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 .

Large statement pots filled with ornamental flower design.

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 .

Close up of a dwarf pine surrounded by stones.

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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Vegetable garden surrounded by deer fencing in northern Minneapolis suburb.

In this deer-heavy area north of the Twin Cities, a fence is necessary around the vegetable garden.

Boulevard garden filled with pollinator plants, including monarda and phlox.

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.