Spring gardening season is in full swing, and a local gardener is offering advice to help residents create outdoor spaces that are both beautiful and manageable.
Planning your outdoor space
Sunshine Greenhouse owner Dorinda Penner says thoughtful planning can make a big difference when designing a yard or garden.
She shares tips ranging from choosing plants for sunny or shaded areas to finding the right balance between annuals and perennials. She also notes that colour choices can influence the overall feel of an outdoor space.
“I’m a very monochromatic planter. If you have a patio, I’m going to say white highlights other colours. But white also on a moonlit night is the prettiest flower you can have on your patio. A dark purple just disappears in the greens.”
Penner explains that both annuals and perennials have important roles in gardens. Annuals provide vibrant colour for a single growing season, while perennials return year after year.
Still, she believes the best landscapes combine both types of plants.
“In the end, cost-wise, annuals cost you a little less than perennials, probably a quarter of the price, but perennials is an investment. You’ve got them coming back. A blend of the two, in my opinion, makes the prettiest outdoor yard.”
Low-maintenance landscaping ideas
For those hoping to reduce maintenance, Penner suggests ornamental grasses and native-inspired perennial gardens as practical options.
“You’re not pruning shrubs on the grass. You’re either going to cut them in fall or cut them in spring. And there’s so many different kinds, the prairie dropseed to the coral forester to the blue fescues. You can get texture in there with all those.”
She says grasses alone can create impressive structure and visual appeal in a yard.
“If someone’s got, say, a pool area and you don’t want flowers or leaves blowing around in your pool, the grasses can give you structure at various heights and colors and textures but nothing’s really blowing off them.”
Using colour and variety
Penner also encourages homeowners to use their favourite colours as inspiration while still creating variety throughout different areas of their property.
“I don’t want your front yard to look exactly like your backyard. Or if you have a house and then you’ve got a camper or a cabin, don’t make everything the same because you want to go to that other space. It would be like if your entire house was white.”
When designing a basket arrangement, Penner says she enjoys combining different varieties of plants to create texture and visual interest.
“I love mixing my geraniums with my petunias and foliage. But if I’ve got a hot, dry location that I only want to water once a week, I’d say I would go into the succulents and the trailing portulacas in that family that can give me that in the heat of summer.”
She says bold, vibrant colours are especially popular this season, with hot pinks, reds, and oranges standing out.
“We’re seeing these oranges petunias again, where they’re taking the genetics from other petunias and building those colors. So, beautiful oranges in petunias, but you can’t beat a pink calibrachoa, diascia, verbena to just give you that other texture and pop.”
Advice for beginner gardeners
For beginner gardeners, Penner recommends starting with a smaller project rather than taking on too much at once.
“I would always rather say start small because I want you to love gardening. I don’t want you to be overwhelmed and have this 40 by 40 vegetable garden and in a year you’re like, to heck with this, I’m taking up golfing.”
She adds that bringing photos and measurements into the greenhouse can help staff recommend plants that are best suited for each individual space.
With files from Carly Koop
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