It ’s spring break time of year . possibly you ’re on your way to a tropic location , or you have a trip planned by and by this year to a unequalled fleck totally different than your home environment .
While it might seem these excursions are not great chance to gather idea for your Midwestern garden , they can really inspire many new garden additions and improvements .
See a plant you love that ca n’t outlast your grow zone ? Maybe you could plant it as an yearly or in a deal indoors . bonk the design of a tropical garden display , but the works are all wrong for your garden ? Maybe you’re able to incorporate the basic structures , using cold - fearless or native plants .
For example , during a trip to New Orleans several geezerhood ago , I noticedLantanabloomingeverywhere . While it ’s a plant I was cognizant of before the head trip , I ’d never planted them in my own garden . Lantanaare non - aboriginal , colorful bloomers , often consider invasive in warmer parts of the U.S. But they ’re great annuals for those of us in temperate regions . They ’re adorable in potted arrangement and as margin works . I ’ve plant them every year since my sojourn to New Orleans .
While chit-chat public parks in San Diego , I detect many eye - catching border planting . Some of the plants were unfitting and not become to my garden , while others were plant life that are hardy in my area . Plus , the designs of these perimeter plantings could be incorporated in just about any garden .
In Charleston , SC , I reap many ideas for combining plants in pots . The city is known for and abounding with potted arranging andwindow boxes — some of the most originative I ’ve ever seen . Most of these plant are fantabulous for potted musical arrangement in any clime during the warmer time of year .
During a trip to Toronto , which has a mood similar to the Upper Midwest , I noticedAlliumgrowing and blooming in the tint !
My garden is mostly shady , so it opened my eye to the possibleness . Turns out , both in the Toronto gardens with theAlliumand my own garden , the shade is supplied by deciduous trees that get new emergence and leave-taking in late spring . TheAlliumhave batch of fourth dimension to organise fresh growth and buds before the trees leaf out . Since that trip , I ’ve planted many coinage ofAlliumin my shady garden with smashing achiever .
These are just a few case of approximation gleaned from travels that can be incorporate in a Midwestern garden . All it occupy is observational skill , creative thinking , and sometimes slender adjustment to put on them back to your own garden . Happy travels and glad gardening !
Beth Stetenfeld is an constitutive gardener , native - plant enthusiast and garden blogger and author . She ’s also a master naturalist Tennessean and teacher .
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