Seasonal Accent Planting Ideas We Love

Accentuate Your Landscaping With These Standout Plantings

The first steps in any landscape design involve establishing foundation plantings to allow your home to blend seamlessly with the surrounding landscape. Then come the transitional plantings to bring your landscaping forward and provide a welcoming facade. If your landscaping is well-established, you may be wondering what comes next.

In most cases, the answer is accent plantings. Once you have a lush and beautiful foundation, use accent plants to create a focal point in your landscaping. There are many reasons you may want to create a focal point, and just as many strategies for using accent plants to achieve it.

We like these accent planting ideas for landscapes at any level of maturity:

• Accent with color. Accent plants should contrast with surrounding plants to draw attention. Consider planting small bursts of color along a border, or in clusters within a larger area of greenery to provide interest.
• Accent with shape or texture. Another form of contrast is the shape of your plantings, or their texture; you can add contrast by planting naturally interesting shapes or pruning foliage into shapes designed to draw attention. Planting a more prominent cluster of bushes among lower-lying foliage can provide a focal point for a larger expanse of garden area. Or, use taller accents to draw the eye through the landscaped area.
• Accent seasonally. Choose accent plants that will bloom at a different time of year than your background plants to provide interest against the background foliage. Or, choose plants that leaf early in the year or retain foliage later in the year to continue to provide interest after other plants have receded.
• Use accent plants to focus on architectural features. You can use color, height, interesting textures, or some combination of the three to draw focus to an entryway, stairway, or water feature. Accent plants used for architectural features should contrast with surrounding plants as well as the color and texture of the feature itself.
• Use potted accent plants. A great way to accentuate areas not normally conducive to plant growth, such as a set of stone steps or a home entrance on a patio or deck, is to place potted accent plantings on either side. You can also place potted plants with seasonal blooms along walkways, clustered near benches or water features, or to provide height to a dramatic front entrance.

No matter which features you wish to draw attention to, choose accent plants that provide visual interest by contrasting with your existing landscaping. Staggering clusters of seasonally appropriate plantings can continue to accentuate your landscaping year-round.

Questions regarding varieties that contrast best with your existing landscape? Contact us today.

DiSabatino Landscaping is Delaware’s #1 Hardscape and Landscape Specialist. We can help advise you what is best way to maintain your landscaping!  Give us a call today! 302-764-0408