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Home Floor Plan Designing for your future Home
Designing Your Own Dream Home for the New Home Builder: What is your dream home? Do you have an idea of what it will look like? Defining a dream home is very difficult, especially if you have a spouse or significant other that has tastes different...
The Gardening Tool You Need
So you've decided to set up your own little garden, either as a
way to chill out from the wear and tear of life, or to commune
with nature, or to make your house a prettier place with all the
flaura and fauna soon to come, or just to have more...
Tips For Building A Song Bird Bird House
SONGBIRDS are among nature's greatest indicators of a quality environment. In and around many industrial centers where pollutants are rampant and in heavy agricultural areas where pesticide use is great, the number of songbirds has decreased in...
What's Underfoot? A Quick Guide to Patio Surfaces
Patios and terraces have always been popular outdoor spaces. Whether a Parisian courtyard or a rooftop alcove, only porches and sunrooms beat out these paved (or semi-paved) retreats in a recent survey of my readers as the most ideal outside...
Wheelbarrow Buyers Guide
This guide has been written to help you make the right choice when buying a wheelbarrow in the UK. In the UK currently there are at least 30 different types of wheelbarrow, from the basic garden barrow to a sophisticated battery powered motorised...
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Plan for Winter Plantings
Part four in a series
It’s hard to think about winter when our gardens are in full bloom and the vegetables are ripening on the vine! But we must keep winter in mind when we are planning our landscape. Afterall, we have to look at our landscape all year long, including winter. (Unless, of course, you are fortunate enough to be able to move to warmer climates in the winter or live in a climate that is tropical all year long!) But for most of us, we have to contend with four seasons and the life cycle of our landscape.
So when you are planning your landscape, keep in mind this life cycle of the plants you choose to add to your landscape design. Some plants, like flowering trees and shrubs look their best in Spring, others reach their full beauty in Summer, others still attain stunning and vibrant color in the Autumn, and yet, some evergreens look beautiful in the Winter, offset by a striking snow-covered landscape.
Add plants to your landscape that offer a variety of looks in different seasons. Don’t plan your landscape with plants that all reach their peak of beauty at the same time. For example, a bed of perennials will provide a rainbow of color all summer long, but in the fall and winter,
you will have to contend with a big empty space in your landscape. The same holds true for evergreens. While evergreens look beautiful in the winter-white of the colder months, they don’t offer much in the summer.
So, try to choose plants for your landscape that have different focal points for different parts of the year. Look for plants that may keep red or orange berries through the winter months, or that keep a beautiful bud head through the winter for a variety of shapes. You can also postpone dead-heading some of your flowering plants until the end of winter so you have some visual interest all winter long.
Just don’t be afraid to experiment. Remember, this is your landscape. Use your creativity! And if something you’ve tried doesn’t work, try something else! You can always move a planting somewhere else and try something new.
About the Author
Dean Novosat is an avid gardener and landscaper. He has transformed many boring yards into beautiful landscapes. He has several websites including http://www.the-garden-doctor.com and http://www.dr-landscape.com.
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