Designing for Peak Summer Bloom

While most people tend to divide the gardening year into four seasons, I like to divide it into three time periods: planning, working, and enjoying. Winter is for planning. It’s when you really don’t want to be outside and when your time is better spent formulating the plan of attack to make your garden the best it can be. Spring is the working time period, when the bulk of your cleanup, planting, and projects get done. Fall is also a working period and is generally when you can revisit the things you didn’t get done in spring.

But in between those two times of intense work is the enjoyment phase. Arguably, this is the most important.

• 
  Design

  Four Ideas for Screening a Yard

  Here’s how one garden designer balanced privacy with neighborliness

• 
  Design

  Building Better Borders

  Use plant combinations that focus on complementary colors, textures, and forms

• 
  Design

  Peak-Season Combos

• 
  Design

  25 Robust Summer Bloomers

  For a border that pleases all summer long, rely on a mix of colorful perennials and shrubs that can practically take care of themselves

• 
  Design

  Containers With Serious Contrast Always Stand Out