A Seasonal Planting Guide For Year-Round Appeal
Plants are the foundation of any attractive outdoor space and can be used to maintain this interest all year round. Plants are living things, which means they are subject to change, which can be used to your advantage with seasonal planting.
The natural life cycles of plants, flowers, and trees can be used to create an engaging outdoor space that constantly provides something new. By planning your landscape design and taking the time to organise planting displays, you can ensure that your landscape remains beautiful all year round.
In this post, leading landscape gardeners Urban Landscapes are sharing the best seasonal planting tips for gardens across Surrey. We will help you create an attractive landscape throughout the seasons and ensure your outdoor space always looks its best.
Our Seasonal Planting Guide For Year-Round Beauty
Working with the organic rhythms of plants allows you to create an engaging landscape that changes with the seasons. Most plants do not appear the same at all times, and this can be used to your advantage with some careful planning based on the time of year you begin.
In this seasonal planting guide, we break down the best plants and placement options based on the time of year, so you can create a truly breathtaking landscape that thrives all year round.
Spring Planting Tips: Setting The Tone For The Year
Spring is one of the most important times of the year for seasonal planting because this is when your garden will come to life. Most plants thrive during the spring and begin to bloom as the weather gets warmer, which brings a lot of colour to your outdoor space.
To take advantage of this season and create a thriving landscape during the spring, focus your planting efforts on bulbs and flowers. Flowers will come to life during the spring, offering new growth and various pops of colour across the garden.
Used in planting displays, flower beds or even containers, bulbs will come to life during the spring. There are plenty of options for spring seasonal planting, including flowers and shrubs such as:
- Tulips: Available in a range of rich colours, tulips are a staple of seasonal planting displays and truly come to life during the spring.
- Daffodils: A classic sign of spring’s arrival, daffodils bloom early in the season to offer vibrancy to your landscape, windowsills or containers.
- Primroses: A simple but attractive little flower, primroses can be added to containers, borders and flower beds to provide seasonal appeal
- Flowering Cherry Trees: For alternative seasonal colour, consider cherry trees, which produce beautiful blossoms during the spring and summer months.
Summer Planting Ideas: Bold Colour And Pollinators
While spring sets the tone for your garden, summer is when it truly comes to life. Most plants enter their peak blooming phase during the summer, and you can expect to see a lot of colour and movement as the season progresses. Now is the best time to consider seasonal planting not just for colour, but for pollinators too, so your garden is a sustainable, lively environment.
To ensure you have a vibrant summer season, consider plants that are long-flowering. This will prolong the visual appeal of your landscape and keep the environment vibrant all summer long. Due to the high temperatures and dry conditions of summer, many seasonal planting ideas at this time of year focus on hardy and drought-resistant species.
These kinds of plants can thrive even in dry conditions and require less watering than traditional flower options, such as those planted during the spring. This makes it easier for you to care for your garden during the summer and frees up time in your maintenance routine.
To create an attractive summer garden, consider seasonal planting ideas such as:
- Lavender: A staple in many British gardens, lavender is a hardy perennial that can withstand dry temperatures, produces beautiful purple flowers, and is a favourite for pollinators such as bees and butterflies. The soothing aroma adds another layer of appeal to your summer garden, which will last throughout the seasons.
- Coneflower: Part of the daisy family, these flowers offer beautiful colour in summer gardens and continue to thrive as the season progresses. They are late bloomers that prolong the appeal of your garden, offering lasting colour and attracting pollinators.
- Roses: Another staple of British gardens, roses come in a range of colours to complement all kinds of outdoor spaces and bloom beautifully during the summer.
- Hydrangeas: These shrubs are incredibly easy to grow and produce stunning flowers during the summer in bold shades, complementing your borders, flower beds or containers.
Autumn Planting Tips: Rich Colour And Structure
Although things may start to slow down in the autumn, there are still plenty of seasonal planting tips to prolong the appeal of your garden. While many plants begin to enter their dormant season during the colder months and begin to lose their leaves in autumn, this does not mean your garden has to suffer.
Autumn is the perfect time to begin planning next year’s blooms, as well as prolong the visual appeal of your current space.
With careful planning and specific seasonal planting choices, you can ensure that your garden remains attractive as the weather grows colder. To complement the season, focus on rich hues and deep tones, with plants such as:
- Asters: Similar in appearance to daisies, these purple flowers provide late blooms and offer rich hues to complement the darker shades of the season. They are perennial flowers that will return to your garden year after year with the right care.
- Crabapple Trees: While these trees produce blossom flowers during the spring and summer, autumn brings the red fruit, which is a great way to add colour and interest to your late-season garden. It is a small tree that is easy to take care of and will remain a staple in your landscape for years to come.
- Cotoneaster: A great option to support remaining pollinators, the vibrant red berries of this shrub complement the changing hues of the landscape during the autumn. It flowers during the spring and summer, but the colour remains in the spring with the berries and simple green leaves.
- Stonecrop: The beautiful star-shaped flowers of this plant continue to bloom in late summer and early autumn, and the leaves change colour with the season. It is a hardy perennial which will return to your garden year after year for seasonal appeal.
Winter Planting Ideas: Evergreens And Texture
Most plants will enter their dormant season during the winter, but this does not mean your garden has to be barren in this season. Some seasonal planting ideas allow you to add colour and interest to even the greyest winter days.
During the winter, the focus is now going to be on maintaining the structure of your landscape to ensure cohesive garden design. This is why evergreen shrubs are staples of this season’s planting ideas, as they keep their leaves all year round. To ensure your garden continues to be attractive during this season, consider seasonal planting ideas such as:
- Holly: A traditional symbol of the festive season, holly is an evergreen shrub which keeps its rich, angular leaves all year round. The red berries appear in autumn and winter, adding some colour to the seasons and providing festive cheer to the landscape.
- Evergreen Ferns: Ferns are incredibly easy to grow and maintain, as they are evergreen. They can complement both traditional and contemporary garden designs with the unique texture of the leaves and lush green shades.
- Dogwood (Cornus): For a pop of colour during the winter, dogwood produces pink flowers and offers a unique shrub structure. This can be used as privacy screening in the garden, as well as complementing specific zones by continuing to provide structure.
- Hellebores: These are classic seasonal planting options for winter appeal, with the lush green leaves and shades of red and pink. This hardy plant continues to thrive during the cold and wet seasons, offering continuing structure to the garden.
Conclusion
Seasonal planting allows you to take advantage of the changing conditions and create a landscape that is always engaging. Working with the natural life cycles of plants and planning accordingly ensures your garden remains an attractive environment at all times of the year.
Another way to ensure your garden remains healthy and attractive all year round is to work with professional landscapers, such as Urban Landscapes. Our team offers landscaping, garden design, and construction all year round to help clients in Surrey create their dream garden, no matter the weather.
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To learn more about our services or to request a quote, please contact the team today.
FAQs
When is the best time to start planning seasonal planting?
Planning during the winter or spring gives you plenty of time to prepare for the whole year of seasonal planting, but you can begin making changes any time.
Do I need different plants for each season?
Not necessarily, as some plants can last multiple seasons or have features that last longer than the blooms, such as evergreen foliage or berries, to prolong interest.
Can I achieve year-round colour in a small garden?
Absolutely! The size of your garden does not have to hold you back, as you can use compact evergreen shrubs or multi-season flowers to enjoy year-round colour. Plant in containers for even more space-saving benefits.
