Planting Around the Patio

When deciding to plant around the patio, the type of patio you have is what sets the mood or tone of the landscape when using perennials. If you have a stone patio, it will be look and feel different than a wood deck patio. The type of material the patio is made from is the bones for the containers, flower beds, and borders which may or may not include pathways, trails, and walkways.

Using perennials around the patio gives you the opportunity to mix and match colors, or use one perennial with different colors or one color. Perennials are plants are hardy and will grow for many years. So, you don’t have to replant them each year. 

There is nothing wrong with growing plants for a couple of months, then replacing them with another plants. Perennials are easy to pot up for a couple of months, move to a permanent place and replace with another perennial.  It keeps a variety of colors and textures that are easily mix and matched with other plants.

Perennials are great for patios  since you can change them out with other flowering plants when the original stops blooming. Planting smaller sized blooming perennials in small pots in the ground can be swapped out with later season bloomers. Moving the spent blooming perennials to another location.  They can perk up a dull patio in the dead of winter or add a spicy look in the spring and summer.

Fragrant herbs to plant around sitting areas are oregano, rosemary, mints (in pots of course), lemon thyme, and lavender. Herbs add a gorgeous smell to a patio, plus, you can use them in the kitchen. Most perennials are great to decorate a pathway or border with such as creeping mint or lemon thyme.  They are also good for rock gardens.

There are many varieties of low and high growing perennials that can be used on a border that will bloom all summer long. When they are done blooming you can easily replace them with another perennial for fall and winter. That will bring you color and texture all year long. 

Visit Greenwood Nursery for a wide selection of plants for your porch or patio. 

Plants used in French Gardens

Adding a touch of France to your garden  with our best plants for fall color will bring life to your fall landscape. Take some ideas from French gardens and liven up your landscape with new plant colors, fragrance and texture to add a touch of France to your garden. The location of France is much like that of New England making it perfect for experiencing the colors of fall foliage. The most popular flowering shrubs, trees, along with some of their favorite smaller growing evergreen perennial plants,  are used in French gardens are listed here.

• Red Barberry
• Smoketree
• Tulip poplar
• Rosa rugosas
• Viburnums
• Petiolaris
• Wisteria vines
• Hydrangea bushes
• Narrow evergreens - such as juniper skyrocket and thuja north pole
• Boxwoods
• Salvia
• Veronica
• Ornamental grasses - new varieties in smaller sizes

Herbs are everywhere, planted in landscapes, huge pots in the courtyards, window boxes. Most days warm days, apartment windows are open. How wonderful it must be inside with slight breezes brushing over the thyme, rosemary and mint carrying the fragrances throughout the living spaces.

It is ironic that we travel to exotic destinations for new experiences and scenery, but, once there, we find certain familiarity which is probably what most of us enjoy most. Whether you are in Paris or Nashville, autumn is in full swing in the Northern Hemisphere.

Time to plant, time to enjoy!

Attracting Butterflies to Your Garden with Flowering Plants

What could be more enjoyable than sitting in your garden with lots of beautiful butterflies fluttering about? Gardeners are planting butterfly gardens, which not only have become a popular hobby, but, also, make for very beautiful gardens. While many gardeners plant amazing flower gardens with hopes of attracting butterflies, however, the butterflies don’t come because the wrong shrubs and perennial plants have been planted.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes butterflies will not come to a garden because of pesticide use. The first thing you should do in planning for your butterfly garden is to rid the area of unwanted pests without using chemicals.

There are a few other things you can do to ensure that butterflies will come to your garden. Choose an area in your garden that is sunny with about 5 to 6 hours of sunlight per day, as adult butterflies only feed in the sun. The area needs to, also, be sheltered from heavy winds. As much as butterfly need to eat, they also do not want to fight harsh winds while trying to feed.

Another important aspect to a good butterfly garden is water. Like humans, butterflies need water. A couple of shallow bird baths where you can keep clean water will not only allow butterflies a drink, it will give them a place to rest.

There are two types of plants that butterfly use, those that provide food for the offspring and those that provide nectar for the adults. In a quote from the National Wildlife Federation, "Attracting butterflies involves incorporating plants that serve the needs of all life stages of the butterfly.” They go on to say, "The insects need places to lay eggs, food plants for their larvae (caterpillars), places to form chrysalides and nectar sources for adults."

Most butterflies, including the Monarch butterfly, feed on buddleia, commonly called butterfly bushes, for nectar and milkweed to feed the caterpillars. Other ways to make the area more butterfly friendly are using flat stones or other large flat surfaces where butterflies can rest and spread their wings. Because butterflies are such delicate creatures, they will also need shelter and a little shade.

Plants that attract butterflies are buddleia or butterfly bushes, lavender, monarda or bee balm, veronica, salvia, rosemary, thyme, sage, roses, yarrow, lamb’s ear, hydrangea, weigela, rudbeckia, echinacea, Shasta daisy and yucca are excellent selections for a beginners butterfly garden.

Recap of How to Attract Butterflies to Your Garden:

• Limit pesticide use
• Place your garden in a sunny area protected from heavy winds
• Plant fragrant, summer flowering butterfly plants
• Use flat surfaces for the butterflies to rest
• Have a shallow water source

By adding some of these suggestions into your garden, you can attract butterflies all summer long.

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