Seasonal Planting Guide For Year-Round Colour
Does your garden inspire joy and creativity in the summer, but lack the same vibrancy as the seasons progress? Many people struggle to maintain the visual appeal and health of their garden throughout the seasons due to the varying blooming cycles of plants and flowers.
Based on the kind of plants, flowers, trees and shrubs you have in your garden, the landscape may be able to maintain year-round colour. By carefully planning your garden design and planting choices, you can keep your garden appealing no matter the weather.
In this post, Green Acorn Landscape Design are sharing the best planting tips and seasonal plans to maintain year-round colour in every landscape.
The Best Planting Choices For Year-Round Colour
Understanding the blooming cycles of plants and flowers makes it easier for you to plan your year-round colourful garden. While it is common for gardens to look their best during the spring and summer, as this is when most plants bloom to their greatest capacity, this does not have to be a seasonal event.
You can maintain year-round colour and ensure your garden looks fantastic no matter the weather by using a variety of plant types. Each plant has its own blooming cycle, which determines when it will flower and look its best. Understanding the different types of plants out there and using a combination is the best way to ensure your garden has year-round colour.
To help you plan your colourful garden design, let’s explore some of the most common plant types and what this means for your landscape:
Annuals: Seasonal Vibrancy
Annual plants and flowers complete their growing cycle within one season. At a certain point in the year, annuals will germinate, flower, and die, meaning they provide short bursts of colour. While their lifespan may be short, annuals can be a great way to adorn your outdoor space and can create stunning displays throughout the landscape.
To ensure year-round colour, annuals will need to be used in conjunction with other blooming cycles to give seasonal interest. They are a great option for those seeking both year-round colour and variety, as annuals can easily be replaced after their life cycle for something new next season.
Whether planted in flower beds, pots or planters, annuals can add pops of colour to your landscape at various times in the year. Petunias, marigolds, begonias, and lobelias are ideal for summer blooms, offering vibrant flowers and lush foliage at the warmest time of the year
For winter colour and prolonged interest, consider annuals such as Pansies, violas, and cyclamen.
Perennials: Repeated Colour And Interest
Perennials also offer seasonal bursts of colour, but unlike annuals, will return year after year. These are staples in low-maintenance gardens and those seeking year-round colour, as once established, you can rely on them to return without any additional work.
With perennials, you can ensure your garden will have year-round colour without having to invest in new plants or choose a whole new flower display when the seasons change.
Some perennials can offer longer appeal, as they may be evergreen. This means that while the flowers may bloom and die within a season, the foliage remains to offer structure and appeal to your garden throughout the year.
As the growth patterns can complement many annual flowers, it is recommended to create flower beds or planting displays using a combination of both. Alongside your annuals, perennials can be installed at various times of the year to add colour to each season.
Based on when you’re gardening, perennials fall into three main categories to add year-round colour:
- Spring Bloomers: Flowers such as Hellebores, primroses, and peonies produce colourful flowers and leaves in the spring
- Summer Bloomers: For the hot climate, consider plants such as echinacea, lavender, delphiniums, and salvias.
- Autumn Bloomers: To prolong the appeal of your garden as the seasons change, asters, sedum, and rudbeckia should be planted alongside spring and summer bloomers.
Evergreen Shrubs And Flowers: Year-Round Structure
As we have mentioned, evergreen shrubs and flowers keep hold of their foliage throughout the year. These are staples of any low-maintenance garden or landscape seeking year-round colour as they continue to thrive no matter the weather.
While some evergreens may have perennial flowers, others can provide late blooms or simply continue to produce lush, green leaves to maintain the structure of your garden design. Shrubs such as boxwood, holly, yew, and laurel can be used in all kinds of landscapes to create privacy screens, define garden zones, or maintain year-round colour as they keep their leaves throughout the seasons.
If you are seeking additional appeal and colour throughout the seasons, flowering evergreens such as camellias, rhododendrons, and heather produce colourful flowers and lush green leaves throughout the seasons. The dense structure of these evergreen plants is ideal for a range of locations, and keeps your garden both interesting and attractive for humans and wildlife alike.
Deciduous Trees And Shrubs: Changing With The Seasons
Deciduous trees perform the way you’d expect, as they lose their leaves during the autumn and winter, before regrowth in the spring. These traditional planting options can be combined with other plants for year-round colour, while also adding interest to your garden design.
As deciduous trees and shrubs change with the season, you can witness different kinds of beauty right on your doorstep. You can welcome in the new seasons with fresh green foliage, blossoming flowers, and fruits, before the rich hues of autumn take over.
Due to the changing nature of these plants, this solution for year-round colour is ideal for those who have the time and money required to maintain their garden. Trees in particular require ongoing care and maintenance to keep them safe and healthy, which may require professional support at times.
If this is something you can afford and are willing to upkeep, trees and shrubs can be planted for seasonal interest. Deciduous trees and shrubs can have different blooming times, despite the life cycle performing the same, for example:
- Cherry blossom, magnolia, and lilac offer colourful flowers and stunning green foliage in spring and summer
- Japanese maple, rowan and liquidambar have rich, warm hues which take centre stage during the autumn months
- Dogwood, witch hazel, and cotoneaster offer winter colour through their coloured stems, foliage, and berries
The Spice Of Life: Planting Variety For Year-Round Colour
The best way to ensure year-round colour in your garden is to rely on a variety of planting types. Combining annuals, perennials, evergreens, and deciduous shrubs ensures that there is always going to be something interesting in your garden as the year progresses.
All flower beds and planting spaces should contain succession planting, which means alternating blooming patterns. This ensures that your garden continues to look colourful and has healthy, thriving plants no matter the season.
To create the ideal planting design for your landscape, maintenance requirements, and personal style, work with professional landscapers like Green Acorn Landscape Design. Our landscape specialists have a great understanding of plant types and growing patterns, as well as a keen eye for design to help you create a stunning landscape that offers year-round colour.
Conclusion
Your garden deserves the best, and we believe year-round colour is a fantastic way to make the most out of your landscape. Planting various trees, shrubs and flowers into your garden ensures that there is always something beautiful to look at, as well as offering year-round support to the local ecosystem.
With careful planting decisions and meticulously designed displays, you can ensure your garden maintains year-round colour to brighten up every day of the year.
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