I make love go ongarden tours , both to look up to beautiful spaces and to get ideas for my own gardens . And , I always plunk up a few garden tips while admiring the handiwork of other gardeners . Here are five garden tips from this twelvemonth ’s tours that you might want to try in your gardens next year .
foot a statement mess . Containers always look mythic when a base is on tour , but it ’s not just the plants . majuscule gardeners run to choose statement toilet to put near the front of their base . The containers may be colorful or have a unequaled design or interesting shape or a stem that goes with the rest of the garden . With a great container , you may choose more simple plants and it will still look mellisonant . financial statement containers can be pricy , but you may often find tidy sum at consignment shops , on-line giveaway site or during end of the season sales at nursery and garden centers . Unlike the annual plants you put in them , containers will last for years and are a good investment in your garden .
Add sound with a outpouring . garden are sensational spaces and adding plants and characteristic that cheer masses to touch , smack or listen to the garden makes the experience of it more meaningful . fountain can be as simple-minded as“the cosmos ’s easiest water feature”or something much more complex . Garden centers and on-line retailers have tons of choice or buy the outflow and pump and create your own .

This garden had several farm animal ornaments around it. The statement pots fit in with the theme.
Plant shrubs for texture . One of the garden crown I picked up from a tiny jewel of a garden in Minneapolis this year was that you do n’t postulate a pot of color to create interest if you have grain galore . This garden was fill with evergreen shrub of all size , shape and needle types . The shrubs — and a stellar water feature film — created a soothing atmosphere that made you forget you were in the midsection of the city .
Fences make great neighbors . . . with deer . This is another investiture , but if you populate near deer ( and who does n’t ? ) it ’s worth it . On a large attribute in one tour , the householder had chosen a sunny spot and argue the entire affair in , then added resurrect beds . The vegetable garden was profuse and ringed with oswego tea and other florescence perennials . It looked expectant and there was n’t a sign of deer impairment .
Take it to the street . If your space is tight , do n’t hesitate to plant your avenue . We have deal of good advice onboulevard gardensand as long as you are n’t interfering with car sight lines or the base hit of Walker and rockers , go to town . I especially liked this suburban garden that was a pollinator oasis from curb to curb . Looking for more garden tips from hitch ? see to it out our previous postshere , hereandhere .

A dwarf pine contrasts with rocks, smoke bush and other textural plants to create interest in this urban oasis.
Mary Lahr Schieris a long - sentence Minnesota garden writer and author ofThe Northern Gardener : From Apples to Zinnias .
photograph credit : Mary Lahr Schier .
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In this deer-heavy area north of the Twin Cities, a fence is necessary around the vegetable garden.

As long as you keep car and pedestrian safety in mind, planting the boulevard is a great way to extend your garden and plant for pollinators.