After a recent visit from a friend and neighbor, she commented on how much work my garden must be. Oh, if she only knew how truly lazy I am when it comes to weeding and tending my little bit of green space!
In the early days, I went the annuals route – beautiful, but way too much work and too much money to keep up year after year. I’ve really learned as the years have gone by. I’ve expanded my beds and tried to keep a variety of perennials so I can simply enjoy what comes up every year.
Without really knowing what I was doing at the time, I also planted 4 (now large) pine trees. They provide a great source of shade for the house and yard, and they give us year-round privacy. Love that!
With the perennials, I’ve planted shrubs that have added depth and structure to my small garden spaces.
What kinds of foundation shrubs do you have?
I love my Shrub Rose. It softens the hard edges of our fence and requires little maintenance and only a bit of pruning -
I planted 2 Dogwood shrubs which provide privacy between yards and the berries are a natural source of food for the birds. I also planted a childhood favorite, Peony. All this hardy shrub needs to survive for years is dappled sun and well-drained soil -
I’m getting better at choosing bulbs that provide me with blooms throughout the season. At first, I had mostly spring-blooming bulbs. Frankly, I didn’t know there were bulbs for later blooms. 
Putting bulbs in your perennial garden gives you early blooms before any other perennials, plus the foliage of surrounding perennials conceals the bulb’s fading foliage as summer marches on.
My recent late-summer blooming bulb additions include Liatris and Gladiolus -
Which late-blooming bulbs are your favorite?
Add beauty to your yard with a variety of bulbs. And give your garden “bones” with shrubs — which you can find on clearance now through the end of June at most garden centers.
