, depending on the specific metal. Copper or Corten steel, for instance, are more expensive.

This Sleekfence aluminum privacy fence panel from Amazon offers a stylish, modern look.

8. Living Fence

A living fence offers a dynamic and environmentally friendly fencing option. Numerous plant varieties are suitable for providing privacy and delineating property lines, all while offering significant aesthetic appeal. Simultaneously, they create habitat for wildlife, reduce soil erosion, and can act as effective windbreaks.

Of course, living fences do require ongoing maintenance, generally including pruning, irrigation, and feeding. Suitable options encompass vines, evergreens, shrubs like arborvitae or privet, and flowering perennials such as serviceberry or viburnum. Furthermore, this can be a highly accessible DIY option, particularly for those new to more traditional construction.

FastGrowingTrees.com sells a fantastic range of evergreen plants that will quickly provide a green barrier for your front yard.

If you own a raised garden bed, hopefully you’ve either got some specific plants in mind or have already started growing them. However, while it’s understandable to focus on both the bed and the contents, there is another crucial landscaping element – the walkways between raised beds and the rest of the garden. It’s important to consider what to put around raised garden beds in terms of linking beds, unifying the beds with the other parts of your yard, the overall aesthetic, and also how well you will be able to retard weeds and retain moisture.

If you’re not sure what to put around your raised garden beds, here are some of the main practical raised garden bed ideas to try. Whether you want to add a stylish garden path between raised beds or just help to finish off the look of your raised garden, here are the best options to help you landscape around raised beds.

The Best Pathways around Raised Garden Beds

Before you choose one of the walkway, edging or pathway options here, prep the area around the raised beds. Remove any weeds and make sure you are happy with the consistency of the ground, addressing any compaction or drainage issues. The top 2-3 inches (5-8cm) of soil and dead vegetation need to be dug up. Compost any vegetation and add the dug up soil to the raised bedding area.

Whether you are edging a raised vegetable bed or ornamental bed, the width of the walkway or pathway should be around 2 feet (60cm). Even with raised beds for small gardens, this should be wide enough for good access to all planting areas, and ideally wide enough to accommodate a wheelbarrow. Laying some newspaper or cardboard down before adding your walkway material will kill any grass or weeds in the pathway – this takes 6-8 weeks. Then cover your pathway with a weed barrier or landscape fabric There are some great weed suppressant options available at Amazon. We love ExtraEasy’s Weed Barrier for Landscaping at Amazon.

1. Wood Chips for Raised Bed Pathways

Raised garden bed pathways made out of wood chips are a terrific option for a raised bed layout, especially if you have had a tree felled and chipped. Wood chips or bark pieces aid in water retention and weed retardant, especially when a thick layer is used. Wood chips used as a pathway material are especially great around perennial beds, raspberries and blueberries, and as a standalone walkway. A wood chip pathway creates an earthy, naturalistic look, and looks great against wooden and galvanized beds.

Although wood chips make a very good natural raised bed pathway option, just bear in mind that this material does break down relatively quickly, and as it breaks down, it can foster disease and pests. We love Back to the Roots’s Organic Bark, which you can bulk-buy from Walmart for a reassuringly natural walkway option.

2. Gravel for Raised Bed Pathways

Gravel is another option for use between or along raised garden beds. It has the benefit of being long lasting. However, gravel pathways need something to stabilize them, such as pavers or cement. They should be laid fairly deep and a permeable membrane should be laid down prior to laying the gravel or rocks.

In order to keep the rocks from shifting, the path should be dampened and tamped down, or a gravel binder can be mixed into the stones to bind them. For a bit more money, there is the option of self-binding gravel which contains a mix of dust, sand, and clay. Kolorscape pea gravel from Walmart has a nice natural look and is great for outdoor projects.

3. Slate for Raised Bed Pathways

Natural materials like slate somehow manage to look very modern yet also timeless. They are also durable, and can look especially effective when crushed into haphazard pieces or chips. Their darker tones are an excellent contrast to wooden or willow-based raised bed structures, as well as brick or galvanized beds. They can look cheap and cheerful or elegant, depending on your overall raised bed garden design. Plus, slate is great for drainage and dries quickly.

Slate walkways make relatively inexpensive garden path ideas for raised bed walkways. If you know of a remodel or demolition site in your area, it’s worth asking if they have any slate pieces. Prepare your area with a weed-suppressing membrane, then add your slate – ideally, to a depth of a couple of inches (5cm) and try to make sure the slate is distributed as evenly as possible.

4. Using Stepping Stones for Pathways

Stepping stones are both practical and very appealing, helping to draw the eye around an area like the raised beds in question and linking it artfully with other parts of the garden. Use natural stone slabs of any shape – geometric, circular, or irregular. Combine with pea gravel to set off your stepping stones, whether you place them in a straight, uniform arrangement around a formal raised flower bed, or a more curved shape to suit a more naturalistic raised bed style.

Prepare the area around your raised bed, as with the other options, by laying weed barrier fabric. You may wish to incorporate a layer of sand under your stepping stones to help with stabilizing and keeping things level. Arrange the stones according to your preference, garden size, and the number of slabs, then fill in the gaps with pea gravel or similar.

If there is a remodel or demolition site near you, ask if they have any broken concrete or other likely materials. There are some great patio paving options online that can help you create an inexpensive backyard oasis linking raised beds to the main garden. You’ll find a range of stepping stone options at Walmart, made from stone, wood, mosaic pebbles, cast iron, and weatherproof plastic. We like Gardener’s Supply’s circular mosaic-style recycled rubber discs, available at Walmart.

Choosing plants on the basis of color can be a subjective exercise. Out of all the choices that go into plant selection, this is the one you’d think would be the least problematic. But while we often get ‘garden envy’ gazing at other people’s plant arrangements, we can sometimes draw a blank when planning our own plots.

Do we go classic with pastels, calming with whites, or daring with a splash of our favorite color? When gardening with color, we can often stress about rules, harmony, balance and visual integrity. But while we do appreciate color combinations that complement or contrast, there are others that challenge our perceptions – either by creating what our eyes detect as a ‘clash’ or by mischievously throwing up a confusing color accent (like mixing up hot and cold tones unexpectedly).

We all want unique growing spaces with colorful plants that can be the envy of our neighbors. So in the quest for spectacular beds, borders and containers, why play it safe with plants for color? These unexpected plant color combinations can help free your mind and encourage you to play with this vital aspect of gardening. Have fun with unexpected color pairings and unusual plant color combinations.

Choosing Unusual Plant Color Combinations

Plant color combinations usually play on some aspect of balance and counter-balance, based on a ‘color wheel’ of possible ideas. This will deploy primary (red, blue, yellow), secondary (purple, green, orange) and tertiary colors (such as pink and indigo), plus the fundamental neutrals (black, white and gray). With this rudimentary grasp of the color wheel, it is possible to arrange pretty much any combination. And depending on your taste, mood, ambitions and space, this will usually involve mixing complementary or adjacent color combinations.

Visionaries like UK designer Gertrude Jekyll, American color theorist Faber Birren, and Isaac Newton have all inspired landscaping ideas geared towards creating a specific emotional response through color. Using color ‘relationships’ means you can add another dimension to theme gardens such as cottage style – or as the basis for a theme tied to ideas such as color blocking and monochromatic planting. Complementary plantings use colors opposite each other on the color wheel. However, there are other ways of spinning the wheel!

Using clashing schemes, split-complementary schemes and color accents, you can play with adventurous twists on familiar ideas. Unexpected colorful plant combinations present an opportunity to create an element of surprise with your plant choices. Of course, you need to keep the planting fundamentals in mind. Make sure your themed color picks will grow well together, in collaboration or in succession.

Think about your planting region and any specific plant requirements (and whether they will coexist happily with partner plants). The soil will need to be amenable to every plant selected for your color double act (factoring in soil consistency, soil pH, drainage, etc). Also, your plants will need similar cultural requirements relative to light, warmth and shade. Other than that, the only limit is your imagination. So have fun with these unusual plant combinations – be brave, and enjoy!

1. Pink and Gold

There is something unabashedly giddy about this color pairing. It’s a combo primed for cheer, with delicate shades signifying a romantic streak, whilst more intense shades fizz and collide with bold vitality. Dazzling golds and pinks make for an exciting color wheel ‘clash of the Titans’, featuring two colors that are neither complementary or adjacent.

There are a couple of ways to ramp up the wow factor with this unexpected pairing. First, select one as a ‘pop’ to break up a block of the other color. Second, match up pink flowers and gold with similarly intense saturations for a courageous, vibrant color drenching.

• Pinks: Classic coneflower ‘Magnus’ (Echinacea purpurea), two-tone pink clematis ‘Rosamunde’, bubblegum tinted astrantia ‘Roma’, fluffy sedum ‘Brilliant’ and Joe Pye weed, velvety rose ‘Gertrude Jekyll’, hot pink bleeding heart (dicentra), and multi-pink cosmos ‘Sensation Mix’ from Burpee. Other pink picks with oodles of varieties include mophead hydrangeas (H. macrophylla), dianthus, phlox, peony.
• Golds: Sunshine bright rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ and ‘Blackjack Gold’, pompon dahlia ‘Yellow Jill’, fuzzy coreopsis ‘Golden Sphere’, potentilla ‘Goldfinger’, choisya and acid yellow cushion spurge (euphorbia). There are lots of dazzling sunflowers, like ‘Sunfinity’ and ‘Teddy Bear’ varieties.

2. Blue and Rust

Some might argue that the conventional blue and orange pairing is one of the most widely accepted and popular. However, the partnership of multiple blues with rusts, bronzes, coppers and ambers has one fundamental tension: the combination of a ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ color.

Usually, landscape designers advocate for sticking with one or the other, so the blue/rust dynamic is intrinsically mismatched in the conventional sense. Still, a rust and blue garden pairing is a buoyant duo, especially if you offset periwinkles with rusty chocolates, or ceruleans with gingers.

• Blues: Cool delphinium ‘Lock Ness’, cornflower ‘Blue Boy’, delicate gentian, lobelia ‘Laguna Sky Blue’ from Proven Winners, morning glory ‘Heavenly Blue’, blue grasses, violet agapanthus ‘Brilliant Blue’, love in a mist ‘Moody Blues’ and borage.
• Rusts: Copper kniphofia ‘Tawny King’, neon flecked geum ‘Totally Tangerine’, marbled helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’, daylily ‘Rainbow Rhythm’ from Nature Hills, butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). Gorgeous dahlias in this band include ‘Cornel Brons’, ‘Bishop of Oxford’ and ‘Valley Rust Bucket’. For more dazzling rusts and coppers, try calendula and marigolds.

3. Purple and Green

Purple and green is another one of those unexpected visual pairings that seems to juxtapose hot and cold, depending on the tones of purple you tilt towards. Some purples shift more towards the blue end, but then some green flower varieties incorporate a hotter ‘yellow’ element.

This combo is also a ‘clashing’ pair on the color wheel. It’s like an ultra-modern twist on the classic purple and yellow pairing that is often heralded as one of the most accessible. It also presents visual dynamics with any combination of pastel and high saturation.

• Purples: Fluffy mammoth allium ‘Globemaster’, ranunculus ‘Elegance Viola’, Coleus ‘Chocolate Mint’ (which includes lime green), chocolatey purple pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’, heuchera ‘Grape Soda', plushy viola ‘Huntercombe Purple’. Not forgetting an impressive list of lavenders, including ubiquitous English lavender (L. angustifolia) 'Munstead'.
• Greens: luminescent hellebore ‘Green Marble’, chrysanthemum ‘Feeling Green’, ,zingy zinnia ‘Envy’, evocative pastel green sunflower ‘Sun Fill Green’ from Burpee, statuesque angelica and fragrant nicotiana. For larger flowering options, you can’t go wrong with a panicle hydrangea like ‘Limelight Prime’.

4. Orange and Silver

It’s another intriguing fusion of hot and cold that creates one of the most unexpected plant combinations: the silver and orange garden scheme. Cool, crisp and often fuzzy textured silver plants seem to shimmer against the density of such a hot solid as orange, whether it’s a deep rich tone or a more acidic, neon-based orange companion.

Our other unusual plant combinations are two members of the main color wheel. With this pairing, we are mixing a secondary color with a neutral that doesn’t appear on the wheel. For the most enchanting fusions, be sure to mix up foliage textures as well as color clashes.

• Oranges: Californian poppy, begonia ‘Glowing Embers’, vibrant zinnia ‘Benary’s Giant Orange’, dahlia ‘Tangerine Gem’ and ‘David Howard’, vivid nasturtium ‘Baby Orange’ and ‘Orange Troika’, and juicy coneflower ‘Artisan Soft Orange’ which you can buy from Nature Hills.
• Silvers: Salvia nemorosa ‘Silver Carpet’, fuzzy lamb's ears (stachys), spiky artemisia ‘Silver Queen’, generously shaped senecio ‘Angel’s Wings’, bulbous echinops ‘Arctic Glow’, shimmering eucalyptus ‘Azura’, and enigmatic centaurea ‘Silver Swirl’, available to buy from Burpee.

Frequently Asked Questions

As the old saying goes, good fences make good neighbors. In fact, even homeowners with great neighbors like their privacy – and fencing is key to marking out strong and impactful borders. Fence landscaping ideas can also be a powerful way to add definition and texture. Simple landscaping along the fence line has esthetic and practical benefits, whether you are after imaginative backyard landscaping ideas, quick ways of cultivating a privacy screen, or a relatively cheap garden makeover for your space.

So what are the best plants for fence line planting? Which landscaping additions are likely to make the most impact in the quickest time, and with minimum fuss? We’ve put together a shortlist of easy and exciting fence line landscaping ideas to get you started and add joy and stability to your property line.

1. Create a Flower Shrub Border

If you’re after a garden edging that packs real visual punch, why not incorporate a bed of shrubs and blossoms against the fence line? Select a sunny spot along the border fence and build a bed of flowers. These can be incorporated into vertical displays with flowering fences, climbing vines and other clambering plants.

It’s impossible to name one best plant to install along your border fencing. Individual selections will depend on climate as well as personal preferences. However, the following shrubs and plants will help add definition and impact as simple fence line landscaping ideas in all kinds of themes and planting spaces.

Big Leaf Hydrangea

I admit it: hydrangea is one of my very favorite landscape shrubs. Their easy-care ways and generous crop of gorgeous, long-lasting blossoms make them a top landscape selection. I personally love a bigleaf (Hydrangea macrophylla), with its huge, round, grapefruit-size flowers that can be blue or red depending on the acidity of the soil. But there are many gorgeous varieties to choose from, including some that love a full sun location and others that thrive in shade.

Early Spiraea

Plants in the Spiraea (Spiraea thunbergii) family are extremely popular landscape plants; easy to grow and easy to maintain. There are hundreds of species and cultivars available. All species of spiraea have lance-shaped leaves and generous clusters of blossoms. I’m particularly fond of a species called early spiraea – it is appealing in spring for its tight flower clusters, then lights up the yard in the fall with its fiery leaf display.

Evergreen Azalea

You can find deciduous azalea plants (Rhododendron spp.) in garden stores, but why not choose evergreen azaleas for fence landscaping? These easy-care plants have an extremely long flowering system, blooming from late winter into early fall. There are over a dozen varieties of evergreen azaleas in garden stores, but check out the Indica species with glorious flowers of red, pink, white and purple.

Abelia

Abelia (Abelia x grandiflora) is a member of the honeysuckle family, so you know its flowers will be lovely. This graceful shrub offers delicate blooms in a dense display to make them excellent hedging plants. There are lots of abelia varieties and everyone has their favorite. For me, it is the popular Grandiflora species that grows to 8 feet (2.6m) tall and is full of white or pink flowers in the growing season. Another cultivar, ‘Kaleidoscope’, has crimson stems and variegated leaves.

Butterfly Bush

Deciduous in cooler regions and perennial in mild climates, the butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) produces green foliage on arching branches, and impressive flowering spikes in the growing season. However, butterfly bushes are invasive so bear this in mind if you’re worried about the impact on native plants (some sterile, non-invasive cultivars are available). They are also banned in a few US states like Washington and Oregon.

2. Make a Living Fence

If you don’t have a very big backyard, a tall solid fence can make the area seem confined and blocky. If that’s your case, forget about wood and nails and instead install shrubs. Mixing and matching evergreen and flowering deciduous shrub varieties to create a living fence that changes from season to season.

3. Try Fence Plus Hedging

Some homeowners use a hedge instead of a fence, and others choose a fence instead of hedging. It’s particularly nice – and has many advantages – to use both, planting evergreen shrubs along the fencing. While arborvitae is a fast-growing, popular choice, my personal favorite is holly, especially 'Emerald Colonnade', with its pleasing dense foliage.

4. Go for Bird-Friendly Landscaping

Some homeowners are fans of wild birds in the backyard. If you’re keen on cultivating a joyful bird garden as well as an impactful border, consider putting in landscaping tailored to local wildlife. Pick shrubs and trees that provide tip-top shelter and preferred food to get birds flocking to your yard.

You can choose colorful berry bushes like glossy black chokeberry and Northern bayberry. You can also create a gorgeous berry-rich screen with the structural spicebush, which is also an early-season treat for bees and butterflies. Just be careful to find out about the wild birds in the area and what they need before you start choosing plants.

5. Try Fencing with Shelving

If you are a container gardening fan, you can incorporate shelving or pegs in your fencing. Try hanging baskets of flowering plants, and suspend them along the fence or sit overflowing pots on the shelves. This landscaping idea allows you to switch out the plants to make sure something bright and blooming is always present.

Other Great Landscaping and Hardscaping Ideas

• Looking for ways to make your garden look centuries older without having to bend time? Try these friendly hardscaping ideas to make a garden look old – fast.
• Keen to fill your yard with undemanding evergreens for easy texture and visual interest? Our selection of low maintenance evergreen shrubs look great year round.
• Stuck for landscaping ideas and craving the most up-to-date thematic makeovers? Our guide to key garden trends is sure to inspire your landscaping journey this year.
• If you’re keen to enhance fences and walls, make sure beds and borders are filled with easy color. These small flower bed ideas go big on impact.

Modern gardens can be beautiful, but there is something so charming about a garden that has been growing for centuries. You don’t have to be a landscaping professional to try some of our favorite hardscaping ideas to make a garden look old. You don’t need lots of money, either – some of the most effective and simplest hardscaping tricks can be tried without breaking the bank.

Get inspired by vintage garden ideas to bring the same charm (if not the actual age) to your outdoor spaces. Whether you also implement planting ideas to make a new garden look mature, these hardscaping strategies are a fun and satisfying way to add character and maturity to your plots. Discover some of the best hardscaping ideas to age a yard.

Choosing Hardscaping Ideas to Make a Garden Look Old

What makes a garden look older? You want the vintage look, but what does that mean? Do some brainstorming and field work before you make major changes to your yard. Visit old estates or gardens in your area or peruse historic gardens online for ideas. Many of the best hardscaping ideas are grounded in local inspiration – public gardens, courtyards, walled estates or the grounds of a lucky neighbor.

Many elements of a garden can make it look old or vintage. Sometimes nature will do the hard work for you. Large, majestic trees obviously help to convey a certain longevity and maturity – but you can’t accelerate the growth of an oak or maple! A more practical option is to fake old age with hardscaping elements. And the good news is that there are hardscaping ideas to make a garden look old on a budget.

Adding or amending hardscaping materials is a good workaround. You can either change the appearance of what is already there, or add elements that look older. There are some very convincing ways to cheat the aging process with stones, wood and other materials. Here are some ideas to get you started…

1. Build an Old Stone Wall

Stones are some of the oldest things on the planet, so they definitely have a place in your vintage garden or aged garden aesthetic. Ever wondered, how do I make a garden wall look older? Picture an ancient stone wall in an English cottage garden. It might be a little crumbly or have moss growing in the crevices.

Building a stone wall may not be one of the most low-maintenance hardscaping ideas to age yards, but it’s doable and well worth the effort. If you can source rocks for free, or at a discounted price, this can also be a low-budget build. Look for free rocks online. People often list them for free after doing yard work. Construction sites also often turn up stones that get in the way. You could ask permission to take them off their hands. Once you’ve built the wall, place plants and moss between the stones for an instant aged effect.

2. Create Cobble Pathways

Another way to use stones to age your yard is by creating DIY garden paths. Paths of stone give a sense of permanence, of having been there forever. This is especially true if you encourage grass and moss to grow between the stones. Some of the best low maintenance front yard landscaping ideas involve stones at ground level to link parts of the garden and make them easier to reach.

Pieces of slate can be pricey, so try going for a more cobbled look. Source inexpensive or free rocks and bury them deep into the soil for an embedded path that looks like ancient cobbles.

3. Age Your Bricks

Bricks, like stone, give an old feel to a space as long as they aren’t brand new or at least don’t look brand new. Whether you already have a brick structure (whether that’s a patio, wall or well) or you are planning to construct one, you can take some simple (and reasonably cheap) steps to make it look older than it actually is.

The easiest way to get an aged brick look is to start with old materials. Look for reclaimed bricks from landscape suppliers or homeowners looking to get rid of them after a renovation. Reclaimed bricks may not age that well, so also consider aging new bricks. Use whitewashing paint (white acrylic paint and water), wood stain and paintbrushes. Get a few extra bricks to experiment on to find a technique that gives you a look you like.

4. Distress a Wooden Bench

An old wooden bench is a must in a vintage yard, cottage garden or antiquated space. It’s easy to age a new, inexpensive bench to give it the appearance of having been around a lot longer than it actually has. All you need are some tools to distress the wood and an appropriate stain to get the ideal aged color.

Of all the hardscaping ideas to age a yard or yard-based item, this one might be the most fun. Use a sander, drill, saw and other tools to make dents, rounded edges and even holes in your bench to give the appearance of woodworm burrows. Stain the bench once you have the right distressed look. This hardscaping idea can also be used in an urban garden or contemporary theme where upcycling is a feature.

5. DIY a Vintage Fountain

Even if you don’t have space for a garden pond or grand water feature, you can make a space look a lot older with a well appointed fountain. Look for an inexpensive plastic fountain at any garden center and age it as a fun craft project.

Prime and spray paint the fountain black to start. Apply a whitewash paint and use a rag to strategically wipe it off. This will leave behind what looks like an aged film. The effect is of aged stone, and it can add years, decades or even centuries to even a humdrum style of fountain. Spray the entire fountain with a clear protective material so the effect lasts for as long as possible.

Other Landscaping and Hardscaping Tips and Tricks

• Want to accelerate the age and character of your yard with ‘old-timey’ plants and vintage flowering ideas? Try our old-fashioned plants and flowers to add age and class.
• Yearning for a big change in your backyard and not sure where to start? Don’t do anything until you’ve checked out our garden makeover do’s and don’ts for painfree planting & design.
• Worried about common landscaping and hardscaping pitfalls and traps to avoid? Our overview of mistakes that make a garden look cheap will save you pain, time and money!
• Looking for landscape design ideas that are going to be big this year? Check out our key garden trends for ways to hone your landscaping and hardscaping horizons.

Many people prefer a blank slate when it comes to gardening. It’s easier to design what you want and to control which plants you grow. On the other hand, inheriting a mature garden can be a uniquely rewarding challenge. You may have to work with what’s there, but it’s possible to tame and reshape an older - even overgrown - garden into your dream landscape.

What Is A Mature Garden?

There is no strict definition for a mature garden. Generally, this refers to a garden that has been in place for years. The plants have reached maturity and have filled the spaces they occupy. A mature garden may be overgrown, or it may be well maintained.

Most gardeners never stop working on their outdoor spaces, but gardens reach maturity in spite of ongoing efforts. It definitely takes years for a garden to be considered mature.

How To Care For A Mature Garden

There are unique challenges associated with maintaining a mature garden. This is especially true if you inherit a garden that is overgrown and needs a lot of work to get it into shape. Once you have a garden you like, it still requires ongoing care and maintenance. Here are some mature garden ideas for restoring or maintaining an older outdoor space.

Wait, Watch, And Work With It

If you've inherited an overgrown garden, don’t be too hasty to make changes. Unless there are some obvious issues to be fixed, like an out-of-control vine or tree that needs trimming, give it a year. Let the garden grow and observe it. See what you have, what works, and what doesn’t before making big changes.

Once you’ve seen every part of the garden in every season, you can plant. It’s easiest and most cost-effective to work with what you have. Trim back overgrown shrubs. Refresh existing beds with a few new perennials and annuals. Use the hardscaping elements already in place and design around them.

Weed Regularly

Once a garden is mature and plants are healthy, one of the most time-consuming maintenance tasks is weeding. Avoid using herbicides that could harm your other plants. Instead, spend time digging weeds out by hand.

Weeding is a difficult task, but not a thankless one. Weeds take nutrients and water away from garden plants. They can also encourage disease in plants. Being completely weed-free isn’t realistic, but you should be able to minimize them significantly. Your plants will thank you.

Refresh Soil In Older Beds

Yes, soil gets old, so it’s a good idea to replenish it every once in a while. Mature garden plants take nutrients out of the soil. It also becomes compacted over time. Working gently around the plants, loosen the soil with a garden fork. Dig in by hand to remove debris like rocks.

Once you’ve loosened the soil, add a layer of compost and gently mix it in. At this time, you can also add any other amendments your soil needs, including worm castings, bone meal, or a specific fertilizer. Be very careful during this entire process to avoid damaging the roots of plants.

Take Care Of Perennials

Perennial beds can give you years - even decades - of beauty if you treat them right. Know the needs of each of the perennials you have and make sure they are met. If some plants are not getting the right amount of sunlight, consider transplanting them to another area.

Lift and divide your perennials every three to four years for most types. This keeps them healthy and thriving. Use fertilizer sparingly, which most perennials don’t need. It’s better to refresh the soil with compost every once in a while. Add new mulch every year to few years, or as needed, to keep beds tidy, weeds down, and moisture in the soil.

Refresh Turf Grass

Grass suffers when neglected, so it’s important to maintain it well in a mature landscape. Aerate the lawn to loosen soil and introduce oxygen to the roots. Reseed in fall to deal with bare or thin patches. Apply fertilizers and herbicides as needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

When I moved into my current home, it had an established but imperfect garden. I’ve spent years tweaking it to my liking. In some ways, a clean slate would have been easier, but a new garden has its own issues. How do you make a new garden feel more mature, lived in, and welcoming? Mature landscaping looks nicer and can even boost property value.

Over the years, I have created some totally new beds and used a few tricks to fill it in more quickly. When you know how to age your garden, it’s like a quick garden makeover time-lapse as you watch it develop. Try these ideas and use more than one to accelerate the garden aging process.

How to Make a New Garden Look Mature

To make your garden look older than it really is, use a mixture of hardscaping and landscaping. Choose plants that mature more quickly and plan beds for multi-season visual interest. Rapidly filling in spaces in the garden can be costly and hard work. These creative design tricks will accelerate the process for less money and with less labor.

These are some landscaping ideas and tips I’ve either seen in other gardens or used in my own new beds to create a more lived-in, mature feel.

1. Use "Aged" Hardscaping

Any kind of hardscaping will make your garden look more mature because it gives a sense of permanence. You can increase the effect by aging materials to make them look older. Make stones look like they’ve been part of that wall for 100 years using an acid wash. You can also make stone structures look older by placing moss and other plants between the stones. Weather a new wooden fence with a ferrous sulfate solution. It will turn fresh brown wood gray.

2. Build a Rock Garden

A rock garden is as mature as it’s going to be as soon as you finish creating it. As with hardscaping elements, a rock garden lends a feeling of permanence that conveys age. Choose your style and use found or purchased rocks of various sizes. A Zen rock garden provides a tranquil element. If you live in a warm dry climate, try a desert rock garden with succulents.

3. Upcycle Old Materials

Garden upcycling is a great trend. It’s budget-friendly, but using older items in the garden also makes the space seem more mature. Some ideas include old, galvanized steel tubs, aged lumber, a reclaimed clawfoot tub, or even old tires. These and other items can be used as planters or raised beds.

4. Choose Fast-Growing Trees

Few things make a garden look more mature than large trees. You can cheat time a little by choosing trees that grow quickly. Weeping willow is a great choice if you have a pond or stream. It will grow 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 m) per year. To create a privacy hedge faster, use arborvitae. Some other fast-growing trees include dawn redwood, paper birch, Lombardy poplar, and redbud.

5. Plant Densely

This is an easy cheat for making beds look more mature. Of course, the best way to place plants for their health and longevity is to ensure adequate space for plants to grow into. On the other hand, if you need your beds to look older faster, it’s better to narrow that spacing.

6. Layer Plants

This is a strategy I have found useful when creating a new bed. Create a layered garden using different heights, textures, and shapes. They’ll blend into each other, visually erasing some of the open space between plants. For example, grow tall ornamental grasses in between mounding, flowering perennials. Plant ferns under trees and shrubs.

7. Grow Moss

Moss makes anything look older. Use moss in between pavers in a walkway, between rocks in a wall, and in shady patches of the yard. You can even replace some of your turf grass with moss. Choose a moss suitable to your climate and conditions. And, be aware that moss needs daily watering to become well established. Once it is established, a moss garden is low maintenance.

Aging your garden requires some tricks and creative thinking, but it also provides a welcoming, lived-in feel. It’s worth a little effort to make a new garden look established.

Watching the fall leaves drop and our tender plants die is made easier with some winter garden ideas. Planning ahead and planting hardy plants will ensure there is still a bit of color in the landscape even as we huddle by the fire. Ideas for winter garden interest may start with plant selection but should also include other aspects such as bird feeders and lighting. And you don’t have to spend a fortune to enjoy some living spectacles outside your windows.

Vertical Appeal

Trees and bushes can be an incredibly important part of the cold-season garden. Selecting plants with interesting bark, berries, or colorful stems is a great way to liven up the landscape.

• Red or Yellow Twig Dogwood: Once the leaves drop off these bushes a bright display is revealed. Bright red or canary yellow stems pop out of the plant. Dogwoods are brightest when young and develop even more color in late winter.
• Crape Myrtle: This tree not only has amazing blooms during the growing season but also provides textural vision after its leaves drop. The bark exfoliates, revealing a gorgeous two-tone aspect.
• River Birch: This tree has shaggy, curled bark. The bark curves and crinkles around the trunk.
• Evergreens: Any evergreen that is suited to your zone will provide comforting greenery in the winter. The deodar cedar is one of my favorites due to its graceful, swaying branches.
• Lacebark Elm: This is a very adaptable tree with excellent winter hardiness. The bark is mottled in shades of green, gray, orange, and brown.

Winter Garden Pot Ideas

Winter garden ideas don’t have to be big to have an impact. Just decorating by your front door can result in a cheery, homey display. Brightly colored containers with flowers and complementing foliage don’t have to cost much and can really keep a sense of the warm season near your home.

Select plants like ornamental kales and cabbages. The rippled leaves have appeal all their own but there are also varieties in many colors. These are very hardy and the cold weather actually brings out the colors. In addition to variegated and green tones, there are pink, mauve, and purple. Flank these foliage plants with pansies and violas to add floral emphasis. Tuck in bulbs like crocus and snowdrops that will appear later in the season as the other plants begin to fail.

Winter Flower Garden Ideas

Many of our common perennials make excellent focal points in the garden even after they are not actively growing. Plants with seed heads or those with flowers that remain in the cold season give the eye a place to land with pleasure. Larger stonecrops produce masses of starry flowers in summer which fade and eventually turn tan. These will persist for months on the plant.

Plants that flower in late winter like Camellia further brighten the later months of the season. Witch Hazel, which forms a small tree or bush, blooms late in winter with fringed flowers in hues of yellow to orange-red that fill the air with fragrance.

Berry Beauty

American holly is a classic winter pop of color. Its fiery red berries bring a cheerful note to the winter landscape. Pyracantha puts on a dazzling fall foliage display but it also has umbrella-like clusters of red berries. Beautyberry is unmatched with its fat clusters of purple berries.

You might also have Chokeberry, Bayberry, Winterberry, and many others. While they brighten the garden they have an added bonus. They will entice birds and wildlife into your garden.

Ornamental Grasses and Seed Heads in Winter

Many of our most common ornamental grasses produce plumes of inflorescences. These dry naturally at the end of the season and provide movement in the cold landscape. Japanese Sedge is an evergreen grass that will retain its color through winter. The seed pods of coneflower are a textural wonder, while the staghorn sumac retains its deep red seed heads.

Instead of cutting your perennials back at the end of the season, let the seed heads persist. They are interesting and an important food source for wild birds.

Raised beds are great solutions to poor drainage, poor soil and other garden conundrums. Winterizing raised beds is a must on your list of jobs to tackle before it gets too cold outside. It’s an important chore as the gardening season winds down. Knowing how to winterize your raised garden beds correctly means you can make good use of this downtime in the garden so you’re ready for the next growing season.

Good care now means beds will be ready earlier in spring for healthy, abundant growth. Our guide outlines some of the key steps needed in successfully winterizing raised garden beds to keep them protected from winter weather.

How to Winterize Raised Garden Beds

Overwintering raised beds isn’t a lot different from how you might care for other beds at this time of year. However, you might want to give them a little extra care when carrying out your early winter garden chores, since this is likely where you do most of your formal gardening. Preparing raised beds for winter requires several approaches to address a few different issues: dealing with decaying plant material, preparing the soil for spring, and protecting any plants that remain over winter.

1. Tidy and Clear Away Plant Debris

The first step in winterizing raised garden beds is to clear out debris from spent plants. As part of a general fall garden cleanup, remove dead plant material to prevent it from rotting under snow cover over the winter. If you see any diseased material, destroy it and do not add it to compost. Most perennial plants can be cut back to two to four inches (5 to 10 cm) from the surface of the soil. Completely pull out any annuals.

It’s also important to remove any weeds before the winter. As with other plants, they can rot, but they can also harbor pests or disease vectors, like fungi. Clearing out weeds now will also reduce the number of weeds you see in the next growing season. Once everything is removed, smooth over the bed’s soil to create an even surface.

2. Condition And Insulate Raised Bed Soil

Next, prepare or protect the soil. One option to condition and enrich the soil for next year is to plant a cover crop. Cover, winter wheat, or winter rye grow quickly and add nutrients to the soil. Alternatively, you can put down a layer of compost on top of the soil. Keep your soil insulated, protect perennials over the winter months, and reduce the risk of new weeds creeping in by covering the bed with an appropriate mulch. A cover crop, if you are using it, can serve as a living mulch with similar benefits.

If you’re not using a cover crop, you can use fall leaves as mulch. Straw also makes one of the best types of mulch for raised beds over winter. You’ll want to remove these in spring when you’re ready to plant, unless they have broken down significantly and can be worked into the soil. Wood chip mulch is not ideal for raised bed winter mulch, as it doesn’t break down very readily.

3. Cover Raised Beds in Winter

Your raised bed does not necessarily need to be covered in winter if you have taken the above steps. You might want to cover them to protect any plants that are a little tender for your growing zone or if you are trying to extend your growing season. A cover can help protect raised beds from frost early in the season. Plastic is not the best choice for covering beds and plants. Plastic sheets can actually collect colder air near the plants. Using a frost cloth, blanket or cotton sheet is a better alternative.

Frequently Asked Questions

I just bought my first house and it is the definition of a fixer upper—including the yard. The landscape started out as an overgrown jungle of common Midwestern weeds like the ubiquitous and much-hated honeysuckle, poisonous pokeweed, and invasive vinca vines. Plus, about a half ton of trash and broken glass behind every leaf. After hours of hard work, all that is gone (for the most part) and I’m starting with a blank canvas.

As a gardening editor and plant fanatic, front yard landscaping is a top priority for my new property. Other than a few boxwoods that have already received a major haircut, there is no curb appeal to speak of. With so much to do on the inside of the house before it’s move-in ready, I’m short on time, energy, and money to make over the yard. I need a low-lift, low-maintenance approach to overhaul my fixer upper yard.

I can see the potential for the property: welcoming blooms that line the path to the front door, a gorgeous cottage garden packed with pollinator plants, and raised beds full of fresh produce. It’s a tall order, I know. But with ten years of gardening experience under my belt and the help of a few clever products, I think I can achieve it. Here’s my plan, plus some tips you can use on your fixer upper yard.

How to Handle a Fixer Upper Yard

There will be two main garden areas in my new home landscaping design: one in the front along the walkway and one in the side yard next to the garage. For both areas, I am following a few simple principles to keep the makeover easy and the resulting landscape low-maintenance.

Choose a Simple Design

Since I have so many other decisions to make during my home renovation, I want to keep things simple. That’s why I’m using Plant By Number kits to transform my yard. Plant By Number gives you a professional looking landscape without having to consult (or pay for) a designer. Their pre-planned kits include a piece of landscape fabric or Bio-Paper mulch—for those interested in sustainable gardening—with a planting design printed on it. All you have to do is lay it out and plant.

Plant By Number has a garden kit for every design aesthetic, from pastel pinks to jewel tone blooms. Plus, they offer kits that come with actual plants as well as ones that come with a planting map and shopping list so you can purchase the required plants from your favorite nursery.

I’m opting for the Pastel Tones Garden Kit that comes with plants to make the process as easy as possible. This design has that quaint cottage garden look I want and it will grow well in the full sun spot on either side of my walkway. It covers a 5 x 10 foot (1.5 x 3 m) area, so that will trim my grass cutting down significantly. And once the plants are established it will be a lovely, low-maintenance border to welcome guests up to the front door.

I need visual aids to help me see how a design will work in my space, so I did a little photo editing to picture how the Plant By Number kit will look in my yard. I think it looks great and will look even better as I add more plants to my yard, especially around the boxwoods.

Another benefit of this garden kit, is that it includes front yard plants that add value to your home like coral bells, hydrangea, and ornamental grass. Since this house is a starter home, I’m looking at every improvement as an investment—and that includes the front yard. Though it may not be the first thing you think of, landscaping mistakes can affect property value. So if you’re a first-time homeowner or know that you’ll move one day, consider the return on investment in your yard as you would any other home improvement project.

Create a Garden That Works for You

New house landscaping, like your new house, needs to work for your needs and your space. For my new home landscaping, I want to grow a mix of edible and ornamental plants. Unfortunately my side yard started as a mess of weeds, broken glass, and trash, so an in-ground bed is pretty much out of the question. Instead I’m going to use Vego Garden raised beds to create a veggie plot just outside my door.

My yard isn’t the biggest, so I’m opting for their smaller 4 in 1 Modular Metal Raised Beds. I’ll be able to fit four beds in a square design in my side yard with nice, wide paths in between.

Landscaping a dark house exterior can be tricky, but Vego has six trendy colors that go with any home design. Their British Green color matches my house’s siding, so these beds will be the perfect addition to my landscape.

Next to my new raised beds, I want to create a simple border to provide privacy and blooms throughout the year. Plant By Number has a Low Border Garden map that fills a 5 x 15 foot (1.5 x 4.2 m) area.

This map doesn’t come with plants, but that’s okay because I won’t have time to do all my planting this fall before winter hits. In spring, all I’ll have to do is purchase my plants and get digging.

Consider the Wildlife

Unfortunately, my yard is a frequent stop for the neighborhood deer. Don’t get me wrong, deer are cute and I love seeing them in my yard, just not when they’re chomping on my flowers. I plan to eventually add a fence to stop them from traipsing through my flowers. But as I know from years of fighting deer in my garden, that won’t be enough. Not unless I add a tall privacy fence all the way around my yard, which I don’t want to do. So instead I plan to take a two-pronged defense: plant deer-resistant perennials and add a picket fence to slow them down.

I’ve chosen Plant By Number’s Native Hummingbird Garden Kit to plant along the fence line at the back of my property behind the raised beds. This kit features native deer-resistant perennials like false indigo, bee balm, great blue lobelia, and penstemon. All of which pollinators love, which is a bonus for my veggie garden. Even though I don’t want deer in my garden, I hope bees and butterflies will be frequent visitors to my fixed up yard.

Just as with any house renovation, a yard renovation takes time—maybe even more because a garden is a living thing. Remember that your fixer upper yard won't be fixed all at once, but it will get more beautiful with each passing season.

There’s something wonderfully satisfying about stepping outside of your front door and being greeted by a burst of greenery and fragrant blooms, no matter how small the space. Thoughtful front yard landscaping will bring immense joy and create a welcoming approach to a house that boosts curb appeal and even adds value.

The best small front yard landscaping ideas can create an intimate and personal garden space. But designing a small garden comes with its own set of challenges.

One of the first considerations is the mature size of your chosen plants. Don’t go on how they look at the garden center – think about how large they’ll grow in the years to come. Oversized plants can quickly dominate a small space, blocking light from windows and crowding out other plants.

Privacy is another key concern in small front yards, especially if your home is close to the street or neighboring properties. Selecting the right plants can help create a natural privacy screen, offering seclusion without sacrificing the lush look of your garden.

Additionally, choosing plants that are suitable for your USDA hardiness zone, light levels, and soil type is crucial for long-term success. The right plants will thrive with minimal care, rewarding you with a front yard that’s not only beautiful but also resilient, reflecting the unique character of your home and the local environment.

These small front yard landscaping ideas are suitable for all home styles and can be tailored to suit any budget.

1. Choose Beautiful Low-Maintenance Plants

Low-maintenance plants for front yards are a good idea if you don't want to spend a lot of time out front gardening. However, minimal effort can result in maximum appeal if you choose the right plants.

Ever-popular hydrangeas are bursting with curb appeal and are simple to maintain, needing only an annual prune. They are an ideal choice for front yards and are almost universally admired. Home Depot offers several varieties of hydrangeas.

Other options include hebe, a pretty evergreen shrub that requires almost no effort to maintain; Chinese fringe shrub, which packs a punch with aromatic flowers in spring and requires only an occasional trim; and beautiful daylilies, which will keep on blooming all summer with minimal care when planted en masse.

2. Plant a Delicious Fruit Tree

Even the smallest of front yards can accommodate a dwarf tree, and fruit trees are particularly prized for adding curb appeal. What could be lovelier than picking juicy ripe fruit on your way to the front door?

The best fruit trees for front yards are varieties that won’t dominate the front of the house, block light, or create a lot of litter. Many smaller fruit trees will grow no taller than 5-8 feet, while others can be maintained to a compact size by pruning. Ideal options for front yards include dwarf apples, pears, cherries, and figs. You can get a variety of fruit trees from Home Depot.

For the ultimate space-saving solution, consider espaliering a fruit tree against a sunny wall. This involves training the tree in an attractive, symmetrical growth habit, which enhances light and air circulation for the fruits. Apples, pears, peaches, and cherries are all good candidates for espaliering.

3. Highlight the Entrance with Statement Planters

Container gardening is a design staple for small yards, adding so much impact and flexibility. Positioning tall containers on either side of the entrance creates an inviting focal point for a home and adds a pleasing symmetry.

Planting your containers with colorful annuals will ensure a constant burst of flowers, and enables the planting to be regularly updated to reflect every season.

Alternatively, for a year-round solution, plant your containers with reliable evergreens such as aromatic bay trees or sculptural boxwood.

If maintenance is a concern, then invest in self-watering planters that only need occasional topping up. Crescent Garden’s TruDrop Slat Planters feature an internal water store that slowly waters plants, making sure they get just the right level of hydration. The design is reminiscent of traditional wooden slatted planters but has a stylish modern look.

4. Set the Scent with a Fragrant Flowering Hedge

Nothing boosts curb appeal more than a heavenly scent that greets you on arrival. A fragrant flowering hedge is the perfect way to achieve this, as it doubles up as an attractive boundary. Mock orange and lilac are gloriously fragrant choices. In fact, you can get Proven Winners lilac plants on Amazon.

Most flowering hedge plants are deciduous, which means they shed their leaves in the fall. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing for a small front yard, when an established hedge could impinge on light levels in the darkest months.

If you want the permanent boundary of an evergreen hedge, there are a few fragrant flowering options to choose from, including mountain laurel, California lilac, fragrant olive, and winter daphne.

5. Keep it Coherent with a Color-Themed Border

Color is a powerful tool that has a huge influence over the way your home is perceived. In a small front yard, a single-color or complementary palette works really well.

Want to create an air of simple sophistication? Go all white with big ball hydrangeas. Need to warm up a dull house exterior? Add a dose of sunshine with black-eyed Susan and orange daylilies. Crave cottage garden charm? Pair blue delphiniums with magenta lupines and romantic pink roses. As well as flowers, colorful foliage can play a big part.

When planning color in a garden, refer to the color wheel to help choose complementary hues. For example, yellow and purple sit opposite each other and can create a pleasing contrast, while pink, blue, and orange make up a classic triadic color scheme. The trick is to use different tones of each color rather than all strong hues.

Don't just consider the color of plants – a blue front door, for example, can be beautifully contrasted with orange and yellow flowers, or harmonized with lavender.

6. Prioritize Long-Flowering Perennials

There are numerous front yard plants that will add value to your home, but in a small space you need to be selective and prioritize the longest-flowering perennials that will bloom over two or even three seasons.

With their jewel tones, salvias are a wonderful choice that also have varied growth habits; hardy cranesbill geranium is perfect for lining a pathway; coral bells are a stunning option for shaded areas; while Knock Out roses will bloom from spring to frost, without deadheading. You can get varieties of salvia, geraniums, or even Knock Out roses on Amazon.

Choose a mixture for pots, borders, and edging plants, to boost curb appeal and keep your yard in bloom for most of the year.

7. Add Drama and Softness with Ornamental Grass

Ornamental grasses are a beautiful landscaping feature for small yards, adding texture, height, and softness. Their graceful, flowing forms add movement and structure to the garden, creating visual interest throughout the year.

There are grasses in various sizes, colors, and textures to suit any design – many of them are low-maintenance and do not suffer from pests and diseases. Yet, they provide habitat and food for wildlife, helping to enhance the biodiversity of a small front yard.

One of the key advantages of ornamental grasses is their adaptability. They thrive in different soil types and can handle varying light conditions, from full sun to partial shade. Once established, they are drought tolerant and require minimal watering.

Many types of ornamental grasses are too large for a small front yard, but there are many dwarf grasses that can be used as focal points, borders, or groundcovers. Try prairie dropseed, monkeygrass, smaller blue fescue varieties, and blue dune lyme grass.

8. Train Climbing Plants up the Front of the House

Climbing plants are versatile additions to a front yard that can be used to disguise and soften an unattractive or drab wall, or to complement a charming exterior.

Many flowering vines with an extended bloom season, such as clematis, also have a heavenly scent that will uplift visitors and occupants alike; climbing roses are a beautiful choice brimming with old-fashioned charm; climbing hydrangeas add impact with their large white flower heads; while vibrant mandevilla adds a tropical touch in warmer USDA zones. You can get flowering vines at Home Depot.

English ivy offers a high level of coverage; however, it can be invasive and in some cases cause damage to the house’s facade.

Most climbing plants will need some support – either hidden wires or a trellis for lower-growing climbers. Amazon offers several options for vine support.

9. Grow Edibles in a Raised Planter

Vegetable gardens are not just for backyards – they can become an integral part of a front yard. This is especially worth considering if your backyard is too shaded to grow your own food.

If you want to maintain curb appeal, then choose ornamental edibles – known as edimentals – and combine them with flowering plants.

There are many beautiful herbs that belong in flower beds, such as chives, sage, and lavender. Ornamental vegetables include artichokes, which feature striking architectural heads; scarlet runner beans with their vibrant flowers; and even leafy greens, which come in a variety of colors and textures – rainbow chard looks particularly stunning in a mixed bed. You can get a vegetable seed variety pack on Amazon.

Invest in a raised metal planter to contain your vegetable garden and create a stylish feature. Mix in some beautiful companion flowers, such as marigolds and nasturtiums, to help manage pests.

10. Choose Flowering Plants for Privacy

Privacy is often a concern in a small front yard. While a tall boundary hedge may be too imposing, a couple of carefully positioned privacy plants can obscure the view into a front window or even create a secluded seating area.

Camellia is a fabulous evergreen shrub with dark, glossy leaves that flowers in spring – or even winter in some areas; oakleaf hydrangea provides good privacy from spring through fall with beautiful white flowers; bougainvillea is a colorful flowering vine for warmer zones; while hardy hibiscus continuously produces large, vibrant flowers over a long period. Home Depot offers several types of flowering shrub.

While fast-growing shrubs for privacy are tempting if you want plants to be established quickly, they can soon overwhelm a smaller yard, so always check the mature planting size.

11. Uplift the Facade with Window Boxes

Window boxes are the ultimate space-saving small front yard idea – even homes without front yards can usually accommodate one. These vertical containers can be mounted directly below windows, transforming a home’s exterior with vibrant color and lush foliage.

As well as adding an appealing focal point to a house’s exterior, window boxes are a clever landscaping trick, as they draw the eye upward, which helps to enhance the perceived size of the front yard.

Like any container, window boxes can be changed out seasonally to always be in bloom, or they can be planted with evergreens to provide year-round structure. They can even provide an extension to your edible garden to include herbs and leafy greens – an ideal solution for kitchen windows. Amazon offers window boxes for any style of home.

12. Lose the Lawn

A lawn requires a lot of care to keep it looking good, and for such a small area is rarely worth the trouble. Consider swapping out your turf for a low-maintenance no-mow lawn of blue fescue, creeping thyme, chamomile, or white clover. This clover blend lawn mix is highly rated on Amazon.

Alternatively, a gravel lawn looks modern and requires minimal maintenance. You can add container plants to it or intersperse graveled areas with low-maintenance plants. Bear in mind gravel gets hot in the high heat, so it is not ideal for warmer climates.

13. Plant a Four-Season Tree

If you only have room for one tree, then you had better make it count. Four-season trees have beauty to offer every month for year-round curb appeal – from blossom in spring and delicious fruits in the summer, to colorful leaves in the fall, and berries or attractive bark in winter.

Depending on the size of your yard, choose a medium-sized tree such as seven son flower or Sargent cherry tree, or a dwarf variety of flowering dogwood or coral bark Japanese maple.

Before buying a tree, check both the mature height and canopy width.

14. Add Seating Out Front

If you like to watch the world go by and socialize with neighbors, then a front yard seating area is key. Despite the limited area a well-chosen seating arrangement can maximize comfort and functionality in a small front yard.

Opt for compact, multi-purpose furniture, such as a small bench with built-in storage, or a pair of bistro chairs and a small table.

Positioning the seating near a focal point, like a flower bed or ornamental tree, enhances the ambiance, creating a cozy spot to unwind with a book or a cup of coffee.

Incorporating greenery, such as tall potted plants, climbing vines, or even a small tree, can enhance privacy, making the space feel more intimate and secluded while still being part of the neighborhood.

Inexpensive drought-tolerant landscaping can help in our global effort to reduce water usage. Water conservation is an important part of good environmental stewardship. Avoiding run-off and saving water through efficient use helps prevent scarcity of this necessary resource. Cheap drought-tolerant landscaping is an excellent way to save money while contributing to environmental health.

Cheap Drought-Tolerant Landscaping Ideas

Waterwise gardening through inexpensive landscaping will save on your utility bills and help fight water scarcity. Here are a few ideas on low-cost drought-tolerant landscaping to get you into the movement.

1. Choose the Right Plants

Combining plants with the same water needs will avoid overwatering waste. Choose plants that will all thrive in the site and have similar care requirements. Opt for those that prefer your particular soil type, lighting, and other factors. Your local Extension office and reputable nurseries should have some suggestions as to the appropriate plants for your zone and growing conditions.

2. Install a Good Irrigation System

Front yard drought-tolerant inexpensive landscaping will still need some water. Consider installing a drip system like this one from Amazon that only delivers moisture to each plant right at the root zone. These are fairly easy to install and very customizable. This will avoid spraying water where it isn’t needed. If you opt for a traditional irrigation system, time it so water is delivered at night or early morning when it is cool. This allows moisture to penetrate the soil before it evaporates. Use high-efficiency water heads for the best use of water.

3. Use Mulch

Using mulch conserves moisture in the soil, and can inhibit weeds and regulate soil temperature. There are many types of mulch from which to choose.

There are organic and sustainable mulches like compost, leaf litter, bark, or even dried grass clippings. Organic mulches condition the soil and decompose, delivering nutrients to the soil. There are also inorganic mulches which have the benefit of remaining longer since they don’t break down. Rock, pebbles, rubber mulches, and lava rock are examples of inorganic mulch. They will help keep moisture in the soil but will not provide any nutrient benefits. Several kinds of mulch can be found at Home Depot.

Mulching can have the added benefit of hiding drip lines if these are being used. Inexpensive drought-tolerant landscaping ideas don’t have to be unsightly.

4. Remove Turfgrass

Our lovely, green lawns need a ton of water to keep them looking beautiful. While the feel of grass on one’s bare toes is delightful, tiptoeing through moss is equally nice.

Grass uses at least an inch of water per week, if not more. It also requires heavy nitrogen fertilizer which can run off into our wild waters. Steppable ground covers or native grasses are ideal replacements for the high-maintenance lawn. Native plants are naturally more tolerant of local conditions because they have adapted to them.

Convert your space into a wildflower meadow. This is not only pleasing to the eye, but low maintenance, and attractive to birds and beneficial insects. If you must have a lawn, switch to a drought-tolerant variety like buffalograss, or fescue.

5. Grow Groundcover

Just like mulch, groundcover can protect bare areas from water loss, minimize weeds, and regulate soil temperature.

There are many varieties of creeping sedum that produce bright, starry flowers and require little to no maintenance. Ice plant is another succulent with bright pink blooms and chubby, little leaves. Periwinkle is a classic ground cover that sports glossy leaves and blue or white flowers. Creeping thyme brightens the landscape in spring with flowers and offers year-round greenery. You can buy groundcover plants from Woodies Garden Goods.

6. Control Weeds

Just like our “wanted” plants, weeds need water to grow. When weeds are present they suck up available water that should be going to our “wanted” plants. They also deplete nutrients and are a general nuisance. Prevent some weeds with mulch and remove any that pop up regularly to reduce competition for resources.

7. Go Native

One of the best tips for low-cost drought-tolerant landscaping is to utilize native plants. These plants evolved and adapted to their local temperatures, weather patterns, and soil varieties, which makes them hardier than an introduced ornamental. They use less water, need less maintenance, and still provide greenery and flowers. They are also important parts of the ecosystem providing food and shelter for animals, and operating as host plants for many species of butterflies and moths.

8. Plant a Drought Tolerant Tree

Young trees need regular watering as they establish, but once they are more mature they can tolerate less water. A tree provides a spreading canopy that will shade an area and help prevent the sun’s rays from boiling away any moisture. Trees will also help keep the soil cooler. Select a drought-tolerant species like American Elm, Crape Myrtle, Catalpa, or Redbud - several of which can be found at Fast Growing Trees.

Cheap patio paver ideas are all over the internet. Budget-friendly options can save money and still produce a delightful outdoor “room” to fill with comfort and peace. Creating outdoor living spaces allows you to take advantage of nature any time of the year. A patio is the perfect way to make a nesting space for socializing, relaxing, and simply reading a book in the sun.

Cheap Paver Patio Ideas

Why not keep expenses in check and still create a beautiful space? Inexpensive paver patio ideas require few tools and just a little bit of knowledge.

First, you need a level space and then you must decide how large the area will be so you can acquire the necessary materials. Found or repurposed materials are great DIY cheap patio paver ideas.

Be prepared to install the patio yourself since this will save a lot of money against professional installer fees. Get creative and be flexible with your design. Adapt to the existing topography rather than forcing a design that will require extensive excavation and leveling. And finally, have fun with the project and make it your own.

Budget-Friendly Paver Options

When it comes to options, it will depend upon what is most available.

• If the neighbors tore out a brick retaining wall, perhaps they will gift you those bricks.
• Check out any used building materials shops that might have pavers that were removed from another home.
• Maybe your landscape is naturally filled with rocks. A little hard work excavating these will give you free DIY small patio paver ideas.
• If there is a remodel or demolition site nearby, stop in and ask if there is broken concrete or other possible materials they will give away.
• Check online sites for free or discounted used materials. You can build your cheap paver patio out of any of these and more options.

Pea Gravel and Pavers

If you are only able to get a hold of a certain number of pavers and find it won’t be enough, invest in some pea gravel. Pea gravel is relatively inexpensive, and comes washed or unwashed. You can buy this by the bag but it’s more economical to order or pick it up in bulk from a landscape supplier.

Prepare the area by laying weed barrier fabric or screening as the base to prevent weeds from invading the area. Lay out the pavers in an appealing way and then fill in the gaps with the pea gravel. The effect is natural and will save money on having an entire area filled with just paving materials.

A Brick Cheap Paver Patio

Brick is another budget friendly item that is readily available at garden centers. They are easy to install, being regular in size with straight edges. Prepare the area the same way as you would for paver/pea gravel installation. With this material, it is important to have a very level site. This will prevent tipping bricks and irregular, stumble prone areas.

Lay the bricks anyway you like, but a herringbone pattern is pretty and makes a sturdy floor. It is useful to fill in between the bricks with sand, another economical material. Sweep sand into the cracks for a smoother surface. Use garden or river sand to avoid salt if plantings or ground cover will be present.

DIY Concrete Project

There are many shapes of concrete forms available at very reasonable prices. I have done this numerous times with a cobblestone form and the process is easy, although a bit back-breaking.

1. Choose the form you want and acquire as many bags of concrete as necessary for your square footage.
2. I just mix the bags in my wheelbarrow. Add enough water to mix the concrete into a creamy consistency.
3. Use a shovel to pour the mix into the form. Use a concrete trowel to smooth the surface.
4. Let it set part-way and remove the form. Place the form adjacent to this first piece and repeat the process.
5. This will go a bit faster if you use a quick concrete mix that sets up faster. Again, fill in the cracks with sand.

Rock Patio Options

Even if your garden isn’t filled with rocks, purchasing decorative stone is still relatively inexpensive when compared to other patio materials. River stones or lava rock is readily available in bags or bulk.

Prepare the site with weed barrier fabric and spread the rock. River rock will result in an appealing space but should be nestled in sand or soil to make it more stable to walk upon.

Lava rock is smaller and very lightweight, making it easier to use. It will also fall into place a bit easier than the large river rocks. Lava rock comes in several colors. It is a good idea to make some sort of edge barrier to keep the lava rock in the location.

With so many raised garden bed ideas to choose from, they offer a fabulous opportunity to get creative and design a unique landscaping feature.

There are numerous advantages of raised garden beds, not the least of which are a reduction in soil compaction, weed suppression, better drainage, and earlier soil warming – which can make for an earlier crop when growing a raised vegetable garden.

Raised beds allow us to choose the soil mixture we want, which is especially helpful in areas where the ground’s soil may be substandard for gardening. The best soil for raised garden beds depends on what you want to grow, but a good start is a mix of garden soil and compost.

Raised garden bed drainage is an important factor, so adding vermiculite to the soil will keep it well drained, while the structure itself will need to allow for the release of excess moisture.

The easiest raised garden bed ideas are made from simple wooden kits. However, these and other materials can be used for a more creative DIY design. Take inspiration from our roundup of unique ideas.

1. Invest In A Flexible Rolling Raised Bed

Give your raised bed the ability to move. Affix wheels to a raised bed and you now have the ability to move it in or out of sun, closer to the compost area for off-season cleaning, or into the greenhouse or garage for overwintering.

A rolling raised bed is perfect for small raised bed gardening. However, you will need a smooth surface such as concrete. Also, consider adding some safety options like locking wheels or padding around the corners, especially if you have little ones roaming the garden.

Installing casters on raised beds makes it easier to reposition them when seasons change. You may discover your bed isn’t close enough to a water source, or has become shaded. With wheels, you have some flexibility.

2. Use Elegant Metal Beds For A Formal Landscaping Design

Raised beds don’t have to be strictly utilitarian – they can be beautiful as well. A formal raised bed should include shrubs, perennials and annuals of varying heights and seasonal interest.

Annuals can be planted densely so they fill in their area quickly, while perennials will often grow larger year after year. These larger perennials can be pruned to contain their size or divided in successive years.

The entirety of the raised bed can consist of only flowering plants which can be laid out in a pattern for added visual interest. For a clean cohesive look, keep the material of the actual bed as natural or neutral in color as possible. A bronzed metal finish adds a rich, warm feel to the design.

3. Convert Raised Beds Into Cold Frames

A cold frame can allow you to plant earlier in the spring and extend the garden season in the fall/early winter.

You can easily convert raised beds into a cold frame by adding a transparent covering over the top of it. The cover might be made of plastic or acrylic sheeting, old windows, or moveable caterpillar tunnels.

The simplest cold frame can be just a wooden frame built on a slant to catch the sun, and covered with an old hinged window that can be easily raised up for tending your seedlings.

Turn your existing raised bed into an incubator for seeds and seedlings by covering it, or a portion of it, with clear plastic. Use your imagination.

4. Stack Raised Beds To Save Your Back

Raised beds can be as low as 24 inches (61cm) but if you want to save your back or grow crops with deeper root systems, stack your raised beds.

Some kits are designed specifically to be stacked and joined together with hardware. Other options are to simply stack square or rectangle raised bed sides atop each other and fill with soil. To be clear about this, we are simply referring to a raised bed frame that’s stacked high enough to give the bed height.

To make this a safer, more sturdy option, pound a length of rebar into the ground at each of the four corners. You might also create a tiered garden of your own design with varying heights for each planter. Again, you may want to fill it halfway with organic materials before adding soil and compost.

5. Maximize Space With Modular Metal Raised Garden Beds

Metal garden beds were often made from round or oval feeding and watering troughs, typically used by farmers. From that brilliant idea came today’s metal modular raised beds that are the perfect solution to mediocre soil situations, changing environments, and convenience.

These raised bed modules can be mixed and matched, and can even be formed as L-shaped beds, allowing you to maximize your garden space.

Our favorites come from Vego Garden. The brand's metal beds come in different shapes, heights, sizes, and colors and all materials used in building them are organic and non-toxic.

Vego beds are guaranteed to last for 20 years or longer, unlike the typical wooden framed beds that have a limited life span.

Modular metal beds can be half-filled with organic materials before you load the soil in, making them rich, cost-efficient, and easy to work in.

6. Light Up Raised Beds for Night Gardening

Shed some light on the subject by adding lighting to raised beds. Lighting is terrific in all aspects of the landscape but is especially useful around a raised bed. Now you can catch the culprit who’s digging up or nibbling on your crops and you can see to harvest at night.

If you are handy with electrical, install electrical conduits. If not, there are plenty of solar or battery-powered options.

Don’t disrupt your plants’ growth cycle by using bright or intense lighting. Soft solar lights are best. There is such a thing as “light pollution,” especially in urban areas, so leaving bright lights on all night is probably not Mother Nature’s favorite. It can throw migrating creatures off track, not to mention the tons of CO₂ that’s released as a result of excessive nighttime lighting.

7. Build a Self-Composting Keyhole Bed

Keyhole raised beds are a clever solution for dry climates and areas of low-fertile soil. They are constructed in a circular fashion, but contain a cutout section – giving a keyhole shape to the design. This cutout allows access to the center of the raised bed, which contains a composting cage.

As you cook and garden, you fill the composting cage with food scraps and yard trimmings, which slowly starts to break down. You then water the beds through the composting area, so that the water is infused with all the nutrients in the compost, which is then absorbed into the soil.

The beds are usually raised quite high, to enable water retention and allow for a good amount of compost. This also makes them ideal for growing plants with long roots, although most plants are compatible.

8. Create a Sustainable Hugelkultur Bed

Hugelkultur is a centuries-old Eastern European system for building the ultimate raised bed out of rotting logs and plant debris. Those with wooded acreage or trees that have come down due to storms already have the materials.

This simple method has several variations but the general theme is to create raised beds out of mounds of logs and branches, filled with compost, soil, and other organic material. This is as sustainable as you get.

Hugelkultur requires little in materials. Simply mark out the area where you want a raised bed – the shape can be wavy or meandering, but does not need to be geometric. Then, rototill or dig the soil within the area until it is broken up and aerated.

Remove about a foot of soil, then begin filling the area with layers of logs and branches, wood chips, smaller branches (preferably rotting), leaves, yard clippings, dug-up turf, manure, straw, and leaves. Water deeply.

Cover it all with a few inches of compost and soil, which creates a raised “berm” of sorts that will yield surprising results once it is settled and planted.

The downside to a raised bed without a frame is erosion, but the upside is its low cost, simplicity, and sustainability.

9. Build A Simple Cinder Block Bed

A really simple and low-cost option is to build a cinder block raised bed. For little money, these are easy to obtain from big box stores that cater to home improvement enthusiasts.

Cinder blocks are very sturdy and will outlast other materials. You will want to use some rebar to stabilize your raised bed and stack successive levels so the blocks are off-center. Also, place the blocks at the top of your structure so the holes are facing up, creating an additional planting space at the perimeter of your raised bed.

If you have a concern about the safety of cinder block material, be aware that long ago they were made with toxic materials, but that is no longer the case. They are perfectly safe for your raised bed.

10. Maximize Productivity In A Square Foot Vegetable Garden

Square-foot gardening is the ideal solution for small growing spaces. The concept, developed in the 1980s, is intended to maximize efficiency and crop yields by dividing the growing area into small squares. These are usually 1ft (30cm) sections – hence the name – which each accommodate an individual crop.

Each growing square will contain 1, 4, 9, or 16 plants inside, depending on the crop. For example, tomato, pepper, and zucchini plants would each require one square, while you could grow more smaller crops in one square, such as 6 lettuces, 9 beets, or 16 radishes. Larger plants, such as squash or melon, will require two grids.

In order to maximize your growing space, you should practice succession planting – growing cool-season crops in spring, followed by warm-season crops in late spring and summer.

11. Incorporate Seating Into Your Raised Bed

Building a bench seat into a raised bed is a brilliant way to maximize every inch of yard space while providing a spot to sit when tending to plants.

A seat can be added into a custom timber bed, or built with brick or stones. It's also possible to purchase kits with a bench incorporated into the design.

Ensure the height is just right for relaxing with your feet on the ground. It's a good idea to have a bit of back support on your bench to aid comfort and ensure you don't sit back on the soil.

12. Get Creative With Recycling

With a bit of imagination, almost any vessel can become a recycled raised garden bed. As long as it can hold enough soil for root growth, and does not contain toxic materials, a recycled bed can take pride of place in your yard.

Consider upcycling an old boat or wagon, a traditional bathtub or sink, old animal feeders or water troughs, hardwearing furniture, wooden pallets, and more. Even an old sandbox can be turned into a vegetable garden when the kids are finished playing with it.

Be wary of using old tires and railroad ties, however, as these often contain toxic substances that will be absorbed into the soil over time.

13. Soften The Look With Curved Raised Beds

We often think of raised beds as being rectangular, but they can be any shape you want. Indeed, a curved design is a clever way to soften hard edges and corners, and can feel less imposing in a small space.

Brick is the best material to use when building curvy shapes, and makes it feel a more permanent part of the landscaping design. However, a woven raised bed is also suitable.

14. Integrate A Calming Water Feature

Consider incorporating a water feature into your raised bed design. Here, the deck has been built to include raised beds adjoining a mini waterfall.

The walls of the raised bed have been used to cleverly conceal the pump and mechanisms for the water feature.

To keep it looking its best, the wood is oiled twice a year.

15. Get The Country Look With Woven Beds

Woven willow or hazel raised beds blend in perfectly with the country garden aesthetic. They soften the look of the beds and are made from sustainable materials.

Usually sold in kits, woven raised beds can be made by crafty gardeners using locally collected flexible rods, with hurdles used to weave around.

Due to the open structure of woven raised beds, they will require plastic lining before filling with soil.

16. Brighten Up Garden Beds With Paint

One of the easiest ways to create unique raised garden beds is to buy a standard kit, and then paint the wood a lovely color before installing.

Painted raised beds must use non-toxic modern paint so that chemicals do not leach into the soil. This means you should avoid using old painted wood that you have reclaimed from other items.

Painting the wood can also help to extend the lifespan of the raised beds.

Our readers often ask about cheap DIY garden path ideas, because nothing adds more charm to a garden than winding stone paths leading from here to there. But even utilitarian walkways are better than none. If cost is a consideration – and it usually is! – consider these charming and cheap DIY garden path ideas.

4 Cheap DIY Garden Path Ideas

Creating a walkway isn’t rocket science, and with determination and a little creativity, any gardener should be able to build a budget-friendly path across the landscape. To get started, here are a few cool pathway plans you can build yourself.

Option 1: A Moss Pathway

A moss pathway is both charming and budget-friendly. It’s one of several intriguing, low-cost stepping stone walkway ideas. All you need is a shovel or garden rake, stepping stones or pavers, and live moss plants or seeds—such as these Irish Moss seeds from Burpee. Note that this option only works in areas that are moist and shaded.

Here’s how to do it: loosen the soil on the pathway area, then set out the stepping stones or pavers. These should be placed close enough together so that you can easily step from one to the next, but far enough apart that there is ample soil on which to place the moss. Once the stepping stones are in place, transplant sheets of moss into the bare soil areas, pressing it into place.

Option 2: A Path of Steppable Plants

A steppable plant is exactly what it sounds like: plants that won’t die if you walk on them. Yes, turf grass is one, but there are tough, low-maintenance, drought-tolerant alternatives that may require less effort and provide more charm. Many steppable plants don’t need any human effort at all once they are established.

What steppable plants to consider? A few of our favorites are woolly thyme, creeping wire vine, blue star creeper, veronica, and Corsican mint are some top choices. You can find steppable plant seeds, like these Corsican mint seeds, at Eden Brothers.

Option 3: Pebble Walkways

A pebble pathway is essentially a carpet of pebbles, arranged in a design that pleases you. Some are very simple, all in one or two colors of pebbles, while others may be elaborate mosaics with swirls and patterns. It’s a DIY project, so you’ll get to choose the look you want and the effort you are willing to invest.

This is how to make a simple pebble pathway. Lay out the path and clear it of grass and rocks. Then remove soil to a depth of some 4 inches (10 cm), then fill the lower half of that space with crushed stone. Mist it and tamp it down smooth. If you don't have a tamper, this one from Amazon is a great option. Cover this with landscape fabric, then add edging – either plastic or metal. The spikes on the edging hold down the fabric. The pebbles layer smoothly on top of the fabric.

To make a fancier pebble mosaic, separate out pebble colors. Then design your pattern and put the different colored pebbles in place.

Option 4: Cut-Grass Pathways

A cut-grass pathway is one of my personal favorites of the DIY walkway ideas and works well for those who have removed their lawns in favor of wildflowers or native grasses. You love the variety and movement of the native plants you’ve installed but don’t want to wade through them to move from one garden location to the next.

It looks utterly charming to simply mow yourself a pathway. Decide where you want it and how wide, then simply mow the plants in that area to create an easy way to access other points in the garden.

Purpose of Your Path

As you ponder various DIY walkway ideas, be sure you’ve figured out the reason you want a pathway. What purpose is that path going to serve? And who will be using it?

The obvious purpose of a garden path is to allow people to get from one part of the landscape to another. But the type of path depends on who is going to go where. Do you need to be able to get to distant garden beds to weed them? Or access the compost heap? Or are you yearning for a charming winding path that takes guests on a tour of the garden?

The answers to these types of questions will determine the size, location, and kinds of materials best for creating the pathway. A utilitarian path (from the kitchen door to the compost heap) should be as direct and straight as possible. A winding path takes you for a little journey of discovery.

Preparing the Soil

Whatever type of pathway you select, you will need to prepare the ground, clearing away obstacles and leveling the area. This can be an expensive endeavor if you pay a landscaper to clear and level a pathway to lay cement. But for DIY projects, like grass paths, stepping stone paths, moss walkways, or other walkable plant paths, it doesn’t have to be.

First, you’ll want to lay out the direction of the pathway. Do a trial plan by marking it with string or even a hose, then leave that in place for a few days to make sure it’s in the perfect place. Adjust it as needed until it is.

Next, clear the ground. Remove rocks and weeds. Transplant any perennials that happen to be growing in the pathway area.

Third, determine if the grade should be leveled. If so, now’s the time.

Once the area is fully cleared and leveled, you'll need to assess your soil. If you plan to plant moss, ground covers, or seeds, you may need to amend the soil to ensure your plants get a healthy start. For example, moss prefers slightly acidic soil, while low-growing herbs or flowering ground covers need loose, well-draining soil enriched with compost—especially if your soil is poor.

After amending the soil, begin placing your materials, whether they are stepping stones, pavers, stone, or plants and seeds.

Finally, water everything in well. This step helps settle the soil around the stones and plants and gives your seeds or transplants a strong, healthy start. Keep the planted areas moist until the plants are well established.

Now you can enjoy your beautiful, budget-friendly new pathway!

The backyard might be your private oasis, but your front yard landscaping is what the rest of the world sees. This is where you can add major curb appeal to make your home more attractive – whether you’re in the market to sell it or not. Indeed, there are many front yard plants that add value.

Elaborate landscaping in the front yard looks great, but it can be costly and require a lot of regular maintenance. Get more for your time and money by choosing low-maintenance plants for front yards that pack a punch.

These are some great options, but check plants are compatible with your USDA hardiness zone, soil type, and light levels, such as full sun, full shade, or partial shade.

1. American Arborvitae

What looks better than a tidy, pyramid-shaped evergreen? North American native American arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) comes in many varieties, all of which are easy to care for and provide year-round greenery for curb appeal.

Depending on the planting location, you can choose a dwarf variety like ‘Smaragd’ or a taller tree. ‘Emerald Green’ is a beautiful cultivar for color.

Grow arborvitae as hedges along property lines, as accents, or along the windowless sides of a home.

These evergreens are hardy in USDA zones 2 through 8 and need full sun. They tolerate a range of soil types and only need watering while getting established. Their pruning needs are minimal.

2. Weeping Cherry

Weeping cherry (Prunus pendula) is a striking, small landscaping tree that offers huge visual interest with little effort. It has graceful weeping branches that bloom pink in spring, provide pretty green leaves in summer, and turn golden in fall.

Hardy in zones 5 through 8, weeping cherry can grow up to 25 feet (7.6m) tall but is often much smaller. Full sun or partial shade is best for this tree. The soil should be fertile and well-drained. It has good resistance to diseases.

3. Chinese Fringe Shrub

The Chinese fringe shrub (Loropetalum chinense) is a small to medium shrub that may grow up to ten feet (3m) high and wide. Look for dwarf varieties for something smaller.

They are evergreen in their hardiness zones of 7 or 8 through 10. The attractive leaves are oval and glossy green; flowers bloom in spring and are pretty and aromatic.

‘Crimson Fire’ is a low-growing mounding variety with red foliage that lasts all year.

Chinese fringe flower shrubs do not need much care. Plant them in sun or partial shade in rich soil that drains well. Pruning is minimal; plants grow in a pleasing shape, but you can trim them occasionally to maintain a certain size.

4. Hosta

Hostas (Hosta spp.) are beloved plants for their minimal needs, variety, and ability to grow in shade. If you have a shady front yard, this is the curb appeal plant for you.

Grown largely for its striking foliage, you can find hosta varieties in deep blue-green, lemon yellow, and everything in between. There are also variegated types. Hostas can be very small, perfect for edging and tucking between other plants, and also large and sprawling.

Grow hostas in zones 3 through 8 in rich, moist, well-drained soils. All types tolerate shade, but the darker the leaves, the more shade they can handle – even full shade. Hostas have minimal care requirements and few problems, but watch out for slug damage.

5. Black-Eyed Susan

For an easy, flowering perennial that is also native to many areas of North America, it’s hard to beat black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). It can also be grown as an annual and is easy to grow from seed for quick seasonal blooms. You’ll get cheerful yellow flowers from early summer into fall.

Black-eyed Susans need full sun and moist, rich soil. They are very low-maintenance, resist drought, and have few diseases or pest issues. Use these pretty flowers in mixed beds, along edges, in cottage gardens, and in groups or masses.

6. Daylily

Daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.) offer another low-maintenance option for showy, perennial flowers. Aside from dividing every few years, these flowers will keep on blooming without much effort from the gardener.

They have long, thin, and elegant leaves with bright flowers that bloom on long stalks. Each flower only blooms for a day, but the plants will keep on producing flowers throughout the summer and into fall.

Plant daylilies in masses for the best effect. They like full sun but will grow in partial shade. They tolerate average soil but need good drainage. You can remove spent flowers, but it isn’t necessary to keep them blooming. Look for many different varieties in a range of colors and sizes.

7. Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental grasses are a popular group of landscaping plants, with many species. You can choose native or non-native varieties, tall grasses, and from among a variety of colors and shapes. All types – but especially native species – are easy and require little care.

• Use low-mounding grasses like blue fescue for edges or ground cover.
• Fountain grass makes a spectacular display for a focal point.
• Little bluestem and purple millet provide interesting colors.
• Japanese forest grass is good for shade and has a pretty mounding growth habit.
• Dwarf pampas grass has exceptional flowers.
• Use ravenna grass to fill tall spaces (up to 12 feet or 3.7m).

Keep grasses in place after fall for good visual interest in winter.

Drought tolerant landscaping, also known as xeriscaping, is especially important in hotter regions. Landscaping must meet the needs of those who will use it as well as take into account the site’s environmental conditions. Designing a garden simply means making a plan for the landscaping and hardscaping in a particular space. The principles of garden design remain constant.

If you live in an area where water use is or may become restricted, your garden design must include drought-resistant landscaping. Read on for some drought-tolerant landscape design ideas.

Heat Tolerant Garden Design Elements

When gathering drought-tolerant landscaping ideas, consider simplicity and harmony as essential. To create a harmonious design, balance the landscaping and hardscaping to keep both sides in some type of equilibrium. For example, a tree on one side could be balanced out by a group of shrubs on the other.

It’s also important to unify the site. One way to do this is to group the plants you install. Unifying elements can be foliage texture, shape, or color. Repeating one or more of these elements through the landscape creates an appealing rhythm, leading to a focal point like hardscaping (a fountain) or a large tree.

Soil

The first – and perhaps most important – element for drought-tolerant landscaping is the soil. Many landscape issues occur because the soil is not adequately prepared before planting. You’ll want to get a soil test done to understand your soil’s structure, the amount of organic matter in the soil, the level of nutrients in the soil, and the soil acidity (pH). Plants grow better and are easier to care for – in all landscapes – if they are planted in high-quality soils.

Plants

The part of creating a drought-tolerant landscape that people enjoy most is plant selection. Don’t just load the car up with drought-resistant plants. The key is selecting the right plant for the right place – in terms of hardiness zone, sun exposure, and soil needs. Native plants are always easy to maintain and usually drought tolerant, but there are many different types of plants that need little water.

Aside from picking a plant that fits well into a site, design the overall plant arrangement based on the plant’s mature dimensions, shape, and color. Consider the ornamental value of a plant, e.g. the timing of the leaves, flowers, and seed displays, ensuring year-round garden interest by adding some plants with spring, summer, fall, and even winter interest in each area.

Drought-Tolerant Landscaping Ideas

• Dry Garden - The majority of drought-resistant plants will rot in wet soil conditions. In fact, you should keep irrigation water off their stems or crowns. Setting up a drip system is a wonderful way to keep the crown dry while sending water directly to the roots of your plant and avoiding crown rot. Place each emitter in a piece of plastic watering pipe running from the soil level to the root ball.
• When to Plant - Plant your drought-resistant plants in late fall after the first rain or in the winter months that follow. This gives your plants the time to establish roots before summer arrives, temperatures rise and the soil dries out.
• Replace Turf - Is it time to replace that turf grass? That “all-American” square of lawn requires a lot of irrigation, plus fertilizer and mowing. Consider replacing parts or all of it with tough, low-growing native grasses or sedge that don’t need much help to thrive and need mowing only once a season.

Cottage gardens have evolved a lot over the years. From the basic English cottage garden style of old, you can now try specific styling themes such as a xeriscape cottage garden, a shrub cottage garden or, for those short on space, a cottage garden in containers. Learn how to achieve these cottage garden looks with ease.

5 Essential Cottage Garden Ideas

Cottage gardens of yesteryear maximized small garden space with herbs, edibles and flowers planted close together. Today’s cottage gardens ramp up this style. The ‘cottagecore’ trend, for instance, brings together a bounty of edibles and flowering plants with harmony and balance in mind.

The romantic feel is still intact in all these cottage garden layouts, which feature colorful plants of different heights and textures, fusing plants for structure with ideas for elegance and charm. Plant them with the tallest in the back for the best effect. Here are five ways to transform your space with quaint florals and romantic flair.

1. Cottage Garden Containers

If you live where yard space is limited, but you have a porch or balcony, a container grown cottage garden Is ideal. For maximum impact, plant several containers that can be moved in and out of your display, so it is in constant bloom for each season. Start with a colorful annual or perennial for the main plant in each pot and surround it with fillers.

Plants to try include vines such as morning glory or sweet pea, sprawling plants such as verbena or petunia, and trailing herbs such as thyme or oregano. You can add foliage plants such as coleus and leaf lettuces. Arrange the pots in a long planter box for the best display.

2. Xeriscape Cottage Gardens

The idea of cottage garden xeriscaping is to utilise the carefree color and character in a low maintenance way with drought-tolerant plants. Choosing plants adapted to dry conditions will decrease maintenance chores such as watering. Planting them close together also will reduce weeding chores.

Look for drought-tolerant plants like autumn sage, bearded iris, purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, cosmos, gomphrena, butterfly weed, rose of Sharon shrub and desert willow tree (hardiness zone 7 and above). This is one of the most easy-going cottage garden ideas, but irrigation is important until plants are established.

3. Shrub Cottage Gardens

One smart and easy way to style out a cottage garden is to feature bushes and small trees among the flowers and edibles. Several shrubs work well for a cottage garden theme. A flowering redbud tree will attract pollinators in the spring. A chaste tree is a large shrub with colorful spikes that bloom all summer. Popular hydrangeas come in all shapes and sizes to fit your garden.

Native Ceanothus produces fragrant blooms similar to lilacs, and a butterfly bush is a must-have in a cottage garden to attract scores of butterflies. Perennial plants that grow into shrubs include varieties of salvia such as autumn sage, Cleveland sage and Brandegee’s sage.

4. Winter Cottage Gardens

These cottage gardens get their ethereal look by incorporating plants with evergreen foliage, as well as berry-producing plants or those with interesting seed heads. Broadleaf evergreens such as camelia, rhododendron, boxwood and sweetbox keep their leaves year round. For evergreen conifers, choose yew or juniper. Red twig dogwood does not keep its leaves but sports bright red stems in winter. Japanese kerria drops its leaves in fall to reveal green stems all winter.

For plants with interesting seed heads for winter cottage gardens, choose sedum, rudbeckia and coneflower. Hydrangeas tend to retain their flowerheads though winter. Ornamental grasses such as fescue and blue oat grass are good types to try. For berries, you can include viburnum and beautyberry,

5. Cottagecore Gardens

Similar to a cottage garden, the cottagecore garden just involves a bit more planning and space for a lush, balanced aesthetic. This popular cottage garden layout features design rules such as composition, harmony, color, flow and focal point.

Incorporate colorful perennials, reseeding annuals, evergreens for winter interest, fruits, vegetables, and ornamental trees and shrubs. Flowers figure prominently in the design. These can include wildflowers, roses, hydrangeas, passion flower vine, blueberries, strawberries, lilies and herbs.

Cottage gardens look delightfully informal, with a mix of perennials, annuals, and herbs spilling out of beds and over walkways. But, the seemingly casual mix of plants is backed by careful planning. It’s harder than it might seem to create a graceful cottage garden.

The challenge is even greater when you have shady areas. Try these shade-loving or shade-tolerant species and varieties to round out the more challenging corners of your charming cottage garden beds.

Choosing the Best Cottage Garden Plants for Shady Areas

Shade plants for a cottage garden should be considered as carefully as those that thrive in full sun. Consider the important elements of this particular style when considering shady cottage garden ideas: an informal layout, old-fashioned flowers, soft edges, and a variety of plant heights, textures, and colors.

Here are some examples of plants that either tolerate or do very well in partial to full shade and are excellent examples of the cottage garden type.

1. Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Foxglove is a classic English cottage garden plant. It produces tall (3 to 4 feet, or 0.9 to 1.2 m) stems covered in bold, bell-shaped blooms in shades of pink, purple, and white. Foxglove grows as a short-lived perennial in USDA zones 4 through 9 in full sun or partial shade. It flowers in early summer. The height of foxglove makes it a great centerpiece in beds or against walls and fences.

2. Cranesbill (Geranium sylvaticum)

Also known as woodland geranium, cranesbill is hardy in zones 4 through 9 and can grow well in partial shade. Don’t confuse this hardy species with annual geraniums. They are not the same plant. Cranesbill produces delicate flowers in a range of colors and with delicate veining. They grow in low clumps and do well in front of taller plants, along edges, and tucked in among other plants. Depending on the species, cranesbill blooms in spring, summer, or fall.

3. Phlox (Phlox spp.)

Phlox grows in low mounds, creating a colorful carpet of delicate flowers in shades of pink. It’s a romantic choice of part shade cottage garden plants. Use phlox along edges and let it spill into walkways and creep around other low-growing flowers. The flowers bloom prolifically from July to September. Grow phlox as a perennial in zones 4 through 8.

4. Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)

Lady’s mantle is an excellent example among old-fashioned cottage garden plants that like shade. Hardy in zones 3 through 8, this perennial has interesting foliage and flowers. The leaves are velvety soft, large, and lobed. Lady’s mantle flowers are clusters of small yellow or light green blooms that create a frothy effect. Grow in partial shade as a border or as ground cover.

5. Astilbe (Astilbe japonica)

This unique looking perennial grows in zones 4 through 9. It tolerates partial or even full shade. It uniquely grows well under black walnut trees, an area of the garden not all plants tolerate. Astilbe blooms in late spring and early summer. The flowers are feathery plumes that grow among fern-like leaves. Grow astilbe in your shadiest spots and woodland beds.

6. Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

Canadian columbine is a perennial native to North America. It is hardy over a wide area, from zone 2 through 9. The unique hanging flowers add a special touch to a cottage garden and bloom in spring. Mix columbine in with other flowering perennials in mixed beds or natural areas. Although the flowers are striking, the foliage looks nice throughout the summer and acts as a ground cover. Grow columbine in sun or partial shade.

7. Aster (Aster spp.)

Hundreds of species of aster give you plenty of choices for a daisy-like flower for your cottage garden. Many of them grow best in partial shade and grow in low to medium clumps. Most asters bloom in late summer or even in fall. New England aster provides pretty blue flowers well into the fall. Asters are hardy in zones 4 through 8. Grow asters along borders and paths.

8. Corydalis (Corydalis lutea)

For a splash of cheery yellow, grow this corydalis as a groundcover or along edges. It tolerates even heavy shade, so this is a good option for your trickiest spots. Corydalis is hardy in zones 5 to 7. It grows in low mounds with fern-like foliage and small yellow flowers that bloom from spring through fall.

Frequently Asked Questions

Gardeners love front yard landscaping ideas! Everyone knows how important and lasting first impressions can be, and that goes for your house too. Your front yard sets the stage for all who enter, whether it’s friends coming to visit or just your family heading home after an outing. If your front landscaping doesn’t impress, it’s time for a change. Read on for ideas that will enchant family and visitors alike.

Transformational Front Yard Landscaping Ideas

Are you ready to rewrite your home’s first impression? Here are seven ideas - from easy to challenging - that ups the ante when it comes to pow-power. With a little effort, your front yard landscape can move from boring to brilliant.

1. Replace Grass With a Garden

In yesteryear, a neat square of turf grass was the opening act of the American dream. Today, it has outlived its usefulness. Turf is boring, requires a lot of water and a variety of chemicals to grow, and then there’s the constant maintenance. Why not use the no-till grass removal method to easily get rid of that lawn, then put in flowers, trees, or even veggies for an instant front-yard facelift?

2. Pick Plants That Complement Your Paint Color

Here’s a front yard landscape idea you can combine with the first one or use on its own: coordinate plants with your paint. Too much matchy-matchy in clothing and accessories is dated, but picking foliage and flowers that work well with your house color helps make your place stand out.

3. Add Trees With Four Season Interest

Any tree will add some beauty to your front yard landscaping, whether that be spring blossoms or autumn color. But if you pick carefully, you can select a tree that increases your home’s appeal in all four seasons. Four season interest trees may have with spring flowers and fiery leaves in autumn, but also delight with fruits in summer and interesting bark in winter

4. Select Plants That Increase Home Value

A home is not only a gardener’s castle, but also a major investment. Keeping that in mind, it’s a great idea to keep curb appeal in mind when you are picking sifting through front yard ideas. Go for long-flowering perennials or shrubs with fragrant flowers to up the value of your home sweet home.

5. Try the “Unexpected Red” Theory

Trending garden color schemes come and go, but one color that always offers “pow-power” is red. This vibrant and lovely color catches every passing eye. When trying the "unexpected red" theory in your garden, you could start with one red-flower bed or one red-leaf tree, then see how much farther you’d like to go.

6. Brighten Up Your Winter Landscape

If you think of winter as the “barren” season, it’s time to revamp your landscaping. Some shrubs and trees offer stunning winter color, from evergreen hollies with bright berries to exfoliating bark on fruit trees. These are the ones that will brighten up the cold days of winter.

7. Utilize Every Area – Even Under Trees

When you are trying to add beauty to your front yard landscaping, it’s fun and so appealing to tuck pretty plants into the space beneath trees. Not every plant will do, since these areas are in light to deep shade, but there are some amazing plants that grow under trees.

Landscaping projects range from complex to simple, but anything you want to do costs some money. When you don’t want to spend a fortune, a budget is critical. Can you improve your outdoor living space without breaking the bank? Fortunately, the answer is yes! Here are some great backyard landscaping ideas on a budget.

6 Low-Cost Backyard Upgrades

Here are our 6 favorite ideas for improving your backyard living space without breaking the bank.

1. Add an Affordable Fence

Good fences make good neighbors, as the old adage goes, and they also are important features in garden landscaping. Fences can play many roles on your property, from delineating the borders of your land to keeping pets in and wildlife out. When you’re looking for cheap backyard landscaping ideas for fencing, consider updating existing fencing, opting for lower-cost fencing designs, or using repurposed materials for construction.

2. Use Free Stones for a Plethora of Projects

For textural interest in a garden, nothing is quite as elegant as rocks and stones used for boundaries, edging, or walkways. If you’ve started pricing them out, you will have discovered that gravel, regular rocks and boulders are all pricey. But never fear, we’ve got some tried and true budget-friendly ideas for locating free rocks for your garden.

3. Upcycle Materials for a Sustainable Landscape

Why toss unused household items in the trash when you can recycle them into landscaping materials? This ‘win-win’ idea is one way to upcycle unneeded items and use them in the garden or larger landscape. Ready to get creative? It’s time to look into ideas for using upcycled materials as garden fixtures or art.

4. Do Double-Duty With Ornamental Edible Plants

When it comes to a garden bed, are you torn between veggies and flowers? Why choose? You can add color and interest to your garden by selecting the prettiest edible plants. This could be as simple as berry bushes and grape vines, but how about edible flowers like nasturtium or borage, or pretty, flowering herbs like thyme or rosemary? We have lots more inexpensive ideas choosing garden plants that multitask. They are part of our small-budget backyard landscaping ideas.

5. Create Raised Beds on a Budget

Raised beds are so good for a garden, improving drainage, warming the soil, and making it just a little easier for the gardener. Most landscaping firms raise their bids if you talk about raising your garden beds as part of a revamp of the backyard. But raised beds don’t have to cost a lot and it is very satisfying to create your own raised beds for cheap by using materials that are already available. Talk about good backyard landscape ideas on a budget!

6. Plant a Low-Maintenance Wildflower Meadow

Forget formal English gardens if you are on a budget. The design alone will cost a fortune and they are high maintenance. Why not opt for a native wildflower garden in your backyard? It’s easy and inexpensive to create, and wild and magical when created. This is low-maintenance, low-budget backyard landscaping at its finest and truly inexpensive, easy to plant, and simple to maintain.

Use these vegetable garden fence ideas to protect and enjoy your harvest. Your fresh vegetables are the prizes you receive after a season of hard work growing them. Don't let the local wildlife take them from you.

Growing a vegetable garden can be rewarding and fun. All the work you put in results in fresh, healthy produce you can eat and share. Unfortunately, there are others who want your veggies, too. Local wildlife will take advantage and eat your harvest if they can get to it. Choose from among several vegetable garden fencing ideas to keep them out and to keep your vegetables for yourself.

Easy Vegetable Garden Fence Ideas

There are many different veg garden fence ideas to choose from. These are some options to get you thinking. Create whatever type of fencing or barrier works best for your garden and that thwarts the wildlife thieves in your area.

1. Try a DIY Fence

You don’t necessarily need a professional fence built by a fencing company to keep critters out. First, consider all the possible vegetable garden enclosure ideas that you can create yourself. One of the easiest DIY vegetable fence options is to use wooden posts and chicken wire. You can also use all kinds of leftover or scavenged materials to make a barrier, including bricks and stone, mesh, or even shipping pallets.

2. Keep Animals Out in Style With Slats

Try wooden slat fencing for an aesthetically pleasing option. Wooden slat fencing is trending in gardening because it offers a clean, modern look. The style works well for a garden barrier because it allows light through. If a wooden slat fence blocks too much light from your veggie bed, consider using it for just one side and using chicken wire or another more open option on the other three sides.

3. Set Your Garden in Stone

A stone wall offers a rustic or cottage-style option for keeping pests out of the vegetable bed. Use thin pieces of slate to create a barrier that is just high enough to keep most animals out while still allowing sunlight to get to the plants. If you’re not experienced working with rocks or stones, you might want to rely on a professional.

4. Hang Bird Netting

If birds are the greatest threat to your vegetables, netting is an easy and inexpensive solution. Simply place bird netting, which you can find in garden centers and online, over the vegetable bed or fruit trees. This prevents birds from landing and getting to the fruits and vegetables.

5. Grow a Living Willow Fence

Some fenced vegetable garden ideas don’t involve fences at all. A natural barrier can replace a fence made from wire, stone, or wood. For example, you can place willow rods in the ground to create a living willow fence. The rods will take root and grow into a dense barrier. Plant the rods at angles to each other to create a diamond pattern that will thwart most animals.

6. Plant Defensive Shrubs

Another idea for a living fence is to use shrubs. Use defensive shrubs with spines or thorns to discourage animals from trying to make their way through the growth. Some examples include yucca, barberry, roses, blackberry, honey locust, and bougainvillea.

7. Beautify a Fence With Flowers

If a real fence is the best option for protecting your vegetable patch, consider sprucing it up to make it look more natural and like part of the garden. Create a flowering fence with plants that climb up and over the fence, like climbing roses, jasmine, trumpet vine, or honeysuckle vine. These will also add an extra layer of protection from critters trying to get through the fence.

8. Don’t Mess Around With Deer

Keeping deer out of a vegetable bed is often more difficult than managing smaller pests. You’ll need a sturdy option, usually real deer fencing rather than a living fence. It should also be at least 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3.0 m) tall because deer can jump over fences. If deer are a serious problem in your area, consider electric fencing.

9. Go Electric

Sometimes, the problem is serious enough to warrant electric fencing. If you have a lot of wildlife that consistently gets into your vegetable patch, an electric fence might help. Check with your local government to be sure it’s allowed first, and avoid this option if there is a chance children might come into contact with it.

10. Ditch the Fence

You might not need physical barriers to keep animals out of your vegetable garden. Some non-fence options include repellant sprays, usually smells that deter specific pests, or shiny objects that move in the wind, like foil streamers that scare some animals.

Natural landscape design is an art and a skill. It allows you to create a yard or garden that looks natural, unfussy, and relaxed. While a natural garden might look easy, it takes time, planning, and real skill to get it right. A lot of thought goes into these spaces that look like they just grew that way. Here are some natural landscaping ideas to get you started transforming your outdoor space.

Natural Landscaping Ideas

1. Grow Plants That Will Naturalize

Natural landscaping needs plants that grow organically and fill surrounding spaces. Clumps of neatly defined plants don’t look natural. Plants that naturalize grow and spread without your intervention. Some examples of naturalized plants include daylily, foxglove, and lily of the valley. Just be aware that some of these plants can be invasive and problematic.

2. Plant Perennials

Perennial gardens usually look more natural than those with annuals, which are often tropical plants that only survive summers in colder climates. Choose native perennials for the most natural look and arrange them organically with a mix of colors, textures, and sizes.

3. Convert to a Prairie Lawn

A conventional turf lawn is far from natural. Lawn alternatives, like prairies and meadows are increasingly popular for their sustainability and benefits to the local ecosystem. A prairie lawn should include natives like wild grasses and wildflowers. It supports native wildlife, including pollinators. Be sure to check with your homeowner’s association, if you have one, for any rules regarding lawns before beginning this major transformation.

4. Add a Natural Area

If you are unable to totally transform your turf lawn into a prairie, consider turning part of your garden into a natural area. Here are a few ideas:

• Convert just part of your turf lawn into a meadow or prairie with native grasses and flowers.
• Target a shady area to grow native mosses and shade-loving plants.
• Leave some corners of your garden “littered” with natural materials, like sticks, messy shrubs, and leaf litter to support wildlife.

5. Use Rocks to Mimic Nature

Choose rocks for the hardscaping in your natural landscape design. Medium and large rocks look more natural in the garden than paving stones, gravel paths, benches, and other similar elements used to create walls, paths, and seating areas. Choose rock landscaping for steps, borders, and edges to create more natural spaces in the garden.

6. Go Native

One of the best ways to create a more natural outdoor space is to choose native plants. Use trees, shrubs, and perennials native to your region to support wildlife and pollinators. They will grow more organically and naturally without your intervention. Native gardens require less water and are more likely to survive difficult conditions, like droughts, storms, or heatwaves.

7. Build a Natural Swimming Pool

A swimming pool is about as unnatural in the landscape as you can get. But if living without a swimming pool is a deal breaker, consider a natural option. Natural swimming pools look like ponds and like a real part of the landscape. They make use of plants in the water and around the edges of the pool to keep the water clean and to create a natural, native landscape.

8. Start a Stumpery

If you have had to remove any trees or lost trees to damage or storms, consider leaving the stumps in place. A stumpery is a garden that uses stumps as bases for growing plants and native ecosystems. Wildlife uses stumps for shelter and foraging, so by creating a garden in them, you are supporting a natural landscape.

9. Go Wild With Chaos Gardening

Chaos gardening may sound crazy, but it’s a growing design trend that has a lot of appeal. The idea is to let your garden mimic nature. Let plants grow where and how they want without so much interference from you, the gardener. This gives a more natural look and requires a lot less work on your part. To keep it from getting out of hand, your chaos garden will need some intervention, but much less than formal or traditional spaces.

Landscaping around a fire hydrant poses unique challenges: what are the rules, and what can you not do when growing plants nearby? If you have a fire hydrant in your yard, it may present some interesting landscaping conundrums – but that doesn’t mean planting is a problem. Even though there may be some backyard landscaping restrictions, it’s possible to create a pleasant, well-maintained bed that fits into the rest of your garden. It just takes a little creativity and planning, as this guide reveals.

Know the Rules for Planting Around Fire Hydrants

Knowing how to landscape around a fire hydrant begins with understanding the rules. Municipalities and fire departments have rules for fire hydrants and planting. Make sure you know what your local government requires before you get started. This will help you avoid a fine and wasting a lot of time and effort.

Contact your local fire department for more information about the exact guidelines for your community. Rules regarding fire hydrant landscaping are often similar or the same across municipalities:

• Keep all taller flowering plants at least 3ft (90cm) away from hydrants. Keep in mind any low plants closer might get stepped on and crushed by a hose if the hydrant is ever pressed into service.
• There must be 15ft (4.5m) of clearance above hydrants, so trees and shrubs should be planted farther away or trimmed appropriately.
• Maintain 18in (46cm) of vertical clearance from the base of the hydrant to the middle of the large cap on the side.
• Never paint a fire hydrant.

What to Avoid When Landscaping with Hydrants

Fire fighters need to have quick and easy access to a hydrant, so keep that in mind when planning the surrounding landscaping. They need to be able to spot it quickly and get to it with their tools and hose. One of the key rules for planting around fire hydrants is making sure you avoid cramped, inaccessible areas.

Some departments might recommend plants to avoid near hydrants because of how they grow. For instance, avoid fast-growing vines that could get out of control and obscure a hydrant before you are able to maintain it. A plant with thorns is also a bad idea, as it will interfere with the firefighters accessing the hydrant. So if you are a rose lover, make sure you maintain a good distance between the hydrant and any potential thorns!

Ideas for Landscaping Around a Fire Hydrant

Depending on where the hydrant is located, you might want to create a bed around it or just grow grass. There are a few good reasons to create a bed. For instance, it will eliminate the challenges of mowing around a hydrant.

Also, a hydrant is not very aesthetically pleasing. Yes, it needs to be visible to firefighters, but you can still make it blend in a little better with a well-planned bed. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Start by outlining an area for a bed that makes sense. If the hydrant is on a corner of the lot, use that as a guide for creating an interesting shape. If there is a street sign or stop sign near the hydrant, you might want to include it in the bed.
• Create a nice edge for the bed, but make sure it won’t impede firefighters. Use rubber tubing, for example, instead of rocks they could trip over.
• A simple plan for the area around a hydrant is to choose a groundcover, perhaps a steppable one. This eliminates the need for mowing grass around it while also ensuring the hydrant is still easy to access.
• If you are creating a bigger and more varied bed, choose a focal point plant to place at the other end of the bed from the hydrant. A shrub or small tree will balance it without being so close as to violate the rules.
• Select a few lower growing perennials and avoid vines. Good choices are plants that are typically used for edging beds like phlox, vervain, stonecrop, small hostas, astilbe or lamb’s ear.
• Add in some attractive perennials, like sweet alyssum, petunias, celosia, cosmos, marigolds or impatiens.

A fire hydrant is a creative challenge for a gardener. Still, landscaping around a fire hydrant can be a novel and satisfying way of integrating functionality and artistry, if you get the balance right. Follow the rules, then let your imagination take over and use the hydrant as a starting point for a beautiful new bed.

Garden fences are great for privacy, protection, and design, but they can also be costly. If you want a fence in your garden, but price is an issue, consider affordable fencing options. Anything you choose will cost money, but some options are a lot cheaper than others.

Consider the Purpose of the Fence First

The first thing you should do before selecting a type of fencing is think about what purpose it will serve. This is important because not every fence is right for every need. For instance, maybe you found a good deal on a classic wire fence, but you’re looking for privacy, and it just won't cut it.

Consider what you need your fence to do:

• Create privacy
• Delineate different areas of the garden
• Enclose a pool for insurance purposes
• Keep pets in the yard
• Protect a vegetable garden from wildlife
• Create a specific aesthetic look rather than serve a practical purpose

Keep the purpose in mind as you look through ideas for affordable fencing options. Just because it’s inexpensive doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for your garden.

Cheap Fencing Ideas

With an understanding of what you need in a fence, take inspiration from low-cost fence designs, existing fencing, and repurposed or upcycled materials. Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

1. Repair or Spruce up an Existing Fence

If you have an existing fence that has seen better days or doesn’t serve your purpose, you might be able to fix or change it. This will be cheaper than buying an entirely new fence. If you have a weathered, unattractive wooden fence, for instance, a coat of paint or climbing vines grown along it will completely change the look. Loose boards or missing or rusty nails are easy to fix.

2. Use Plants for a Privacy Screen

For cheap privacy fence ideas look to plants that can create a natural screen. Something like a living willow fence is great if you need privacy or shade but are not overly concerned about security. For example, a hedge might not keep your dog contained, but it will provide you with an effective visual screen.

Hedges are just one example of plant types that can be transformed into fences. They can be a little expensive, though. Cheaper options are vines, which grow more quickly and cost less to purchase. Use existing structures or a simple and inexpensive trellis to train vines into a thick screen.

3. Upcycle Shipping Pallets and Lumber

Wooden shipping pallets are among the most diverse and inexpensive objects in the world of upcycling. In fact, you can usually get them for free from stores. Placed vertically and secured, pallets make a simple rustic fence. The slatted structure allows you to hang containers or even grow plants directly in the pallets for both a fence and a vertical garden.

Another cheap option for upcycling is to find reclaimed lumber or sleepers (used in railways). These pieces of timber are often inexpensive or free, depending on where you look. You can use them to build a fence in your yard.

4. Use Chicken Wire to Keep Animals Out

Chicken wire and a few reclaimed or inexpensive wooden posts are easily assembled into a fence. If you’re looking for aesthetics or privacy, this isn’t the best option. But chicken wire is useful for keeping wildlife, or your digging dog, out of a vegetable bed.

You can find wire mesh with various hole sizes depending on what kind of protection you need. If burrowing animals are an issue, bury up to a foot of the fencing material into the soil around the bed to keep them out.

5. Stick with a Chain Link Fence

One of the cheapest options for a sturdy, long-lasting fence is the classic wire, or chain link, model. It provides good security for pets. A lot of people reject a chain link fence as an option because it isn’t very attractive, but don’t let that stop you. A wire fence can be made more attractive with the right plants. Cover it up with tall plants, busy beds, and vines, and you will have invested in a beautiful flowering fence that should last many years.