Adding Color to Your Landscape

Though just seeing green in the garden or yard (especially after a long winter) always lifts the spirits, it is also uplifting to see color outside, too. There are so many options!  But not just for a single season.  If you plan your landscape well, you can bring color to your yard year round, or at least much more than just the spring to early summer.

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 Listed below are some suggestions for color in the spring season.

If you are looking for some early spring color, consider getting some mini irises and crocuses.  The irises come in a variety of colors including purple, yellow and white.  The crocuses are purple, pink, yellow or white.  Both of these flowers are low to the ground and pop up as some of the earliest to bloom.  Usually before the grass starts greening or the leaves begin to bud, these little flowers pop up, even amongst the last of the snow dustings.

Pansies are another early spring annual for a few reasons.  They are very cold tolerant, so they are some of the first flowers you see planted in boxes and planters.  And they come in so many different colors with very cheerful blooms.  If you have a slightly shaded garden snowdrop anemones are a nice addition.  They have bright clusters of white with yellow eyes, and are fragrant throughout the spring.  Sometimes snowdrops even bloom again with the appearance of the cooler fall temperatures.

Spring brings you many options.  You can add flowering trees to your yard to include both ornamental and fruit bearing varieties.  Some of the varieties for you to consider are flowering plum and pears, apples, crabapples and cherries of all varieties.  You can also find dogwood and lilac.

Another staple for any well thought out flower garden is to choose from the many varieties and colors of roses available throughout the United States.  It is truly amazing that a rose is not just a rose.  Some have really tight heads, while others are more rounded and full.  Some are miniature, others long stemmed.  No matter the variety or color you will create a very fragrant and beautiful flowering section of your flowerbed.

There are a number of perennials that you can plant that will reappear year after year.  Daffodils, irises, Echinacea, tulips, and numerous others come in a multitude of colors.  Azaleas have a shorter bloom schedule, but even though short lived they provide a wall of color.  Use them as great sidewalk borders and pair them with other shrubs that bloom a little later in the season.

Another fun, colorful and fragrant bush you may like to consider adding to your landscaping plans is some gorgeous butterfly bushes.  Not only do these bushes come in many different colors, but they are also dainty and sway nicely with the summer breezes.  But these bushes do something else to add color to your garden; they attract butterflies, which bring about another whole new level of color and interest to your summer views, since butterflies also come in a variety of colors.

If you carefully coordinate your landscape plantings, you will be able to ensure you have color year round, as the flowers, trees, bushes and shrubs all have different bloom and growth schedules.  It will also add visual interest to your landscape as the changing bloom schedule and fluctuating color show will keep things interesting and fun.  Play with your planting designs, have some fun shopping at the local nurseries and enjoy creating a masterpiece in your yard to be enjoyed by all.

Written by Clark Jones, owner of Tree Frog Complete Grounds Maintenance. Tree Frog is the best company for landscaping Columbia MO has to offer.