Landscaping
Inspiration Wildwood Park has miles of usually inaccessible marsh, but it also has miles of boardwalks that make it a welcoming environment. The boardwalks curve around the natural lines of the land, jetting out into the marshes at intervals to provide visitors the opportunity to see wildlife up close.
Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis) This is the tree that gives us bay leaves for cooking and supplied the ancient Greeks with leaves for their heroes' wreaths — it's also called Grecian laurel. Left alone, sweet bay can become a good-size tree, but trimming and shearing can enforce the right size for a patio — in the ground or a big pot. It’s the perfect choice for a spot near the grill or kitchen; leaves for cooking will be handy, although they’re usually used dried, not fresh. USDA zones: 8 to 11 Water requirement: Moderate Light requirement: Full sun or partial shade Mature size: Ultimately up to 40 feet tall and wide; pruning usually keeps it smaller. Growing tip: Clip tip growth freely for kitchen use or to give away. This helps control the size as well as encourages bushiness and a round top
Arbutus 'Marina' My daughter just planted ‘Marina' in her Mediterannean-style courtyard, because it reminds her of the closely related Pacific Coast native madrone trees — nearly impossible to grow at home — that she used to see at summer camp. (And every time I see her tree, I think of carving a seventh-grade girl’s initials on a madrone trunk while on a Boy Scout camping trip in another time and place.) Arbutus ‘Marina’ is much more accepting of garden watering and domestic life in general, but it retains some of the madrone’s wild beauty — twisted, peely-barked, glossy reddish trunks; little pink flowers; big leathery evergreen leaves. Not perfectly utilitarian, the tree is a bit messy and tends to die back, but sometimes sentimental reasons trump everything else. USDA zones: 7 to 9 Water requirement: Light Light requirement: Full sun Mature size: 25 feet tall and wide, but can grow larger Growing tip: Drainage must be near perfect. Make sure you incorporate ground bark or other organic matter into the planting hole.
Fern Pine (Podocarpus gracilior) Here’s a plant so malleable, so Gumby like that you can shape it into all sorts of things: a shrub, a hedge, an espalier, a small tree. As a patio tree, trained with a single trunk and a roundish top, it’s delicate, weepy, graceful, deep green and very easy to grow. It's not actually a fern or a pine; the name comes from the lacy leaves that are so slim, they look like needles. USDA zones: 8 to 10 Water requirement: Moderate Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade or almost full shade Mature size: 20 to 30 feet tall and 10 to 15 feet wide when trained as a tree Growing tip: Maintain a tree shape by pruning off side branches from the lower trunk and letting the top grow bushy (snip off the top to increase bushiness
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) There’s no question that Japanese maples are beautiful, with colorful leaves in spring and fall, and graceful bare trunks in winter (some even have colorful trunks). With so many different varieties available, the secret is choosing the right one for your patio. As a rule, the common green-leaf species (Acer palmatum) tolerates more sun and heat (which can accumulate on a paved patio) better than varieties with fancy or colorful leaves; the common green one also tends to grow faster and taller. USDA zones: 5 to 8 Water requirement: Moderate Light requirement: Full sun in cool-summer climates; partial shade during the hottest part of the day in most areas Mature size: 15 to 25 feet high and 10 to 25 feet wide, depending on variety Growing tips: Choose your plant in spring or fall to get the desired foliage color. Provide well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter. Burned tips of leaves indicate sunburn (provide more shade) or damage from salts in water (flood the root zone with water).
Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) Even in the hottest climates, crepe myrtle does something pretty every day of the year. In the heat of summer, its flowers bloom in bouquet-size clusters of rich shades of red, pink, purple or white. The leaves turn yellow, orange and red in fall. Leafless trees in winter reveal brown and pink bark that is sometimes so smooth it gleams. For a patio tree, depending on your space, you can choose a plant with a single trunk or multiple trunks. USDA zones: 7 to 9 (find your zone) Water requirement: Moderate Light requirement: Full sun Mature size: Up to 25 feet tall and 25 feet wide; pruning keeps it much smaller. Growing tip: In cool coastal climates, mildew often strikes the foliage and flowers. It's best to avoid planting this tree if you notice similar damage in your area.
If your location is shadier, a shade-tolerant flower to consider is fuchsia. Because of its drooping habit, it is perfect in a hanging basket. Fuchsia (Fuchsia) USDA zones: 9 to 12 Water requirement: Medium to moist, well-drained soils Light requirement: Partial to full shade Mature size: 1 foot to 2 feet tall and wide Tell us: How have you been able to entice hummingbirds?
If you have a supporting structure, like a trellis, you might want to give cypress vine a try. It’s a twining tropical vine in the morning glory family. The scarlet tubular flowers are sure to attract a hummingbird or two. The deeply cut leaves give it a nice ferny appearance. Cypress Vine (Ipomoea quamoclit) USDA zones: 11 to 12 Water requirement: Medium moisture, well-drained soils Light requirement: Full sun Tolerance: Deer Mature size: 6 to 10 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide
For Hummingbirds Cigar plant gets its common name from its orange-red flowers, which resemble the burning tip of a cigar. It is a bushy plant that will reach up to 3 feet wide. Cigar Plant (Cuphea) USDA zones: 9 to 12 Water requirement: Medium moisture, well-drained soils Light requirement: Full sun Mature size: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide
Mexican bush sage is a late-blooming annual that looks great in fall arrangements. It’s a tall one, so put it toward the back of your planters. Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha) USDA zones: 8 to 10 Water requirement: Medium moisture, well-drained soils Light requirement: Full sun Tolerance: Deer Mature size: 2 to 3 feet tall and wide
Pineapple sage is one of several plants in the Salvia family that attract hummingbirds. It is also considered a culinary herb that, as its name suggests, gives off a faint pineapple scent when crushed. The variety seen here, 'Golden Apple', features yellow-green leaves with bright red tubular flowers. Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) USDA zones: 8 to 10 Water requirement: Medium moisture, well-drained soils Light requirement: Full sun Tolerance: Deer Mature size: 2 to 3 feet
The dwarf variety of flowering tobacco (the larger dark pink blossoms to the right in this photo) works nicely in containers. It comes in several colors, but this dark pink would most attract hummingbirds. Flowering Tobacco, Starmaker Series Nicotiana USDA zones: 10 to 11 Water requirement: Medium moisture, well-drained soils Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade Mature size: 10 to 12 inches tall and wide
Another terrific hummingbird plant is California fuchsia. Its tubular-shaped blossoms are perfect for nectar gathering. California Fuchsia (Zauschneria californica) USDA zones: 6 to 9 Water requirement: Medium moisture, well-drained soils Light requirement: Full sun Mature size: 3 feet to 5 feet tall and wide
Plants Hummingbirds Love: Justicia brandegeana, aka shrimp plant (each flower resembles a shrimp), piqued my curiosity, and I promptly planted it in a pot near my back door. A few weeks later, as I sat quietly on my patio, a hummingbird swooped by me and went straight to the new plant. It has returned several times every day since, and I continue to be mesmerized by its beauty. If you are like me and want hummingbirds to frequent your doorstep or window, try planting one of the following flowers in a container nearby. The colors work great with fall plantings. Most of these are considered annuals, but check the zone to see if they're hardy in your area. Find your zone here Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeana) USDA zones: 9 to 11 Water requirement: Medium to moist, well-drained soil Light requirement: Can tolerate full sun but prefers partial shade with protection from late-afternoon sun Mature size: 1 foot to 3 feet tall and wide
Distinguishing traits. The most apparent and obvious features of this succulent shrub are its habit and color. Whereas other succulents form tighter rosettes, milk bush branches and spreads. Imagine the shadow it casts. Milk bush is a freely branching, upright tree or shrub. While in its native African environment it reaches sizes of up to 30 feet tall, it tends to be much smaller in domestic cultivation. Sticks on Fire, shown here, is a popular milk bush cultivar. Colorful foliage turns bright yellow in summer and returns to a vibrant red in winter. Because these cultivars lack the amount of chlorophyll of the straight species, they are also slower growing.
Succulents are architectural and clean-textured garden accents, adding modern funk and humor to your planting palette. Milk bush (Euphorbia tirucalli), also known as pencil tree, takes that description to the extreme. With its open structure and rubbery, cartoon-like branches, it's eye-catching and exotic — even in the realm of succulents. Caution: Be sure to avoid direct skin contact, as this plant's milky sap is toxic! Botanical name: Euphorbia tirucalli Common names: Milk bush, pencilbush, pencil tree, Indian tree spurge USDA zones: 10 to 11 (find your zone) Water requirement: Minimal; drought tolerant Sun requirement: Full sun Mature size: Can reach up to 30 feet tall (more likely to be kept small) Benefits and tolerances: Drought and coastal tolerant; flowers attract bees and birds; used by birds for nesting Seasonal interest: Evergreen; flowers are insignificant When to plant: Propagate by cuttings. Caution: When pruning, planting or transporting milk bush, wear gloves and long sleeves, and even consider goggles to avoid direct contact with the toxic white sap. After pruning the plant or trimming cuttings, allow the stems to dry out or seal them to contain the sap.
Design options. Dry-laid stone retaining walls can complement most landscape designs. Curving lines or structured lines create definitive boundaries from one space to another. The retaining wall pictured above has a stone bench integrated within the structure. If you are limited in space for seating, why not integrate seating into your wall?
Cost. Labor costs vary greatly, depending on the area and the expertise of the contractor, but usually are between $36 and $45 per square foot. Materials are extra.
Installing the stone. Achieving a sound structure means adhering to specific guidelines. When choosing a contractor, make sure he or she is experienced in the craft and check out previous work. Each stone is hand chiseled to fit within the wall, and there are no wobbly stones. Stone wedges are used to stabilize rocks within the wall. Rubble rock, or backfill, is placed behind the cut stones to help with the integrity of the wall.
Benefits of dry-laid stone retaining walls: •They resist fire, water and insects. •They can be recycled due to the dry-laid method. •They provide natural drainage without any damage to the structure, unlike mortared walls, which tend to crack and break into sections. Note: You may not want to use the dry-laid method right up against a swimming pool because of the silt that filters through the stone wall from rain or sprinklers. A dry-joint method would be a better choice to achieve the same look.
Kinds of stone used. Consider using native stone in your area for dry-laid retaining walls. Fieldstone and boulders create a more natural look, while layered flagstone can provide a groomed and clean look. You can also integrate boulders within the wall, as shown here, to combine both. Stone with a sandy texture, such as the red sandstone found in the American Southwest, may not be wise to use around a pool or patio area because of the sandy residue that can accumulate.
Blanket Flower (Gaillardia pulchella) Blanket flower is a reseeding annual that features trustworthy blooms in shades of red, yellow and orange, making it a perfect addition to your fall-hued garden. Great for meadows and wildflower gardens as well as for perennial beds and borders, blanket flower pairs beautifully with ornamental grasses as well as rudbeckia and salvia. USDA zones: As an annual, it will fare well in most all zones. Water requirement: Average to low once established Light requirement: Full to partial sun Mature size: 18 to 36 inches tall Bloom time: Summer to fall Planting tips: Plant in spring or fall and let seeds fall to the ground when the plant is done blooming. Remove spent flower stalks after the first frost.
Autumn Joy Sedum (Sedum 'Autumn Joy') Also called stonecrop, sedum comes from the succulent family of plants, so you already know it's low maintenance and drought tolerant. If you've never grown this plant before, you will be delighted with its fleshy leaves and broccoli-like blooms that start out green, changing to pink and finally bronze as they age. They will look spectacular when planted with other drought-tolerant plants, like succulents, ornamental grasses and flowering perennials. USDA zones: 6 to 11 Water requirement: Low Sun requirement: Full sun to partial shade Mature size: 2 feet tall Bloom time: Late summer to fall Planting tips: Plant in spring or fall and remove flower stalks when they are done blooming. New growth resembling tiny cabbages will emerge in the spring.
Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum spp) Nothing quite says "autumn" like mums, with their multipetaled flowers in shades of russet, cream, orange, yellow and pink. These mounding plants are perfect for edges of borders and beds as well as containers, and combine well with Black-eyed Susans, Mexican bush sage and fall asters. USDA zones: 6 to 10 Water requirement: Average Light requirement: Full sun Mature size: 3 feet tall Bloom time: Fall Planting tips: Plant in the fall and cut back after the first killing freeze. Mulch lightly over the winter.
Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) This staple in the summer-to-fall garden features sunny daisy-like blooms with dark centers on top of tall, coarse stems. Although it's attractive to birds, bees and butterflies, all parts of this plant are poisonous, so be aware of this if you have small children or pets that frequent your garden. Black-eyed Susans pair beautifully with mums, ornamental grasses and Autumn Joy sedum. USDA zones: 5a to 10a Water requirement: Average to low Light requirement: Full to partial sun Mature size: 3 feet tall Bloom time: Summer to fall Planting tips: Plant in spring or fall and remove spent blooms. Prune after the first killing freeze and mulch during the winter.
Purple Sage (Salvia spp) Butterflies love this plant!! The salvia genus offers a wide range of plants that feature those enviable purple fall blooms. This coloration makes it a perfect foil for more fall-hued plants, like rudbeckia and Red Hot Poker. Because there are a wide range of salvias with varying heights and sun requirements, be sure to check with your local nursery to make the best choice for your garden. Great varieties to consider are Salvia leucantha, Salvia farinacea and Salvia guaranitica. USDA zones: 8 to 10; colder climates can use purple sage as an annual. Water requirement: Average Light requirement: Full sun to dappled shade Mature size: 18 to 48 inches tall Bloom time: Summer to fall Planting tips: Plant in spring or fall and prune back after the first killing freeze.
Garden Lighting » Perhaps these illuminated pots, planted with night-scented flowers in whites, yellows and blues, are the way to combine all the features of a magical night garden.
It takes a lot of of light to highlight plants or a tree — plants seem to just soak up light. Uplights showcase plants beautifully at night. These are lights on the ground, either set on a spike or recessed into the ground. The lighting in this courtyard garden beautifully illuminates the main specimen trees and plants, casting interesting shadows on the pathway. The use of mainly clipped evergreens in the planting means that there are no white or light-colored flowers to reflect any light, natural or artificial. But the benefit of this is the wonderful play of light and dark on the trimmed shapes created by the clever lighting.
3. Garden Lighting Though planting the right night-flowering plants in the right place will give you stunning effects, if you want to really enjoy your garden after dark, garden lighting is the final ingredient. Try not to floodlight your entire garden. Instead, pick out specific plants and trees to showcase. Highlight architectural plants like yucca, Phormium, Dicksonia and Trachycarpus.
Petunias may seem be a strange choice for a night garden, but they have a secret. Petunias are night scented. Some smell during the day, but not to the same intensity of the night scent. Plant them in window boxes or hanging baskets to gain the full benefit of the evening scent. Petunia 'Tumbelina' are among the most highly scented, producing wafts of vanilla fragrance that are strongest in the dead of night.
2. Scent Scent is the second piece of our night garden puzzle. The heat of the day lingering into evening is reflected by walls and pathways, helping to diffuse the scent from flowers that are pollinated by night-flying insects. These plants tend to be white or pale, which additionally enhances their visability in the evening. Lily 'Casa Blanca', shown here among other white-flowering plants, is a sensational, highly scented lily with glistening white flowers. It's one of the largest Oriental lilies you can grow. Lilies have one of the must-have scents of the the summer, a strong, sweet fragrance that permeates through a warm summer's evening.
Pale, light-reflecting grasses are perfect to edge a path with. Here their reflective light is not only decorative; it acts as a safety feature, illuminating the edge of the path. Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola', zones 5 to 9) is a neat, clump-forming deciduous grass growing to 12 inches, with narrow, arching, green-striped, bright yellow leaves, often reddish tinged in autumn and early winter. Here, Japanese forest grass is planted under pristine white Hydrangea paniculata, creating an enchanting evening walkway.
Lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina, zones 4 to 8) has leaves that glisten in the moonlight. A ground-covering perennial, it has the most wonderful silvery leaves that have a woolly appearance. Leaves are often retained quite late into autumn or winter in mild areas, but the plant is not properly evergreen. Plants flower in midsummer, and the thick, silvery, felty stems with knotty buds are quite a feature. The purple-pink flowers are not very conspicuous, being hidden among the fluffy foliage. Established plants are reasonably drought tolerant, making this a good plant for a dry, sunny border.
Bright foliage also creates an evening glow in the garden. Light-colored, variegated and silver-leaf plants reflect any available light, be it artificial or natural, while dark-colored foliage absorbs light. Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost', zones 3 to 8 (shown here) is a perennial grown for its large, heart-shape silver leaves, edged and veined with green, and sprays of small blue flowers in spring.
As the long summer nights are waning, we appreciate our evenings in the garden more and more. Busy modern lifestyles can lead to hurried days, with early morning and evening being the only time we have to savor our gardens. There is a magical BBC television series for very young children called In the Night Garden that is designed to calm children down at the end of the day and settle them for bed. Our own gardens can become magical at night, a place where we can unwind and destress. With a little thought on what we plant, where we plant it and how we use garden lighting, we can have our own magical night gardens. As the light fades, some aspects of the garden become enhanced — white, pale yellow and blue flowers can take on an enchanting luminescence that is not seen in daylight, while scent is released from night-scented flowers as the heat of the day lingers into the evening. Let's take a look at the three ways we can acheive this magic in our gardens at night, by combining plants that perform best in the evening and at night with the subtle use of garden lighting. 1. Color: White-flowering plants have a wonderful glow in the evening garden. The bright colors of annuals an...
Bamboo Muhly (Muhlenbergia dumosa) This is an excellent choice for gardeners wanting a grass with a fine texture and lacy foliage. Its fluffy texture and arching form make for a soft background plant in xeriscape gardens. Planted in sweeps or displayed in large containers, bamboo muhly gives an Asian look to gardens without "real" bamboo. USDA zones: 7 to 10 Water requirement: Low, once established Light requirement: Full to partial sun Mature size: 3 to 6 feet tall Planting tips: Plant in fall or spring; prune off or rake out any dead foliage that appears.
Maiden Grass (Miscanthus sinensis) Here is another of those versatile grasses that work well in many gardens due to their size and low-maintenance requirements. It features slender green foliage in the spring and summer, with wheat-like seed heads making an appearance in late summer into fall. USDA zones: 5 to 9 Water requirement: Average Light requirement: Full sun Mature size: 5 to 8 feet tall, depending upon variety Planting tips: Plant in fall and prune to 12 inches in late winter or early spring.
Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster') Gardeners looking for a taller grass for their autumn gardens should take a look at feather reed grass. Its longer, upright seed heads make a dramatic appearance in the fall garden, and it combines well with other grasses and flowering perennials. Some parts of this plant are known to be poisonous if ingested, so use caution if you have young children or pets. USDA zones: 5a to 9b (find your zone) Water requirement: Average Light requirement: Full to partial sun Mature size: 6 feet tall Planting tips: Plant in fall and cut grass down to 12 inches in late winter or early spring.
Blomus Polished Bola Garden Globe Set - $17.18 » Gazing balls provide a quirky 360-degree view of the garden, opening up different views and creating new perspectives of your space. They can also be used to echo naturally reflective surfaces, such as water elements or the glints of sunshine off foliage. Nestled between grasses, these globes show off the shoreline and add a little glimmer of light that echoes the reflective surface of the water.
Croton (Codiaeum variegatum) A tender subtropical shrub with otherworldly foliage colors, croton instantly wakes up the fall garden. Long, colorful leaves in shades of green, yellow, orange and red are the perfect foil for container plantings with ornamental grasses and fall annuals. For those living in colder climates, treat this one as an annual or bring it inside for the cold months. USDA zones: 9 to 11 Water requirement: Average Light requirement: Sun to partial shade Mature size: 4 to 6 feet tall Seasonal interest: Spring through fall Planting tips: Plant in spring to fall in mild climates; in colder climates, use croton as a container plant accent or as an annual in a perennial border or bed.
Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) It's a long botanical name to describe one of the most easygoing and colorful foliage plants around. Although you can benefit from the dazzling array of coleus colors nearly year-round, there is something about the harvest colors that seem to really pop in the fall. If you live in a colder climate, be prepared to bring your coleus inside for the winter, or take clippings and root them in water to plant next spring. Use coleus in container plantings or in your perennial beds and borders. USDA zones: 10a to 11 Water requirement: Average Light requirement: Sun to shade Mature size: 12 to 18 inches tall Seasonal interest: Blooms are typically white and fairly insignificant. You can either pinch them off or let them do their thing, but the foliage will shine from spring till fall. Planting tips: Plant in spring or tuck into container plants in the late summer or fall. Take cuttings to root in water at any time of the year, and then plant in the spring after the danger of frost has passed.
Ornamental Cabbage and Kale These cabbages and kales are members of the Brassica spp family, the same group that produces broccoli, cauliflower, turnips and Brussels sprouts — the only difference is that these are ornamental and not normally eaten. They certainly can be ingested, but they do not have the same good taste as their culinary counterparts — and besides, with foliage this beautiful, why would you want to harvest it? Tuck them into container plantings or mass them in borders. USDA zones: As an annual, can be grown in most zones Water requirement: Average Light requirement: Full sun Mature size: 12 inches tall Seasonal interest: Fall and winter Planting tips: Plant in fall once the days have cooled or in spring if you live in a colder climate.
Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) An amazing specimen tree for multiseason interest, Katsura provides both color and shade in the home landscape. The new spring growth is bronze, followed by bluish-green in the summer and finally turning orange to golden yellow in the fall. Plant Katsura in the front yard or back, along the street or lining your driveway for an eye-catching accent. USDA zones: 4 to 8 Water requirement: Regular water; more during extreme heat Light requirement: Full sun Mature size: Up to 50 feet tall Seasonal interest: Foliage accents spring through fall Planting tips: Plant in fall or spring and feed with a general-purpose fertilizer in the spring before new growth emerges. Lightly prune in winter for shape and health.
Beautyberry (Callicarpa bodinieri) Here is an excellent shrub choice for fall, with long-lasting violet berries along green stems. The large green leaves are abundant from spring until they fall later in the autumn. Small purplish-pink flowers appear in summer before the berries show up. This shrub is a wise choice for Asian gardens, mass plantings, borders or as a specimen planting. USDA zones: 5 to 8 Water requirement: Regular water; more during extreme heat Light requirement: Full to partial sun Mature size: 6 feet tall Seasonal interest: Flowers appear in summer, followed by purple berries in fall. Planting tips: Plant in spring or fall and prune annually in early spring before new growth appears. An application of balanced fertilizer in spring will also ensure healthy new growth.
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) Japanese maple offers the most stunning array of fall foliage to be found, in tones of bright red, russet and even yellow. These trees are a perfect focal point in any garden, but are particularly attractive in contemporary and Asian landscapes. There is a wide range of cultivars available, with varying heights and leaf colors. Two reliable cultivars are 'Bloodgood' and 'Burgundy Lace'. USDA zones: 5 to 8 (find your zone) Water requirement: Average, but may need supplemental water when temperatures soar Light requirement: Full to partial sun Mature size: Up to 25 feet tall, depending upon variety Planting tips: Plant in spring or fall, and lightly prune in winter to maintain shape. Feed with a general balanced fertilizer in early spring before new growth comes out.
10. Edge the garden. Use smaller bulbs like grape hyacinth or scilla as a colorful border to frame a more formal bulb garden or the early-season greens in a vegetable plot. Here, raised beds of pink and coral tulips are accentuated by grape hyacinth. Though a planting like this is stunning, you'll need to remove the bulbs after they bloom or add enough perennials or annuals to provide interest until the foliage naturally dies.
9. Keep color coming. Use a mix of bulbs that bloom early, midseason and late in the season to provide successive color in your garden. Plant them near perennials that will peak a little later, cover the remnants of the dying bulbs and keep the color alive.
8. Create a view. If you're like most gardeners, you long to look outside your window and glimpse that first colorful bloom. Consider planting with that in mind. Mark spots in your yard that are easily viewed from the windows you most frequently look through.
Layering can take on an abundant, natural look that is perfect for casual gardens and meadows. Here, agapanthus and society garlic put on a multilayered show.
7. Plant for a layered effect. Create greater impact by using the same space to plant small, medium and large bulbs on top of one another. For instance, in the same 8-inch deep hole, you can first plant alliums or large tulips and cover them with a few inches of soil. Add hyacinths or miniature daffodils that you also cover, then end with small bulbs like crocuses, species tulips, and grape hyacinths. In this photo, alliums are getting ready to bloom, while daffodils and hyacinths are going strong.
6. Use shrubs as perfect backdrops. Spring-blooming bulbs pop when planted in front of evergreen shrubs in a border or a foundation planting. Even white looks dazzling in comparison to the shrubs' dark green.
For a more formal look, plant that same bulb in rows alongside a path or a driveway. This more manicured look works best with larger-flowering bulbs like Darwin hybrid tulips or tall alliums.
5. Reinforce your garden's style. The same bulb can appear formal or informal depending on how you use it. For casual landscapes, group bulbs in an irregular manner to mimic how they would grow in nature.
4. Play with color schemes. As a general rule, plant bulbs in sizable groupings for the most impact. (Aim for at least 12 larger bulbs and 50 or more if they're small.) Though it's advisable to keep bulbs of the same variety together, you can occasionally include a random extra to create the happy accidental look of a cottage garden.
3. Fill containers with color. Surprisingly, perhaps, bulbs perform as well in containers as they do in the ground. Plant portable pots in autumn, then overwinter the plants in a cold garage or storage shed before placing the containers out in spring. You'll have the advantage of being able to put color right where you want it.
One of the most striking areas to plant bulbs to multiply freely in is beneath deciduous trees and along woodland paths. The bulbs will get ample sunshine before the trees leaf out.
Cut slabs, both new and antique, can come from quarries, landscape supply houses or architectural salvage yards. These slabs can be fairly simple to install and are a nice way to experience the topography of a landscape.
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