Easy Summer Flower Planter Ideas

Better Homes & Gardens

Planting up a flower bed can seem a bit daunting to begin with. Initially, it’s important to consider factors such as the size of your bed, how much sun it gets, the quality of your soil and what kind of planting and colour scheme will suit your house style and your own preferences.

Image: Hampton Court Flower Festival. Credit: RHS

Summer is the season all gardeners await. The bright sun and warm weather signal the start of the showiest time of year, and nowhere is this excitement more evident than with container gardening. Garden stores are overflowing with plants and pots in every color, size, style, and shape. Whether you lean toward tropicals or are smitten by succulents, summer is the season to show off your talents. To get you started, we’ve assembled a few designs by Riz Reyes of Seattle and Julie Chai of San Francisco (for Julie’s designs, see part 1 of this article). We invite you to tap into their creativity—and to expand upon their tips—to make this your best container season yet.

Summer is the season all gardeners await. The bright sun and warm weather signal the start of the showiest time of year, and nowhere is this excitement more evident than with container gardening. Garden stores are overflowing with plants and pots in every color, size, style, and shape. Whether you lean toward tropicals or are smitten by succulents, summer is the season to show off your talents. To get you started, we’ve assembled a few designs by Julie Chai of San Francisco and Riz Reyes of Seattle (for Riz’s designs, see part 2 of this article). We invite you to tap into their creativity—and to expand upon their tips—to make this your best container season yet.

You can easily grow this plant with seeds.

This year Chelsea Flower Show was full of interesting trees and shrubs with lots of dreamy woodland-edge planting in dappled light underneath leafy canopies. Native trees such as hawthorns, hazels and silver birch were the favoured choices in many of the show gardens, with a mixture of native and non-native ornamental plants selected for resilience and sustainability. In Ula Maria’s Forest Bathing Garden, white foxgloves, cow parsley and other umbellifers like Baltic parsley (Cenolophium denudatum) and valerian (Valeriana officinalis) were mixed with the simple shade-loving grass Melica altissima ‘Alba’ while Tom Stuart-Smith showcased intricate tapestries of interesting foliage in different shapes and textures. In other gardens, orange was a popular colour in many shades, from deep rusty orange irises to pale orange geums, especially in Ann Marie-Powell’s exuberant Octavia Hill Garden. As always, the Grand Pavilion is the ideal place to discover new and interesting plants showcased by some of the country’s leading nurseries.

Boxwoods can be fantastically formal hedges or the basis of whimsical topiaries on their own, but, if you know what to plant in front of boxwoods, they’re also the perfect backdrop for a dazzling mix of companion plants. You can pair boxwoods with a combination of smaller shrubs, perennial plants, herbs, and even flowering bulbs. This supplies winter interest, attracts pollinators, keeps deer away, and more. No matter what effect you’re after, the plants you choose should play nicely with your boxwoods and fit in with your growing conditions as well as the size of your landscaping area. Keep reading for lots of beautiful ideas of what to plant in front of boxwoods. Why boxwoods are so popular Hailed as “man’s oldest garden ornament,” boxwoods have served as the “bones” or foundational plantin

Wondering what you should be planting, harvesting, and keeping an eye on this growing season? Here’s your summer garden checklist to help you keep on top of garden maintenance.

Oliver Furth, a fourth-generation Los Angeles native, A-List interior designer, and AD100 winner, is best known for his irreverent ability to blend different styles and eras seamlessly. He is a firm believer that making a home for oneself is in itself an act of optimism and the most important ingredient when designing any space is joy. 

As we enter the summer season, Pinterest’s latest trends report shows evidence for three emerging home decor ideas. Nancy Meyers core, dopamine decor, and eclectic vintage were all called out, with more specific search terms mentioned for each category. The throughline? People want their spaces to have a more personalized, nostalgic, and homey vibe.

Ceiling fans can make a stuffy room feel pleasantly cool, but unlike air conditioners, they don’t actually lower the temperature of a room. Instead, fans generate a breeze, creating a wind-chill-like effect as the moving air helps you eliminate body heat. But if your ceiling fan only pushes around hot air, this phenomenon won’t be nearly as effective. To keep your home cool (and comfortably warm in the winter), learn how to change your ceiling fan direction for summer and winter.