There are many ways to add interest to a landscape, and adding varying textures and shades of foliage in your landscape is an important way to do so. Here are some tips to add interest to your gardening beds:
1. Landscapes work well when there is a mixture of evergreen and deciduous foliage. Evergreens typically work best as anchors in a landscape- they look great at the corners of a front of a home, or as a backdrop in which deciduous shrubs and perennials/ annuals scatter in front of.
2. Adding different colors of foliage adds a lot of visual appeal. As you see in the above photo, there is lime green foliage, blue foliage, variegated foliage, and deep green foliage in this garden. Think about the design before you begin- have a strong basis of greens and then add accent foliage here and there where you would like to add interest.
3. See also in the above picture, there are different sizes of foliage and different textures. Your eye reads texture as interesting, therefore adding plants that have varying shapes or different texture will instantly make your garden more interesting.
4. Plants look best when grouped together, unless you have an accent plant you are highlighting.
5. If you are working on several gardening beds in your backyard, for example, adding similar colors throughout or accenting with blue foliage (for example), in spots throughout your backyard gardening beds helps bring unity to the yard as a whole and will help your eye travel from one side of the garden to the other. It will all flow together well.
We are happy to help answer landscape questions at the garden center! If you have specific questions for your space, please bring in good photos on your phone, know the dimensions you are working with, and know the sunlight your area receives.