Backyard gardens are like having an additional outdoor room at your house. They can be decorated in many different ways, just like the inside of your house. They are a great cure for cabin fever when the air starts to get warm after a long winter. It’s exciting to think about spending time outdoors during the coming summer and into the fall. Here are some suggestions for freshening up your own outdoor garden space.
1. Butterfly Garden: Rosemary Willis has designed this gorgeous garden just to attract butterflies. Featuring bright colors and sweet scents, this garden is irresistible to these fluttering insects, not to mention a joy to behold by humans as well. Rosemary’s butterfly garden is beautiful, aromatic, and full of life, giving the butterflies and their observers a wonderful place to visit.
The traditional English garden theme is that of half-wild and half-cultivated plants that are allowed to sprawl and ramble as they will. Joshua Rakham designed his first backyard gardens in the classic form with magnificent recumbent plants, short hedgerows to keep the plants where they belong, and pathways - and then added garden globes, plaster gnomes, and fairies for a touch of whimsy.
3. Cat Garden: Check out this amazing garden Sissy Nye-Robison has designed…for her cats! She’s used lots of kitty-friendly plants and architectural elements. Things like small trees and hardy wisteria plants for climbing, catnip and cat grass for nibbling, and features that attract birds and butterflies so your cat can stay entertained. One important thing to note is that Sissy emphasizes that you choose only plants that are non-poisonous for pets, so do your research and your kitty will enjoy gardens as much as you do.
4. The Monochromatic Garden: Designed by Pilar Sota, these remarkable black and white theme backyard gardens are as stunning at night as they are during the day. The sun sparkles on the whites, as patterns laced with dark, rich violets swirl in the light. By moonlight, the white plants seem to glow with an otherworldly quality.
A new and unique type of garden has been created by Janice LaRoux. You might consider one of her tea gardens for y our backyard patio. She has over 50 different varieties of tea making plants in her garden. This makes her garden very interesting and aromatic, as well as useful for brewing tea. She has decorated her garden with different types of teapots.
Our favorite backyard gardens include the butterfly garden designed by Rosemary Willis, with bright colors and heady aromas. Joshua Rakham chose an English garden with natural growth and formal hedgerows, and the whimsy of gnomes, fairies and globes. Sissy Nye-Robison’s pets love a cat garden full of catnip and other safe cat-friendly plants to attract butterflies and birds, and wisteria and plants suitable for climbing. Pilar Sota chose a striking black and white theme that is as beautiful in moonlight as it by day. Finally, Janice LaRoux set off her backyard patio with a tea garden using more than 50 different plants and tea pots to add to the theme.
- Lee Dobbins