Join Laura from Garden Answer as she shows how to plant a stunning fall container filled with a mix of annuals and hydrangeas. Along the way, she shares practical gardening tips while sprucing up a flowerbed and harvesting potatoes from her vegetable garden.
Follow along with Laura from Garden Answer as she plants new perennials, evergreen trees, and shrubs throughout her gardens. Using Espoma Organic Bio-tone Starter Plus, Laura ensures her plants receive the essential nutrients they need for successful establishment. Discover her top tips and tricks to create a beautiful and thriving summer garden!
https://www.espoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/thumbnail3-2.jpg10801920Matt Dauphinaishttps://www.espoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/espoma-logo340w-1.pngMatt Dauphinais2024-07-24 14:13:292024-10-08 16:14:30VIDEO: Planting NEW Evergreens, Shrubs and Perennials ?☀️? with Garden Answer
Do you have shady spots in your garden that you don’t know how to utilize? Watch as Laura from Garden Answer demonstrates how to plant annuals in shaded areas to create vibrant, lush spaces. Whether under a tree or by your house, these tips and plant combinations will help you make the most of those low-light areas.
The Perfect Plant Mix for Shady Areas
Laura’s Plant selection:
Sedona Sunset Colorblaze Coleus: Adds a warm autumn touch, blending beautifully with pinks.
Tropical Shades Impatiens: Though labeled orange, they turned out a stunning coral pink.
Non-Stop Joy Mocha White Begonia: With tuberous blooms and beautiful foliage.
Queen Tut Grass: A compact centerpiece with a fireworks texture.
Patricia Ivy: Perfect for containers, though tricky in-ground planting.
Laura started with a small area in front of Limelight Hydrangeas. The plan was to layer Sedona Sunset Coleus for a vibrant splash of color, followed by Impatiens in the front. She also rejuvenated a nearby container with Queen Tut and Begonias, creating a clean and beautiful display.
Location 2: Under the Golden Rain Tree
This spot receives morning and late afternoon sun. Laura chose Colorblaze Coleus, part-shade to shade Impatiens, and Maverick White Geraniums for the sunnier areas. The result was a cohesive look that harmonized with the surroundings.
Location 3: The Maple Tree Area
This shady spot near the kitchen entrance required a cleanup first. Laura then planted El Brighto Coleus, White Begonias, and Wire Vine. The combination not only filled the space but added layers of color and texture, creating a container-like effect.
Final Thoughts:
Planting in shady areas can be challenging, but with the right plants and arrangements, you can transform these spaces into lush, colorful parts of your garden. Keep an eye on the light levels and choose versatile plants that thrive in varying conditions. Happy planting!
English cottage gardens date back centuries. They were used to grow vegetables, herbs for healing, fruit trees, perhaps a beehive, and common flowers. The informal style went through a renaissance in the late 1800’s when they became somewhat more nostalgic than practical.
The informal aesthetic of dense planting and natural materials is still en vogue today. In this video, Laura outlines 10 design principles to help you design a cottage garden. Before you start, make sure you have plenty of Espoma’s organic Bio-tone Starter Plus plant food to make sure your plants get the best possible start.
No Straight Lines
Cottage gardens are always informal and a touch whimsical. Avoid straight lines. Gently curving edging looks more natural and playful. If your site restricts you to a straight edge, let the plants spill over it to create an unrestrained look.
Large Groups of the Same Plant
White cottage gardens are more relaxed in their design, it is still best to use large sweeps of the same plant. Think of planting in groups of three, five or seven. That is far more restful to the eye than a jumble of onsies and twosies.
Spacing Doesn’t Matter
This is one time you do not have to follow the advice on the plant tag. Cottage gardens are always densely planted and generally grow more densely packed with time. Annuals and biennials are often used in cottage gardens and will self-sow in the border. Biennials are plants that take two years to grow and flower from seed like the foxgloves shown. Another advantage to planting things close together is that there is less room for weeds to grow.
Color Harmony
It’s very important to pick a collection of plants that have harmonious colors. Without that the border would look chaotic. Garden Answer uses a collection of soft pinks and peaches with touches of blue and lavender. It needn’t always be soft colors, but they do need to be unified in some way.
Use Varied Heights and Textures
In any planting, it’s a good idea to think about texture, height and foliage color as major design elements. Nothing blooms all the time. Varied foliage forms and colors will create interest even when the flowers aren’t in bloom. Laura uses Heuchera specifically for the silvery foliage color.
Anchor Plants/Structural Elements
This is sometimes referred to as the “bones” of a garden. It’s a structural element that all of the other plants get woven around. In this case, it’s a beautiful shrub rose named Rose ‘The Lady Gardener’, a fragrant beauty with full, apricot blossoms. The rose is repeated three times. Repetition is soothing to the eye. It’s possible to use evergreens for a slightly more formal feel, or whatever peaks your interest.
Fragrance
The first thing everyone does when they pick a flower is to hold it up to their nose. Cottage gardens are known for their fragrance. Try to select varieties that smell good at the garden center. Roses, lavender, sweet peas, and sweet alyssum are all good choices.
Not Perfectly Maintained
Along with relaxed design principles, comes relaxed maintenance. Planting tightly will discourage weeds. Annuals like poppies will self-seed and move around the border, just like the biennial foxgloves. Weeding everything that comes up might mean that you weed out these plants and inhibit their spontaneous movements.
The Look Will Change Over Time
This style of gardening is the exact opposite of a formal border filled with geometric shaped boxwood. By its very nature this is meant to be more random. People often sow cosmos, violas and other plants that have a tendency to move around. Let them surprise you. If you really don’t like where one popped up, it’s easy enough to remove.
Be Patient
Being patient is really what gardening is all about. A garden is never really finished. Enjoy the journey!
Garden Answers Plant List
Nepeta ‘Cat’s Pajamas’ – catmint
Achillea – pink yarrow
Allium ‘Serendipity’ – ornamental onion
Rose ‘The Lady Gardener’
Heuchera Dolce ‘Spearmint’ – Coral Bells
Clematis ‘Brother Stephan’
Digitalis Foxy Hybrids – foxglove
Lobularia ‘Blushing Princess’ – sweet alyssum
Here are more videos from Garden Answer we hope you will enjoy.
