Landscaping with Color

Color is critical to the success of many landscapes, so it’s important to plan your garden ahead to ensure visual interest year-round. That means choosing your plantings wisely. Consider that a wide mix of plants and textures is more likely to yield a better looking product.

As you’re making your decision, it’s important to keep in mind the best location for new plantings, along with how much space you have and how much sun your yard gets.

Plants for Year-Round Seasonal Color

To establish color in the spring, we recommend you plant bulbs in the fall of the previous year. Some types of spring bulbs include tulips, daffodils, and Hyacinth. Shrubs that blossom in the spring time include forsythia(early spring), Azaleas and Rhododendron (mid spring), and Sweetspire (late spring). Fragrant flowering shrubs such as lilac and viburnum add an extra dimension to the garden. Plants that bloom in summer range from shrubs like hibiscus and butterfly bushes to perennials like daylilies, coneflower, and daisies.

Creating a colorful landscape in the fall isn’t quite as easy as spring or summer, but can definitely still be done with a combination of chrysanthemums, asters, and Japanese anemones. Fall foliage such as Burning bush, Virginia Sweetspire, and maple trees are great selections for introducing striking reds and oranges into the landscape.

For seasonal color during winter time, choose shrubs such as red twig dogwood and nandina ‘gulf stream’.

Creating Visual Interest in Other Ways

To further create visual interest in your yard, you may want to consider installing water features or fountains within your garden or pool design. This is a great way to both catch the eye and add a calming effect to your outdoor space. Decorative boulders can accomplish a similar goal in terms of creating visual interest, but in a more subtle, natural way.

Alternatively, you could choose to install a custom arbor and wrap flowering vines around it.

Landscaping with Color in Maryland, Virginia & Washington, DC

Choosing the right plants to establish seasonal color may not seem so simple if you know nothing about plants and gardening. Botanical Decorators specializes in landscaping with color in the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC areas and can offer you our professional expertise to ensure the right selection of plantings to establish seasonal color within your landscape. We’re happy to offer you more suggestions in addition to what’s above or to work with you if you have some specific flowers in mind already. To get started with an initial consultation and an assessment of your property, contact us today!