All over the country, geraniums flaunt their red and scarlet, rose, pink, and white blooms with a gay abandon that few other plants can rival. In boxes on city fire escapes and rooftops, in window boxes on suburban and country houses, in tubs and pots on terraces and patios, and in hanging baskets of the porches of summer cottages, they are beloved and cherished plants

It needs sun to bloom; it tolerates shade, where it is usually handled as a foliage plant. What it resents is too much moisture and a rich diet. Kept too wet, the leaves turn yellow; given a heavy soil, one high in nitrogen plants go to foliage and flower sparingly.

Even if you choose no other plants, you could have a varied potted garden of single and double zonal, fancy-leaved or variegated, scented-leaved, ivy and Lady or Martha Washington geraniums (also called show or fancy geraniums), not to mention a few oddities of cactus and climbing types.

The zonal geranium is characterized by dark circular markings on the rounded green leaves. Double types dominate the trade and are offered by florists in the spring for planting in gardens and window boxes.

Variegated geraniums, with leaves that are often brilliantly colored, are attractive even out of bloom. Set among green-leaved geraniums and other foliage plants, pots of the variegated plants add color and pattern.

The trailing, ivy-leaved geraniums are among the most profuse flowering when grown under favorable conditions. They dislike shade and high humidity and thrive best in climates with warm days and cool nights, as in California.

Lady Washington’s, considered the handsomest of geraniums, are not so easy to grow. Like the ivy-leaved, they prefer cool nights and warm, sunny days, preferring shelter from wind and all-day sun.

If you are a geranium gardener, you may want to spark your pot plant collection with some cactus and climbing geraniums. They will give you bizarre and fascinating forms and flowers and are certain to arouse comment.

Geraniums flourish and look well in pots, boxes, and planters. They thrive in various soil mixtures if drainage is good. For abundant bloom, however, supply a special preparation, not high in nitrogen, or lush foliage and few blooms will result. I have success with good garden soil and a sprinkling of a 5-10-5 fertilizer and bone meal. During the growing season, plants respond to a low-nitrogen fertilizer in liquid form.

When potting, be generous with drainage material to insure free passage of water. As with any plant, always water with care, since too much or not enough can be harmful. The best rule is to water when the surface of the soil feels dry. Then soak the soil well and do not water again until plants need it. If soil is kept too wet, leaves will turn yellow; if too dry they wilt and discolor.

To maintain even plant growth, turn containers from time to time. Remove yellow leaves and faded blossoms which are especially distracting on plants at doorways or any other key spots. If rain rots and disfigures the center florets of the heads, pull them off with your fingers, leaving the unmarred outer florets and buds.

If you want plants for next spring, take two- to four-inch cuttings in August or early September. Look for mature stems (with leaves spaced close together) that break easily like a snap bean. Woody growth is hard to root and succulent tips tend to rot. Before planting spread out cuttings in a shady place for several hours so leaves will lose excess moisture.

When ready to plant, cut off the lower leaves, allowing but two or three to each cutting. Also pull off the little wings on the stem, since they are inclined to rot. Dip stem ends in hydrated lime to prevent decay and then insert about halfway, in a flat or large pot of pure sand or a mixture of sand and peat moss. With geraniums, rooting powders are hardly necessary. When cuttings develop inch-long roots, they are ready for spacing out in another flat or for separate planting in 2½-inch pots. Fill with a mixture of three parts sandy loam and one part peat moss or leaf mold. After planting, keep in the shade for the first few days, and bring indoors before cold weather.

When the separated cuttings have developed strong root systems, shift to 3½- or 4-inch pots. Use the same potting mixture as before, with bone meal added. Later as established plants begin to grow, feed periodically with a high phosphorous fertilizer, as 5-10-5 or 4-12-8.

To keep plants bushy and to encourage branching, pinch while small, starting when they are three to four inches high. Provide sunny windows, and keep turning pots to prevent lopsided growth. Water regularly, but allow soil to dry out just a little between applications

Plants may be wintered in cool cellars with little light. Remember only that the less light, the cooler the temperatures should be. This is because too much warmth and insufficient light cause lanky growth that undermines a healthy plant.

Gardeners with cellars or sheds when temperatures remain above freezing, can winter geraniums hanging upside down from the ceiling. The dead-looking sticks, set out in pots or in the garden in warm weather, will astound you when they develop into glorious flowering plants.

Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow her Container Gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Gardening and Cooking. You can contact her at mary@containergardeningsecrets.com Visit Mary’s websites at http://www.ContainerGardeningSecrets.com, http://www.GardeningLandscapingTips.com, and http://www.CruiseTravelDirectory.com

Wide circle driveways don’t happen much anymore, but when they do, what do you do with them? Clear out the grass, mound up some soil, and park a few boulders in strategic positions and you’ve got the perfect spot for an artistic rose garden. Plant some dark green Juniper and a few golden-tipped junipers for background color before adding your roses.

Invite people into your garden with planned paths, safe benches (protective distance from pokey thorns), and a shade providing arbor. A garden structure can be as formal or rustic as you please, make your choice, and design what suits your style. Personally, I prefer rustic structures, so mine sports rough hewn pine lodge poles and leather lashings.

Cedar chips and lava rock provides moisture retaining mulch for the area. Low growing juniper and an occasional spot of Shasta daisies around the edge of the drive provide additional color and flora. A gazing ball nestled near the path, and bird feeders, add life to the garden without intruding. A birdbath near the center offers a restful trickle of water for those quiet afternoon siestas on a bench nestled into a cove of tall growing juniper.

No circle driveway available for this garden design? Find a corner of your yard, or create an island oasis for roses in the middle of a broad expanse of lawn. For more definition, rough-cut logs, cut to different lengths can be buried around the edges, except for the footpaths.

I prefer the rough look of open edges blending out to black top. Specific design details would be best left to the planter of this garden. Each person has their own preferences. I like blending short and tall growing versions of various plants, however, some folks want a more formal appearance.

Jan Verhoeff spends her days as a business consultant, her evenings educating her children, and her weekends playing in the yard. Gardening is a favorite pastime, but one she has few moments to enjoy, so they must be treasured. Visit her web log at http://coffeeclatter.blogspot.com to find more interests you might share. You may contact her at janverhoeff@yahoo.com

This article is not about what size of pump to choose, it is about comparing costs between pumps of the same size, in terms of their up-front cost and running costs. To read about what size pump to choose, see the article on Filtration and Pumps.

The cost of running a pump is dependant on how may watts it uses as electricity is measured in terms of kilowatt hours, or the quantity of watts, in thousands, used in an hour. The larger the pump the greater the watts it uses, however pumps of the same pumping power can differ considerably in their watt usage. An energy efficient pump that delivers 4200 gallons per hour may run at 550 watts while another that delivers the same volume of water may run at 850 watts.

Does that mean that over time the 550 watt pump will save money? Not necessarily. Pumps are only warrented for one or two or three years, generally. If you live in an area where electricity is cheap and the pumps you are considering are warranted for a year or two, then the added cost of the energy efficient pump, and its replacement, may be greater than the energy costs it will save over the same time period.

If, on the other hand, you live where the cost of electricity is high and you are looking at a pump with a three year warrenty that uses significantly less electricity than the other, then the energy efficient pump may more than pay for its extra up-front cost over the long term.

How to know? A Life Cycle Cost Analysis. Find the cost of electricity in your area, figure how long the pump should last, (generally at least two times the warranty), the number of watts it runs on and do the math. Here’s an example.

Say your pump uses 550 watts/hour and you plan to have it running continuously. It has a warranty of two years, so figure it will last four. 550 watts per hour in one day amounts to 13,200 watts. Divide that by a thousand to get kilowatts; 13.2. Multiply that by 365 days in a year = 4,818. Multiply that by 4 years = 19,272 kilowatts over its lifetime. Multiply that by the cost of electricity in your area, say $.20 = $3,854.

Do the same for the 850 watts/hour pump and the result is $5,957. There is a difference in energy costs of usage over their lifetime between the two pumps of $2,102. The difference in purchase price of the pumps will be in the vicinity of $200.00.

Does this mean the energy efficient pump is the most economical over time? In this scenerio it does, which assumed a twenty cent energy cost, a lifetime of four years and continuous running for all of that four years, yes. If the pump is run half that time, say 12 hours a day or six months of the year the energy differential would drop to $2,901, still a considerable savings. Reduce the life time to two years or run the pump for less often and the difference will be still less. In some areas the cost of electricity is much less so the cost of running the pump will be much less.

Let’s look at the same scenerio as the first example above, but instead of an energy cost of twenty cents per kilowatt, we’ll assume eight cents per kilowatt. We’re looking at a pump that uses 550 watts/hour, running continuously. It has a warranty of two years, so figure it will last four. 550 watts per hour in one day amounts to 13,200 watts. Divided by a thousand to get kilowatts gives us 13.2 per day. We multiply that by 365 days in a year = 4,818, and that by 4 years = 19,272 kilowatts over its lifetime. Now we multiply that by $.08 (eight cents) per kilowatt and we have a total cost over four years of $1,541.76 for the 550 watt pump and plugging in the 850 watt number in place of the 550 we get $2382.00 over four years. A difference of about $840.00. Reduce the life of the pump to two years and you have a difference in running costs over that two years of $427.00.

As you see, the less the pump is run, the cheaper electrical energy is in your area and the shorter the life of the pump, the less is the differential in running costs between energy-efficient and non eneregy-efficient pumps. In some cases, when the pump will not be run continuously, when it is fairly small and doesn’t use a lot of wattage and the up-front cost of the pumps is significant, it may make more sense to go with the less expensive pump, especially if you are trying to reduce up-front costs of building a pond.

To know exactly which is the most economical way for you to go, do the Life Cycle Cost Analysis. It’s just arithmetic, so once you’ve gathered the necessary data and got your head around the variables, plug them into the formula above and you’ll know which way to go.

Keith Davitt is an internationally acclaimed landscape designer/builder and the author of Water Features For Small Gardens.

For more information on ponds and water features of all kinds, visit us at www.water-features-online.com.

For information on all other aspects of landscape design, visit us at landscape-design-garden-plans.com

Set in a broad expanse of lush green lawn a length of split rail fence forms a corner. Carpeted with a thick layer of soil preserving and plant protecting cedar mulch, three tall Colorado blue spruce offset the right angles of the fence. Lush red roses climb and meander along the fence setting off the soft color of the spruce and livening up the grounds. A bench of rustic-cut native stone rests casually near the edge of the cedar chip mulch with views of sunset beyond the roses, and lush rose gardens toward the back of a rough hewn log cabin in the foreground.

This ruggedly natural setting implicates something of nature, blended with a cared for garden, a wealth of beauty with little cost. Whether the setting describes the corner of a yard, a cozy corner near the house, or a mirage near the center of a vast hillside, the bench lures the gardener with promise of miraculous sunsets, interesting coffee moments, and restful contentment at the end of a long hard day.

Where you place this corner of Eden is less important that how you arrange it. There must be plenty of room for blue spruce to grow. The fence must be close enough to add ambiance to the trees and support to the roses. The bench must be close enough to absorb the atmosphere, capture the delicate aroma, and lure a guest to catch a moment of sunlight. If by chance the space beyond is laced with aspen trees, whispering in mountain breezes, your cozy sitting acquires a natural characteristic one simply cannot resist.

While corners such as this must be planned into most landscapes, given today’s narrow postage stamp yards, the landscaping options of such a corner as this abound limitless.

Pick a tree and buy three, add the color of life in abundant flora, a fence to set off your choices, and a bench to rest your carcass after a long day of work. Don’t forget to mulch it well, and brew the coffee.

Jan Verhoeff spends her days as a business consultant, her evenings educating her children, and her weekends playing in the yard. Gardening is a favorite pastime, but one she has few moments to enjoy, so they must be treasured. Visit her web log at http://coffeeclatter.blogspot.com to find more interests you might share. You may contact her at janverhoeff@yahoo.com

This summer’s new product for relaxing in the garden or by the pool will be the swing beds. Looking something in between a camp bed and a hammock they have been penned by many designers as the “garden chaise lounge”.

Swing beds come in many different styles and finishes, although the overall theme is the same, allowing the user to lie flat out in comfort whilst rocking gently.

How to choose a swing bed

1. Firstly take into consideration whether you will be using the swing be don your own or whether there may be times when two people will want to use it at the same time, maybe those romantic moments. If there is going to more than one person on the swing bed then you definitely need a double swing bed.

2. Some swing beds come with removable fabric which may not be waterproof, so ensure that if you intend leaving it outside all year round or even at nigh, you need a waterproof fabric such as Textaline, which is made from plastic.

3. You should always measure the area where you are going to locate the swing bed and ensure that it will fit comfortably and allow for easy access around the swing bed.

4. If you intend sleeping on the swing bed then try to buy a model that comes with pre-installed cushions.

5. Ensure that the make up of the metal frame parts are powder coated as this will lengthen the products life.

6. If you opt for a wood swing bed, remember that it may need treating with a stain or preservative every year and if you are not prepared to undertake the work, then opt for a powder coated metal framed bed.

7. Make sure that the swing bed can be easily dismantle if you intend storing it inside during the winter months.

A lot of people buy swing beds instead of a camp bed and use them for accommodating guests. This is particularly useful if you are short of room in your house as most are fully collapsible. One point worth remembering is that the bed does rock or swing, so you will have to put something under the rockers to stop the movement.

Unlike the hammock which gives a sideways rocking movement, swing beds give a forward to back rocking movement and do not hug the body as much as a hammock. They are a totally different concept to the hammock and provide an equally enjoyable sitting or lying space.

In recent years they have become extremely popular around swimming pools and set to become a great must have product for the coming seasons.

Jenny Edwards is the operations manager of Arboreta Home & Garden Store. She is responsible for the buying and importing of new products.

Most riding lawn mowers are machines fun ride and extremely cool to look at. However, they are just a dream for many gardeners who can not afford one of these powerful gardening equipment. A riding mower can be a practical time saving machine for professionals as well as for beginner or amateur landscapers. If you are on of those homeowners, lucky to maintain a large yard, it can be a good idea to invest in a riding mower.

We will explain first the type of mowers on the market and then which one would fit better with your current needs. Basic riding mowers are actually those featuring rear engines. They use to come with small horsepower engines, usually mounted under the operator’s seat. These mowers have reasonable power sized cutting blades and fit perfectly into small lawns with less than 1 acre. The next level up is for medium horsepower riding lawn mowers; these mowers use to include their engines at the front; there can fit larger engines due to the space. They have a stronger and faster cutting capacity. Medium riding mowers provide better performance on hilly gardens and are the perfect complement for yards between 1 and 3 acres. Commercial riding lawn mowers are designed for really large yards, including sport fields, they can be extremely expensive for homeowners and won’t really provide their best performance in yards no bigger than 3 yards.

Riding Lawn Mowers Types

Here you can find some important points to have in mind before you decide on the most suitable model that would better fit with your necessities. The final choose will depend basically on:

• The type of terrain of your mowing area as well as the size of it. And what other tasks would you like to do with your new lawnmower?. It is also very important to know whether or not the area includes slopes or hilly areas. The most flat is your mowing area the better performance you will get from the machine.

• It is always extremely important to select a comfortable seat, especially when you will be sitting for a long time. You will save a lot on back injuries and other common diseases related with sat jobs. There is no choice with that, it’s preferable that the mower’s seat be comfortable enough, don’t make the mistake that most do, it worth.

• Does the garden include trees or rocks that require permanent change of direction during the mowing process? It’s very important to find all the finishing touch to choose amongst steering wheels and tires.

• There are different bagging or recycling grass options; here you have mainly to mulching or to bagging. While mulching will cut the grass into fine clippings and then give it back to your lawn, providing nutrients to it, the second will just fill up a rear bag, being easier for the rider to empty and replace it with new ones.

• There are many attachments on the market to choose from. You probably just need a riding lawnmower including normal features. In addition, you can usually attach other features, like the ones to remove snow during winter time.

Andrew Caxton is a successful freelance author who writes regularly for http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com. A lawn care website that features special articles on riding lawn mowers and lawn tractors.

Designing your own landscape, can be both exciting and challenging. If you are considering such a project, here are some practical ideas and suggestions.

Planning the Project

Planning your landscape design is the first and most important step. Take the time to gather the information you will need to make your decisions on the elements you wish to include in your landscape design. Will you want a deck, patio, foot paths, walkways, a pond? What type of plants, trees, flowers, and ground cover will you want to use? You should research books, articles, and landscape design magazines to help you make these decisions. This will pay off in the end by saving you money, time, and frustration, enabeling you end up with a beautifully finished project to be proud of.

The Design

The landscape design is your next step. You will need to make a layout of the area to be landscaped, as close to scale as possible, and with accurate measurements. Many landscape design planning guides that will give you step-by-step instructions are available on the internet for free, and books or eBooks are abundant. Once your landscape design layout is done you can began to place your elements on the layout pad. This should be your first or preliminary plan and as you progess, changes can be transfered to your secondary or updated plans. Changing your mind often is just fine. After all this is just on paper at this point and you have not spent any money or performed any labor yet. Experimenting with a few plans is necessary before you come up the final landscape design. A well planned landscape will never look the same in different seasons. Plan your landscape design to change with the seasons. You should attempt to design your landscape as maintenance free as possible.

Landscape Design Software

If it is hard for you to visualize your finished landscape design by just looking at your layout, there is some very good landscape design software available. Much of the landscape design software was originally developed for professional landscapers, but since has been modified for the beginner who wants to do-it-themselves. There are many do-it-yourslef landscape design software programs available today. Landscape design software lets you see a virtual picture of the landscape design and enables you to move items around and see the changes you make come to life. Some software allows you to import a photo of your home or building and designs the landscape around the photo. Most landscape design software programs offer advise on using and placing the many different elements available today in your landscape design. A well designed landscape will always change with time, abd some of the landscape design software available will allow you to view your landscape as it matures. You can see what it will look like 5 or 10 years from now when the trees have grown and the plants matured.

Gardens

Many people like to incorparate a garden in their landscape design. Gardens can be tucked away in the corner of an area, or be the focal point of the entire landscape design. Gardens can even be stragecly placed among the plants, flowers and trees so they blend in with the entire landscape design. If you like to garden, dont overlook all the garden design possiblities when planning your landscape design.

Ken Asselin is webmaster for the Article Selections Guide series of websites. His 40 plus years experience in retail marketing, bring a fresh outlook to website development and promotion. You can visit his Landscape Designs site at: http://www.landscape.selectionsguide.com

Most gardeners and landscapers will agree almost unanimously that the single best thing you can do for your lawn is to add compost. Good, organic compost can remedy almost any problem you have with your soil. If you soil is too acidic, adding compost will help neutralize it and bring it back to a proper pH level. If your soil is too alkaline, ditto! Adding compost will help balance the alkalinity in the soil. If you live in an area with a lot of heavy clay, adding compost will help loosen and aerate the soil. If you live in a coastal or southern area with a lot of sand, adding compost will help bind it together. Soil lacking nutrients? Add compost to add new life to overworked soil.

So how do you make compost? It’s easier than you can imagine and cheaper than anything else you will do. How cheap? How about free! All composting is, is the natural decomposition of organic matter. Walk through a dense forest and take a deep handful of soil from under your feet. Notice how black and rich it is. It didn’t get that way from fertilizers or manure. It got that way from all the decomposing organic matter. A forest takes care of itself by recycling. It recycles every leaf, branch, berry, and bush. It does this quite simply. All the organic and living matter in the forest decomposes into compost which feeds the existing plants (and some animals!).

In the forest, when leaves fall from the trees, they all gather on the forest floor. In storms, branches may fall, as well as entire trees. This creates layers of organic matter on the forest floor. Eventually it rains adding fuel to the mixture. The rain aids the microbes that begin to eat the organic matter, eventually turning it into the rich, thick carpet you see on the forest floor. This compost feeds the living trees and other plants providing nutrients that rival the best fertilizers.

You can emulate the forest by creating your own compost. Avoid store bought compost, especially those made from manure. There’s nothing natural about spreading rotted and decomposed cow feces on your lawn or garden. It’s actually pretty gross! Especially considering the number of chemicals and steroids that are given to cattle and cows in the United States. If you must purchase or acquire compost from somewhere else, call your local municipal office. Many municipalities have their own composting facilities and they give away the compost to their residents for free! In our township, for example, all the leaves that are gathered in the fall from the local streets, are mulched up and composted in a huge field. In a year or two, once the leaves have thoroughly composted, we are permitted to haul away as much compost as we like! The only catch is that we must load it ourselves, but this is a small price to pay for free, organic mulch.

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.

With the increased new trend in outdoor living, which has undoubtedly been by TV Gardening DIY programs, we are all spending more money on our garden and patio areas. Creating an inspirational outdoor living space is something we can all do with a wide range of hard and soft landscaping products, lighting, decorations and garden accessories available widely on the market.

Some of the latest innovations are in garden heating which allows us to spend more of our precious leisure time enjoying our garden or patio area, be it for entertaining family and guests or simply for relaxing.

Fire pits and fire baskets are now widely available and not only bring the real flame, cosy atmosphere to your garden or patio but also create a great amount of heat, light and ambience.

Traditionally fire baskets were sued as far back as the days of the Roman Empire as a form of heating for castles, manor houses and great stone buildings. Firepits are a more modernist refined and classy form of the original fire basket; however both have their own charms.

Fire baskets and fire pits are simply filled with wood logs which are lit. They give off quite a lot of light, but more importantly their heat output is very high. They give the user a similar feel and create an ambience similar to sitting around a camp fire. The actual flame and glow of the fire are enough to make the user feel warm and cosy. You make more use of your garden and patio areas at night by using fire pits and fire baskets to warm up the whole area.

Fire pits usually come with a steel mesh fire guard to stop sparks and embers from flying around, however the more traditional fire basket has gaps in between the steel which hold the logs. To counteract the fact that some embers will drop onto the floor below the fire basket, nearly all will come supplied with a ground tray to collect the ash and embers. The ash and embers in a fire pit simply collect within the bowl for easy disposal.

They are a really great way to add charm, elegance, ambience, light and heat to any garden or patio area and are easy to use and maintain. Fire baskets are usually powder coated so they won’t rust very easily. Fire pits come in either black powder coated bowls, solid copper bowls or stainless steel bowls, all of which sit on powder coated steel leg frames which are removable.

The heat output for fir pits does not reduce or alter with the different bowl finishes, however placing the safety mesh guard over the top (for obvious safety reasons) will slightly reduce heat output.

Some fire baskets are available with a steel barbecue mesh tray which sits on the top of the fire basket. This gives the fire basket a dual use for cooking as well as a formidable heat source.

When choosing a fire pit or fire basket always takes into consideration the size of your garden or patio area. It is important to remember that you will probably want access around the fir pit or fire basket, so choose the right sized item, bearing this in mind.

Care and maintenance of fire pits is very simply, although they can be left outside all year round it is highly recommended that the copper and stainless steel firepits are give a light coating of oil at the end of the summer season so that they retain their lustre. Covers are available and will have the obvious impact of lengthening the life of a fire pit. Powder coated fire baskets can be left outside in the garden or patio and won’t rust, however steel fire baskets should be given a light coat of oil. If rust does appear on a steel finished fire basket, then this can be removed by using a wire brush, and then a light oiling should be applied. Always ensure that if oiling these items, only a light thin coat is applies.

Fire pits and fire basket really are the cutting edge of outdoor living and life style this year. It is anticipated that they will be one of the biggest selling garden accessories and heat sources for this season, so if you want to enjoy your garden for longer when the sun goes down, they are a must for you.

Enjoy long nights throughout the year with your fire pit or fire basket – your life will take a new turn into outdoor living.

Jenny Edwards is the operations manager of Arboreta Home & Garden Store. She is responsible for the buying and importing of new products.

Part three in a series

In our last article, we helped you layout your new landscape. In this article we’ll explore which plants to put where and what makes an effective landscape.

If you think of your landscape as a stage, you can easily imagine the basics of layout. On a stage, you have a nice background or backdrop in the back. The backdrop is usually large and fills your entire view. In front of the backdrop, you have some smaller items that set the scene. These may be small pieces of furniture. And then in the very front you have your actors…your stars. They take the front and center to get the most attention. So, looking from back to front, you have your backdrop, your accent pieces, and finally your stars.

Laying out a good landscape uses the same principles: we start with a backdrop in the very back, then we add some accents, then finally, our stars!

The Backdrop

The backdrop can be any number of things but the basic principle is that the backdrop simply serves to show off the items in front of it, and can also be used to hide things behind it. A good backdrop could be something as simple as a wall or fence, or something as elaborate as a planting of evergreens. As long as the evergreens have one common element (perhaps they have the same color or same texture), they will serve as a good backdrop.

The Accents

Your accent pieces are plants that help to dress the set. These work well if planted in groupings of at least three. For example, a clump of bushes off to the left of your “set” and a clump or flowering plants on the right. Or perhaps some clumps of grasses would serve as a good accent.

The Stars

Now for the stars! Taking center stage are your accents. And they don’t have to be centered! As long as they are different from your backdrop and accents plants, they will become your stars. For example, an evergreen backdrop with some grasses used as an accent set up a nice monochromatic green image. Place some white flowering plants in front and they become the stars of your landscape. Because of their different color from the rest of your “set”, they will stand out.

You can create multiple “sets” in your landscape. Just break up your landscape into smaller mini-scapes. As long as each area is separated by backdrops and accents, you can easily achieve a beautiful look.

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.