Smart Garden

Prioritize functionality when every inch is precious When I started designing gardens 20 years ago, I was surprised to find that small spaces were more challenging to plan than large ones. In those early years, a small number of clients would come to me with detailed lists of items they must have, and I would struggle to fit everything in. Identifying specific features and details was a major breakthrough. A garden should be the final step in the process, not the first. Since then, every consultation I have with a new client begins with three questions I've nicknamed the "three W's." These prompts help my clients imagine interacting with their redesigned spaces, and while they're useful in remodeling gardens of all sizes, they're especially helpful when space is at a premium. When my husband and I recently moved into a new house with a small backyard, we had the opportunity to use the process for ourselves. Here's what we found. Three question...

 Raised Garden Bed garden tips A raised bed garden can be a great solution for properties with poor soil, drainage issues and other problems. Creating and filling raised garden beds can be expensive—especially if you're creating multiple beds at once. However, there are some ways to provide plenty of rich, well-drained soil for vegetables, fruits, flowers, or herbs. This guide will help you decide how to fill a raised garden bed without blowing your budget. Select and prepare the site Raised bed structures are usually made of wood, but can be made of bricks, cinder blocks, stones, or galvanized metal. Regardless of the type of bed you choose, you'll need to do some prep work before filling the raised garden bed frame with soil. Choose a level surface for the bed that has the right amount of light for the plants you plan to grow. Most vegetables need full sun to thrive, but some herbs, leafy greens and ornamentals tolerate part to full shade. After choosing a spot f...

Your garden with these spectacular plant pairings Many plants that provide more visual impact are perennials . This doesn't mean they're aggressive, but if planted in masses (or sometimes singly), they can quickly get out of control, engulfing their neighbors or dominating the design. A useful strategy I use is to pair strong plants with partners of similar character. This allows the players to keep each other in check without much intervention from me.  Pairing 1 1. 'Standing Ovation' Small Bluestem (Schizagrium scoparium 'Standing Ovation') Zones: 3–9 Size: 2 to 4 feet tall and 1½ to 2 feet wide Conditions: Full sun; Well-drained soil Origin: North America 2. Calamint (Calamintha nepeta sub. Nepeta) Zones: 5–7 Size: 1 to 2 feet tall and wide Conditions: Full sun to part shade; Well-drained soil Native range: Southern Europe to Great Britain Why it works: Calamint is a very elegant plant, with airy white flowers in spring that perfectly complement...

 Beautiful white flowering shrubs If you love white flowers, good news! We found white flowering shrubs for every landscape. And many of these plants produce fruit to attract birds. 1. White Flowering Shrubs: Mock Orange These easy-going white flowering shrubs can be grown in a variety of soils and light levels - just avoid wet, poorly drained patches. Choose a cultivar with hardy flower buds in your region. Many cultivars are small, but some reach 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Try Illuminati Tower for towers of white flowers with yellow centers. 2. Buttonbush Watch as bees, butterflies and hummingbirds flock to these fragrant, spherical white flowering shrubs. Buttonbush is a host plant for many species of caterpillars. The round fruit lasts all winter, providing food for a variety of birds. Grow in full to part sun and moist soil. It grows over 6 feet tall and wide. 3. Oakleaf hydrangea Oakleaf hydrangea gets its name from its distinctive oaklike leaves, which stand ...

Vegetable Garden Plans for 3-Season Bounty Planning a vegetable garden and successfully harvesting your own produce is easy with this three-season raised bed plan. The layout of a vegetable garden can make or break its success, so it's important to get it right. Follow these planting plans and checklists for each season, and you'll enjoy a productive vegetable gardening from early spring through fall. 1. Plant for a spring harvest Start in early spring to grow your own produce. Find the last spring frost date of the previous season for your area. You can leave part of the garden unplanted so it's ready for warm weather vegetables later. Early Spring: Plant four weeks before the last frost date. Sow vegetable seeds directly into the soil in early spring, but for an earlier harvest, we recommend starting with some transplants. When planting seeds, sow more densely than recommended and then, using shears, thin the seedlings to the recommended number once they ar...

hydrangeas your space Hydrangeas are low-maintenance shrubs grown for their large, beautiful flowers. But there is one feature that limits their use in small gardens: their size. Many hydrangeas are large, crowding out other nearby plants. But plant breeders are hard at work creating smaller hydrangea varieties that still offer spectacular blooms. Most of these small or dwarf hydrangea varieties are three or four feet or less, so they are easy to fit into tight spaces. Use them in containers on a patio, porch, or balcony, or as low hedges or foundation plants. Added to a perennial border or the front of a mixed shrub border, these small hydrangeas provide months of non-stop blooms. There are many different types of hydrangeas, including bigleaf, panicle, and oakleaf hydrangeas. Each has its own special features, but no matter which type is your favorite, there are smaller varieties. Here are 18 fascinating options. 1. Compact Bigleaf Hydrangeas As the name suggests, large ...

 How to Create Colorful Flower Learn how Heather Thomas of Cape Cottage Garden keeps her flower borders colorful from spring to fall! Heather Thomas' colorful flower borders in New Jersey A few years after her family moved home to New Jersey, Heather Thomas was eager to start a garden. She dreamed of turning the side yard, previously reserved for a children's play area, into a garden space where perennial borders would be colorful from spring to fall. Today that dream has become a reality. Read about how she achieved Cape Cottage Garden's transformation here and watch our interview with Heather in our Talk & Tour video above! Starting a garden When they removed the tree growing too close to the house, this spot near the kitchen window was the perfect spot for the entrance to the future garden. Heather set up a tree stand and began digging up the Japanese pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis) surrounding the tree. To make sure the firm ground didn't sett...

 Front Yard Flower Bed Ideas Add curb appeal, brighten up your entryway, and welcome guests with these beautiful front yard flower bed ideas. Whether you want a formal or informal look, low maintenance, or tons of color through the seasons, you'll find plenty of inspiration in this list. Then start making your front yard the best on the block. 1. Create a curved path Maximize visual impact by installing a gently curving walkway to border your flowerbeds—it gives a casual feel that a straight walkway doesn't. Add vibrant container gardens to the front door to add even more color, texture and fragrance. 2. Embrace the cottage-garden look If you're intimidated by gardening "rules," embrace the cottage-garden aesthetic, a freewheeling, overflowing, and relaxing front yard flower bed style. You don't have to live in an actual cottage: this easy approach pairs well with most home styles. A simple white picket fence makes a fantastic backdrop for your co...