Garden Design Tips

With so many current varieties and so many new ones coming to market each year, how can we narrow this garden design tip down to the top 3? Well I’m going to share with you my favorites along with some very important advice.  But let’s get down to business shall we.

Favorite Pick Number 3  – Peony.  I currently have three peonies; one white, one purple and one red.  The biggest mistake I made was moving one once.  It took years to bloom again.  Each year I would wait for the bulbs to show and they never would.  This year I finally got about 4 blooms!  One of my favorite things to do is cut the flower and just drop it in a drinking water glass.  The double bloom is extremely fragrant.

Favorite Pick Number 2 – Hydrangea.  These plants are simply amazing.  There are more than 70 different species.  One of the most popular varieties is the Niko Blue Hydrangea.  My favorite however is the Quick Fire.  It blooms well before anything else (often starting in early May) and turns a rich deep pink keeping it’s color well into the fall.  You can’t go wrong with this beauty.

Favorite Pick Number 1 – Hosta.  The Hosta is probably the biggest staple in anyone’s garden.  Never fails, looks great, and can be divided with the greatest of ease.  The variety of foliage in unbelievable!  One of my favorites has to be the Host Guacamole but for shear size and presence, the Blue Mammoth is, well, mammoth!  I could make article after article on the different varieties I have just on my property.  Go get yourself a few and when it’s time to split them, trade with a friend or neighbor and expand your personal collection.

Now here’s my best advise for any gardener (both the experienced and the noobe alike); limit the number of perennial varieties you have to a reasonable amount (excluding Hostas fo course!)  The biggest mistake is selecting too many varieties and becoming overwhelmed with the care.  You will be spread so thin that you may become disillusioned and give up your dream of having the most beautiful home and garden on the block.

Okay, I probably shouldn’t start out by telling you what my top garden design tip is but I just can’t help it.  My absolute favourite broadleaf evergreen is the Carol Mackie Daphne.  Now that I have let the cat out of the bag, here in more detail are my top three broadleaf evergreens.

Number 1 – Carol Mackie Daphne.  As I mentioned the is my favorite but it’s worth mentioning again, I LOVE this shrub.  Its Latin name is Daphne x burkwoodii and it’s hardy to zone 4.  It can get up to 3 feet wide with a mounded shape.  The fragrance it gives off when flowering in May is simply incredible.  A quick pruning after flowering keeps this spectacular specimen compact and beautiful for about 7 years.  Yes it’s unfortunate but they do have short life span.  I promise however you won’t be disappointed!

Number 2 – Green Gem Boxwood.  Everyone has to have at least a few Green Gem Boxwoods.  The Buxus mic. var. insularis ‘Green Gem’ is a staple for any border hedge.  It’s rated zone 5 and can grow 2 1/2 feet tall with a slightly wider spread.  The dense dark green foliage stays pretty much all year around.

Number 3 – Golden Spirea.  I know what you are thinking; this is a classic ‘industrial’ plant.  Yes the Spiraea japonica ‘Goldflame’ is usually spotted in mass plantings around factories and corporate buildings but there’s a reason for this.  They are VERY low maintenance and can take quite a beating.  Good to zone 2 these 3 foot tall and 3 1/2 foot wide shrubs are never a bad choice.

Now then, I actually did have a tie for the top spot.  The Carol Mackie Daphne won the coin toss but there’s one other broad leaf ever green that I love and it works in so many gardens and locations.  It is Pachysandra or Japanese Spurge.  This ground cover words best in shady locations but is also great under evergreens!  Hardy to zone 3, the only thing to consider is Japanese Spurge requires rich, acidic soil.

1st and foremost, as a fellow gardener, I’m obliged to tell you, you must have at least 1 Japanese maple somewhere on your property.  These top garden design tips will make your garden the envy of the block.  I promise beyond any reasonable doubt, these pricey  gems are worth every penny (or dollar!)

Pick Number 3 – Bloodgood Japanese Maple.  I’m sure everyone has seen one of these.  They are as elegant as they come.  I have to tell you I actually sent my 1st one back to the garden centre upon delivery.  What you want to look for is an interesting trunk system not just a single stick coming out of the ground.  The Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ can grow quite tall to about 18 feet.  The purplish-red leaves hold their color well throughout the summer.  You can’t go wrong with this zone 4 beauty.

Pick Number 2 – Cutleaf Japanese Maple.  These little beauties come in two colors; red and green.  I have one of each!  The finely cut delicate leaf is why I chose the Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Viridis’ to be a top pick.  The color the red leaf turns in the fall is simply spectacular.  You can prune these babies to determine the character and size so no two are the same.  They’re not quite as hardy as the Bloodgood but if you’re in zone 6 or greater, you’re in luck!

Pick Number 1 – Inaba Shidare Maple.  WOW.  That pretty much sums it up.  Take a smaller Bloodgood and combine it with the beautiful Cutleaf and you have the Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Inaba Shidare.  This is one amazing specimen.  It’s like a living statue of David!  Keep this beauty in the sun and it will not disappoint.  Good to zone 5, the fern like leaves are darker than most other Japanese maples.

There is actually one more on my list that is an absolue MUST HAVE.  It’s the Crimson Queen Japanese Maple.  This beautiful mounding zone 5 speciman is to die for.  The bright crimson-red, extremely finely cut leaves retains its color well all sumer long.  This expensive beauty is will worth the price of admition.

Garden structures are generally referred to as ‘hard landscaping.’  I’ve built a few in my day and I’m going to share these garden design tips with you.   Some require time, some require (a lot of) money but they all add great interest to any garden or landscape.

1 – Pergola.  A Pergola is basically a shaded walkway or passageway made of pillars with joists and cross beams.  Think of an un-framed room in a house and that’s about it.  Of course these structures can be as plain or as intricate as you want and no two are alike.  Some people allow vines to cover the structure while others feel the structure’s design should be on display.  A Pergola can be made of out many materials including wood and stone.  These architectural features are always in style and well worth fitting into your landscape.

2 – Fountain.  From a grand water feature that sprays high up into the air to the little cherub with water pouring out of the vase, there’s a water feature that’s just right for everyone.  You can have free standing fountains or ones that hang off of a wall.  From lavish formal gardens to pint sized urban courtyards, fountains add a touch of elegance and a soothing sound that can transport you to a far way place.

3 – Deck.  Maybe the deck should have been number 1.  Almost everyone has one and the variety is never ending.  I’ve built my fair share of decks and nothing beats the satisfaction of sinking that last nail or screwing in the last screw and hearing the pssst of the cap as you open that 1st beer in celebration of a job well done.

Now here’s a tip to save you time and money in the long run.  It’s been available for a while now but the extra cost has kept people away.  I’m here to tell you composite decks have some great advantages over tradition pressure treaded or cedar decks.  This synthetic material will never crack, never need painting and you’ll never get a sliver from them.  There’s no downside to using composite decking material.

Nothing beats the enjoyment you receive from the hours of work you put into your garden.  Nothing can be easier to extend that enjoyment into the evening hours then by using these garden design tips.

Tip Number 1 – Solar Lights.  Solar lights these days come in every shape and size imaginable.  From small color changing globes to post lamps that look like they come right from the cobble stoned streets of merry olde England.  The latest development in solar lights is the use of LEDs (light emitting diodes.)   The LED uses a lot less power resulting in smaller panels that absorb the sunlight and they rarely if ever burn out.  The average cost is very low so you’re able to change them out as your style changes.

Tip Number 2 – Low Voltage Lighting.  I know this one seems obvious but I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had to tell guests the lights around the pool are safe and they won’t get electrocuted by them.  I took a lot of time shopping around for the best valued low voltage adaptor.  This adaptor changes the normal house hold electrical current into a much more garden friendly low voltage.  The unit I finally chose had two 300 watt ‘legs.’  That meant I could put up to 10, 30 watt lamps on each leg or circuit.  The adaptor unit also came with a light sensor to turn on the lights at dusk and a motion sensor if I wanted to save on my electrical bill.

Tip Number 3 – Lighting Placement.  Yes you need to illuminate the pathway to your front and back door but when designing your garden lighting layout, you can also think of it as if you were planning an adventure.  You want to draw your visitor into your garden to explore your carefully crafted and beautiful landscaping.  You want them to feel as if they are discovering a strange new land in some far off country.  Use your imagination!

Safety Tip – This is extreamly important and must be respected.  Any electrical devise including any fountains, transformers for low voltage lighting, wireless speakers plugged into an AC outlet must have a GFCI breaker installed.  This Ground Fault Circuit Interupt device can be installed in your electrical panel or right at the electrical outlet that the device is plugged into.  This is a very important saftey device and should be installed by a professional electrician.

I know silence is golden but these garden design tips will bring music to your ears.  They may also prevent your neighbors from having to call the local police department on you.  Listen up to make your backyard the favorite spot on the block.

Outdoor speakers come in an amazing variety of shapes, sizes, colors and textures.  Some look like regular house hold speakers that you mount on your deck or patio while the ones I prefer are in the shape of a rock.  They also come with speaker sizes ranging from small to large for that high fidelity sound.  As you can expect, all outdoor speakers are weather resistant and can remain outside all year long.

Tip Number 1 – Use wired speakers.  First and foremost they have a far superior sound quality over wireless outdoor speakers.  Unless you need to trench across a 3 acre lawn, or require speakers in 10 different locations, I recommend only using wired speakers.

Tip Number 2 – Use low voltage lighting cables and connectors.  I stumbled upon this one by accident.  After I completed the installation of my low voltage outdoor lighting, I somehow ended up with fair amount of left over wire.  Rather then throw it out, it occurred to me I could use it as speaker wire.  I returned to the building centre to purchase more wire and decided I could also use the special low voltage lighting connectors.  After running the two main lines (left and right out of the stereo receiver) along the perimeter of the yard, I just attached the speakers using the low voltage light connectors.  Nothing could have been easier.

Tip Number 3 – Best Speaker Placement.  Place your speakers as high as possible.  If you have a raised garden or berm (fancy word for pile of dirt) I would place them there.  Also, if you place the speakers against or near a wall, you will get better bass or low end sound.  Finally, experiment before permanently mounting or trenching the wires.

Here’s a tip that will not only keep the neighbors happy but will provide the best music enjoyment possible.  Place at least 4 speakers thoughout your yard.  The more the better.  The reason this method works the best is because you can have the volume at a much lower level but still have music everywhere.  With only two speakers, you need to turn the volume up much louder to fill the space.  If you use my number 2 tip above, it’s very easy to add additional speakers anywhere you want.  My only caution is to seek advise on how many speakers you can add to you specific stereo receiver.  Mine is capable of a variable load (multiple speakers) while others might get damaged.  As I said, ask a professional stereo installer what will work best for you.

The best part of visiting a garden centre is being overwhelmed by the beauty of all the different flowers.  The assortment of colors, the range of fragrances and the shear splendour of mass plantings is a sight to behold.  These garden design tips will definitely help you navigate the isles of the garden centre to what have become my top 3 picks.

Flower Number 1 – Stargazer Lily.  This has to be the most amazing flower ever.  It’s as showy as they come.  This star-shaped red flower with spreading pedals with darker spots looks amazing in a garden as well as in a vase.  The fragrance is un-mistakable and its beauty is second to none.

Flower Number 2 – Iris.  There is such a large variety with every color under the rainbow that there’s one to fit every garden.  My favorite is probably the Siberian Iris.  They are hardy and are drought tolerant once established.  One of the best traits of the Siberian Iris is that it has few enemies so no insecticides or fungicides are needed!  The foliage is graceful and with very little care, you can have a show stopper.  I should mention the Black and Purple Bearded Irises also make quite the statement.

Flower Number 3 – Lupine.  I love the Lupine.  Its cottage like style reminds me my childhood and summers’ spent at my grandparents’ house on the lake.  Brilliant blue, purple or reddish in color, they’re always a pleasure to behold.  They aren’t very fussy and only ask that you keep their feet dry in a well drained spot.

Now what is my piece de resistance, it has to be the rose of course.  You can’t call yourself a gardener without having rose bushes.  The varieity is too large for me to pick my favorite so you will just need to go and peruse the local garden center and pick out your favorite.

I have to admit when I was younger I was clueless what the difference was.  I can remember asking my mother over and over again how you could tell them apart and which was better.  This garden design tip should be titled Annual or Perennial – Ode to Mother.

Annuals

• Annuals grow, produce flowers and die within the 12 months.  The reason I say 12 months and not the same year is because some annuals will germinate in late fall or winter and flower the next spring then die.
• Most people only think about planting annuals in the spring, enjoying the splendor all summer then watching them die only to repeat the cycle again the next spring.  One annual most people don’t think of as being an annual is crabgrass.
• Another group we shouldn’t forget about as being true annuals are vegetables such as beans, corn, peas, etc.

Perennials

• Perennials are called such because they live fore more than two years.  While trees, shrubs and other woody plants are also perennials, we generally don’t referrer to them as perennials.
• These plants grow and bloom during the spring and summer time then die back each fall and winter.  They then repeat the process from their root-stock rather than re-seeding themselves like the annual plant does.
• In warmer climates the growing cycle never ends!  One very important thing to consider is what zone you live in and what zone the perennial will naturally survive in.  Matching these two zones up is very important if you want to become a successful perennial gardener.

After years of spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars each spring on Annuals, I slowly started to replace annuals with perennials.  I know you will say ‘but annuals have color all summer long.’  Yes they do but a carefully planned out perennial garden can not only have color all summer long but will have a much wider variety of colors and textures.  The only down side is perennials do require more maintance but it’s well worth it.

The title says it all.  The Hosta is truly my absolute favorite plant in my entire garden beyond a doubt.  I have so many varieties and so many, well, just plain so many I’ve lost count.  These garden design tips are basically a catalogue of my favorite varieties but not my final list by any means!

Okay, let’s get some of the basics out of the way before we get into the good stuff.  Hostas’ are an amazing plant for edging, border accents or for planting around shrubs and trees.  I have hostas in full shade and I have hostas in full sun.

They are probably the most reliable leafy perennial any gardener can have in their arsenal.  Once you get hooked, you will never be able to image your garden without them.

One aspect of having hostas that vary from gardener to gardener is what to do with the flowers.  I personally cut them back leaving only the beauty of the leaves.  Others enjoy the disproportionate stick like flower protruding from the centre of the plant.  Sorry, my bias was showing there, whoops.

Now to my list;

• Guacamole.  I think I like the Guacamole just because I love the avocado dip so much.  This hosta is chartreuse in color and has a wide green margin.  It produces large pink flowers that are sweetly fragrant.
• Blue Mammoth.  The Blue Mammoth competes with the Big Daddy for shear size.  This variety just seems to be bigger and bigger each year.  The leaf is more of a chalky blue though.
• Midas Touch.  I really enjoy the deep yellow leaf on the Midas Touch.  It’s very broad leaf is heavily cupped like so many of the other hostas.  Like the Blue Splendor, it has a near white flower that appears mid June to July.
• Blue Splendor.  Not sure why it’s called Blue Splendor because the leaves on this hosta are more green then blue.  The leaf is cupped and quilted and a near white flowers appear mid June to July.
• Big Daddy.  As you can image, this variety is just about as big as they come.  The leaves are frosty blue, cupped and are heavily ruffled or quilted.  A pale lavender flower appears in July but can be cut off if desired.
• Pizzazz.  The Pizzaz has a somewhat heart or oval shaped green leaf streaked with blue-green and a cream to white margin.  I have a cluster of these surrounding the base of my clump form birch tree that simply looks amazing.

In addition to the above here are a few more…

• Captain Kirk.  How can you not want one of these?  With a gold leaf center and a dark margin this one says, beam me up scottie!
• Fire and Ice. The beauty has white in the center of the leaf with a very dark green margin.  Lavender flowers appear on white stems.
• Memories of Dorothy.  With a name like this, just tap your heels three times and say there’s no place like my garden.  The blue-green foliage with creamy-yellow margins is quite the looker.