This is the second installment in a five-week series of short articles designed to help you bring year-round color to your yard. Planning a landscape can be a daunting task–we hope that this series can help offer some suggestions for planning your yard. Check our blog weekly for the latest installment–and enjoy!  

Some great color in early summer!

Summer is a great time to be outdoors enjoying your yard. If you’d like to make the most of your outdoor experience, be sure to plant a few shrubs and perennials that will give you color to admire while you’re basking in the sun, enjoying dinner outside or simply mowing the lawn. Here are just a few plants I have in my small yard to add summer color:

Summer
  • Admiration Barberry (deep red foliage with gold edging to leaves)
  • Astilbe (blooms late spring/early summer with plumes of red, pink and white flowers)
  • Dianthus (a variety of carnations in various shades of pink, red and white around the yard)
  • Dwarf Asiatic Lilies (bloom late spring and early summer–different varieties can spread out the blooming season)
  • Heuchera (truly a four-season perennial; long summer days bring out the richness in shades of all different color tones in the foliage) 
  • Hostas (several varieties–leaves offer interest from late spring through early autumn but also bloom in summer)
  • Munstead Lavender (blooms in early- to mid-summer, but with light shearing after blooming, will re-bloom late summer)
  • Nikko Blue Hydrangea (the traditional blue mophead hydrangea; blooms mid- to late-summer)
  • Orange Rocket Barberry (summer warmth brings out rich orange color in leaves)
  • Pink Lemonade Blueberry (blooms in late spring give way to pink berries in summer)
  • Roses (color choices are endless!)
  • Variegated Willow (pink new growth in late spring continues through summer and matures to dappled green and white leaves)

Coming up next week, we’ll take a look at a couple of plants that offer great autumn color–and with all the rain we can get around here in autumn, a little bit of bright color may be just what you need for that time of year!