Use Evergreens to Make an Impact

Add evergreens to your yard to create a year-round show. Get ideas for how to landscape with these plants.

• Use Them in Beds and Borders

  There are hundreds of varieties of evergreens. While many grow into massive specimens, dwarf selections -- such as this bird's nest spruce -- are perfect for planting in beds and borders. Try them between brightly colored plants to give your eyes a visual break.
• Hide Your Home's Foundation

  Because they keep their foliage all winter, low-growing evergreens are perfect for planting around your foundation to hide it all year.

  Test Garden Tip: Make a bold statement by selecting varieties that offer different shapes and colors, but stay compact so they don't outgrow their space. 'Blue Shag' white pine, 'Montgomery' blue spruce, and 'Silver Whispers' Swiss stone pine are smaller selections that combine beautifully with 'Profusion White' zinnia, for example.
• Create Privacy

  One of the most common ways to use evergreens is as a screen in the landscape. Tall, columnar varieties of arborvitae, yew, and juniper are great for small spaces. If you have room, be sure to include broadleaf evergreens, such as rhododendrons, as well.
• Make a Living Arbor

  Some evergreens (such as junipers and yews) have a tight growth habit that makes them perfect for shearing into fun shapes. Try growing two a few feet apart and wire them together to create a unique arbor.
• Enjoy a Soothing Backdrop

  Give your beds and borders a beautiful background with evergreens. Choose tall varieties that have dark green foliage to accentuate bright colors. Or select cultivars with colorful foliage (such as the blue spruce shown here) to add interest to your plantings.

  Test Garden Tip: Pay attention to plant shapes. Tall, upright evergreens (such as narrow 'Iseli Fastigiate' blue spruce and 'Medora' juniper) create wonderful contrasts with mounded perennials and grasses, for example.
• Add a Garden Room

  Plant four modest-size upright evergreens -- such as dwarf Alberta spruce -- in a square to create a gardenroom. Even if you don't enclose the area with shrubs or other plants as walls, it will feel more intimate and inviting.
• Cover the Ground

  Enjoy a beautiful carpet by letting spreading evergreens become a groundcover. A creeping blue spruce, junipers, or spreading pine is perfect for filling a space with year-round color and interest.
• Introduce Your Personality

  Boxwood, yew, and juniper take well to tight pruning. Take advantage of this and clip them into fun shapes to add a bit of whimsy to your yard. A low boxwood hedge becomes fun with a mounded corner. Or try spirals (as this variegated boxwood has been pruned) and other shapes.
• Make a Grand Entrance

  Plant artistically sheared evergreens (such as the junipers shown here) on both sides of your gate or along a path to give an entry a bolder, more formal feeling. They'll take yearly pruning to keep their swirly shape, but the effect is worth the effort.
• Accentuate Fall Color

  One sure way to highlight the fall colors in your yard is to pair them with evergreens. They can look smashing against bold reds and oranges. And bright yellows practically sing next to a dark green background.
• Unify Your Yard

  Make garden design easy by choosing a theme and repeating it. For example, this garden makes use of circles -- a rounded boxwood echoes stone spheres along a path and the shape of an arbor farther along. You can do the same thing with just about any shape or color.
• Fill Your Containers with Drama

  Big, bold evergreens can be perfect container garden plants if you have a large container. This Austrian pine, for example, adds a dash of color (and privacy) to a rooftop garden -- but you can get the same effect on a deck, patio, balcony, or even along a wide driveway.
• Just Add Flowers

  Embrace flowering evergreens to add landscape drama. Rhododendrons, mountain laurels, and pieris add color in Northern areas.
• Reduce Your Energy Bills

  Keep cold winter winds from pulling all the heat from your home with a windbreak. Plant evergreen trees on the north or east side of your home and watch your savings grow.
• Go Bold

  Choose a particularly stunning evergreen (such as Rainbow's End Golden Alberta Spruce) and treat it as a specimen plant in your landscape. Selections such as these are so eye-catching they don't need neighbors.
• Create Curb Appeal

  Your front yard will shine all year long if you fill it with a collection of evergreens. Choose varieties with different forms, colors, and textures and you'll put on a show without a single bloom.
• Stop Mowing that Slope

  Save yourself hours of effort every week by planting a collection of evergreens (such as this mass of 'Blue Rug' juniper) on a hard-to-mow slope. They'll keep it looking good all year long, stop erosion, and smother most weeds so you can just sit back and enjoy the view.

Source: http://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/trees/use-evergreens-to-make-an-impact/

Time to Divide Your Peonies!

Now is a good time to divide peonies. 

If you have been moving things around in your garden and have some peonies, you might wonder if you find the little tubers left behind, can you plant them and expect them to grow. The answer is yes, but there is an appropriate way of propagating peony plants that you should follow if you expect to be successful.

How to Propagate Peonies

If you have been considering propagating peony plants, you should know there are some important steps to follow. The only way to multiply peony plants is to divide peonies. This might sound complicated, but it’s not.

First, you need to use a sharp spade and dig around the peony plant. Be very careful not to damage the roots. You want to be sure to dig up as much of the root as possible.

Once you have the roots out of the ground, rinse them vigorously with the hose so they are clean and you can actually see what you have. What you are looking for are the crown buds. These will actually be the part that comes through the ground after planting and forms a new peony plant when you divide peonies.

After rinsing, you should leave the roots in the shade so they soften up a bit. They will be easier to cut. When you are propagating peony plants, you should use a strong knife and cut the roots all the way back to only about six inches from the crown. Again, this is because the crown grows into the peony and dividing peony plants requires a crown on each piece you plant.
You will want to make sure each piece has at least one crown bud. Three visible crown buds is best. However, at least one will do. You will continue to divide peonies until you have as many peonies as you can get from the roots you originally dug up.

Plant the pieces in a location suitable for growing peonies. Make sure the buds on the pieces are not more than 2 inches under the soil or they may have trouble growing. If the temperatures are fairly even, you can actually store your pieces in peat moss until you are ready to plant them on a warmer day. Don’t store them too long or they may dry out and won’t grow. 

So now you know that propagating peony plants isn’t too terribly difficult, and so long as you have one good peony plant to dig up, you can be dividing peony plants and create many in no time.

Source: http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/peony/dividing-peony-plants.htm

9 Easy Summer Flowers

These garden beauties thrive in summer heat and bloom nearly nonstop into fall.

Aster

These daisy-like flowers are available in lavender, pink, or white. Three varieties we like: A. cordifolius 'Cape Cod' (Sunset climate zones 1-10, 14-21), A. c. 'Little Carlow' (zones 1-10, 14-21), and A. novi-belgii 'Melody' (zones 1-24).

Coreopsis (C. grandiflora)

Fluffy, golden yellow blooms atop tall stems. 'Sunray' is a dense, compact selection with double and semidouble flowers. Zones 2-24, H1, H2.

Dahlia
Bold blooms in a range of vibrant colors grow from tuberous roots. We planted pink and coral decorative dahlias and a red-and-yellow, cactus-flowered variety. Provide light shade in hot areas. Zones 1-24.

Gloriosa Daisy
DaisyDeep golden petals radiate from chocolate centers on 2- to 4-inch-wide flowers. Plants reach 3 to 4 feet tall and 1 ½ feet wide. Shorter varieties such as ‘Goldilocks’ and ‘Toto’ top out at 10 inches tall.

Guara (G. linheimeri)
White flowers cluster like butterflies atop tall spikes on these airy 2½- to 4-foot-tall plants. Selected forms include 'Siskiyou Pink' (to 2 feet tall), with rose-pink flowers and 'Whirling Butterflies' (to 3 feet tall), with white flowers.

"Moonshine" Yarrow
One of the most carefree and generous bloomers, yarrow has tight clusters of deep yellow flowers on 2-foot tall plants. Pair it with blue flowered catmint.

Penstemon (P. gloxinioides)
These bushy plants are fairly short lived, but to make up for it, they produce lots of trumpet-shaped blooms over a long period. Deep purple ‘Midnight’ and scarlet ‘Firebird’ are standouts for their vivid, south-of-the-border colors. Pink and white ‘Appleblossom’ looks fresh and springlike.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Daisy flowers of rosy purple with knobby orange-brown centers, which resemble small beehives, atop clumps of bristly oblong leaves. Grows to 4 feet tall. Zones A2, A3, 1-24.

Purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum'Rubrum')
Feathery, rose-colored plumes fade to beige atop clumps of reddish brown foliage. Grown as an annual in cold climates, it is especially pretty beside gloriosa daisies or purple coneflower. Zones 8-24.

Source: http://www.sunset.com/garden/flowers-plants/easy-summer-flowers-perennials