Enhance the Landscape with Small Touches

Annuals

With all that spring lawn, tree, bush and perennial preparation completed, now is the time to go annual shopping. These long-lasting blooming plants will deliver months of colorful tones and textures to the garden and many are very low maintenance, another advantage to the novice or veteran gardener.

Flowers

For cool, shady areas, look for impatiens and hosta while most other annuals prefer hot, sunny locations with average soil moisture, such as marigolds. These sun-worshippers can be placed all over the yard, in containers/hanging pots and into the garden beds.

These plants may initially appear skimpy, but they will grow and spread throughout the summer, so keep that in mind when planting. Take a look at their tags and place smaller plants in the front and the large in the back, in the ground and for containers, the opposite, larger in the middle, the smaller varieties and climbers along the edge.

With this in mind, there will be unobstructed views of all the flowers and it will create an attractive border around the yard and beds.

Pruning

Yes, it is already time to start pruning those spring-flowering trees.

Dogwoods, azaleas, rhododendrons, forsythia and lilacs will cease flowering between now and the end of June, and it is crucial to prune these trees and bushes right after they finish flowering. Any later and trimming will result in cutting off next year's buds.

Starting now and through the end of June, these bushes will stop flowering. Pruning at the right time this year and the landscape will be rewarded with a healthy plant that produces vigorous blooms each and every year!

Composting Bins

With all the lawn clippings and vegetables, now is also a good time to start a composting bin. This process is nature's way of recycling its nutrients and over a little bit of time, this technique work its magic. This compost is better than any chemical treatment and will enrich the soil organically.

The art of gardening has many short term and long term rewards and there are so many components to the activity, there is virtually something for everyone. If there is not enough time in a weekend to produce the showcase landscape in the neighborhood, simply choose on a few and the personal gratification will be just as gratifying.