Colorful sideyard
By: Garden Gate staff
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Design a colorful side yard
Side yards are often forgotten spots you pass quickly through in order to get to the “good stuff” in the backyard. Instead of ignoring this area, why not make your side yard into a colorful border worth wandering through? Take a look at this garden for some great ideas.
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Divide your space
A lattice screen and arbor attached to the house mark the transition between the landscaped front yard and the flowery border along the side.
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Keep it colorful all season
The catmint and garden phlox here are workhorses — the flowers last for weeks, and later, after being deadheaded, they start again. As catmint blooms age, the stems relax and flop open. Before that happens, when the stems are leaning and most of the flowers have fallen off, cut the plant back to within 6 to 12 in. from the ground. You’ll have new growth and more flowers in a few weeks.
Remove garden phlox’s spent center bloom to encourage side branches to take off more quickly.
You can’t miss the stately yellow flowers of cup plant in the back.
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Container stand-in
Every garden has a hole or two where flowers are done or a plant has died. Fill empty spots with a long-blooming plant in a container, such as this calla lily at left.
When a container isn’t tall enough to get the flowers up where they can be seen, take an empty pot and turn it upside down, like the one in the photo below. Place the plant-filled pot on top and you have instant height and color.
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