Add Color and Seasonal Beauty to Shrub Beds and Berms

Mix things up and add a bit of sparkle to your landscape this season.

A large garden bed or berm filled with shrubs and mulch can get a bit boring. Brighten up these plantings with flowering bulbs and perennials.

Add a bit of spring surprise with early bloomers. A mix of small scale bulbs like grape hyacinths, crocus and squills creates a colorful tapestry at the base of shrubs. Add some taller bulbs like daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips for a colorful accent.

Mix in some perennials for seasonal interest. The emerging perennials help mask the declining bulb foliage and a mix of spring, summer, and fall bloomers add color throughout the season.

And don’t forget about the groundcovers. A carpet of deadnettle (Lamium), barrenwort (Epimedium), bugleweed (Ajuga) and hosta may be all that you need to transform bland to pleasing. Mix in some spring and fall blooming bulbs for added color in the groundcover. The additional bloom time adds a colorful unexpected surprise.

A bit more information: Surprise and spider lilies (Lycoris) as well as autumn crocus (Colchicum) are fun bulbs to include. These plants send up leaves in the spring for several months. The leaves dieback and the plant remains out of sight until late summer or fall when the leafless flowers appear.