Phenomenal French Lavender in Virginia

PLANT OF THE DAY – PHENOMENAL FRENCH LAVENDER

Lavender is such a wonderful specimen for a garden for so many reasons. Phenomenal French Lavender will not disappoint at any level. It has an elegant growing pattern and displays a sweetly fragrant mound of silver foliage combined with purple-blue flower spikes. Along with its ornamental attributes, it’s edible.

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Cool weather camellias

PLANT OF THE DAY – PINK-A-BOO CAMELLIA

Pink-A-Boo Camellia is the perfect plant for your cool-season garden. It belongs in a spot where it gets filtered sun, full or partial shade. It may handle the winter in a sunnier spot, but the hot, hot summer sun will not be this plant’s friend. A favorite with landscapers because it brings welcome color to a cool season garden, this camellia is a nice change from the winter red camellias.

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Virginia Beach landscapers

PLANT OF THE DAY – DWARF JAPANESE GARDEN JUNIPER

Described as “a dense mound of ground-hugging branches that radiate from the center” this plant has a bonsai style and tight foliage with a blue-green tint. If your style of garden is Asian/Zen, contemporary, or even slightly rustic, then this plant will feel right at home in one of your beds or even as a potted accent plant for your patio or zen rock garden.

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Container Gardening in Virgina Beach

Plants for Your Patio Planters

It wasn’t a difficult decision to add a new patio as a way to create more living space for your home. But now you’d like to bring more life to it. And this can be best accomplished with the addition of outdoor planters.  Now comes the fun part! Deciding what to plant. And deciding on the containers to put those plants.    One thing that will really add style to your patio is to select planters that are similar in style and color. Or to buy a specific design of planter and stick to that one style. The diversity will come from your plants. We love this collection from Pottery Barn. There are several different planters you can choose from that will match your style type. The plant selection needs more consideration when it comes to exposure to the elements. Is your patio space filled with shade? A few plants that might be perfect for you containers include coleus, fuschia, coral bells (heuchera), and impatiens. My absolute favorite shade plant for both color and foliage variety is coleus. Planted in a container along with some impatients and you will create a backyard show stopper. The color and size of the leaves have such a tremendous vaiety, and they are also extremely easy to care for. Is your patio in full sun? If you need plants to survive extreme heat and sun, there are numerous options when it comes to creating that perfect container full of lush colorful, plants. Among the choices are lantana, geraniums, zinnias, mint (it’s pretty, it smells great and it has multiple uses in food and drinks), palms (particularly Chinese fan palms) and the beauiful, crazy blooming Mandevilla. There are so many options when it comes to the plants that will decorate your patio, and you can go bold, basic, subdued with your planters and once you’ve decided on the planters, you can go try all of the different plants that are suited to the environement these planters will be placed. Choose planters and plants that compliment your existing hardscape and landscape choices.

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Hostas for shade in Norfolk

PLANT OF THE DAY – SHADOWLAND HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL HOSTA

If you’re looking to add a new hosta variety to your landscape this season, let this be THE one! With it’s heart-shaped, blue leaves with a crisp white margin, the color and shape are certainly inviting. But toss in some incredible ruffling on the leaves and you’ve got a bounty of added interest in this selcetion.

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Hellebore plants in Virginia Beach

PLANT OF THE DAY – GOLD COLLECTION® CINNAMON SNOW HELLEBORE

Don’t you deserve a little extra color during the coldest months of the year? Hellebore is your answer. Also known as Lenten Rose, these beautiful treasures will bring you a bit of happiness in your landscape. Whether peeking out of the snow or located in a large pot by your doorway, you can count on Hellebore to fill the flower void. Cinnamon Snow is a particularly beautiful variety with it’s pink buds that will open up into large, creamy white flowers with the shades of rose and cinnamon. The color of these plants is affected by both temperature and the age of the flower itself, which means you can get quite a range of hues.

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