Paintbox Garden

Home Improvement Professionals , Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers
15 Reviews
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Paintbox Garden
15 Reviews

Great Design Plants

I'm primarily interested in structure and color, so here are a variety of images showing foliage, flowers, fruit, bark, and other interesting forms that make a plant noteworthy for landscape use. Plants that offer year-round interest are of particular interest, as are habitat-friendly species and edible plants.
Country: United States
Strawberries with the first dusting of frost in the vegetable garden border.
Strawberry
My favorite coral bell for late season flowers and foliage - Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride', USDA zones 3-8.
Coral Bell 'Autumn Bride'
Sedum 'Autumn Joy' is shown here with fountain grass - one of my favorite combinations.
Showy Stonecrop
This is Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima' in my mixed border, shown with a backdrop of Eastern White Cedar.
Chokeberry
Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur', USDA zone 5-9 with its fall color and fruits.
Smooth Witherod
Rhus typhina 'Tiger Eyes', USDA zone 4-8.
Staghorn Sumac
Winterberry shrubs photographed in late fall before the leaves have dropped.
Winterberry
Commonly called witch alder, Fothergilla x gardenia 'Mt. Airy' is spectacular in late season with orange, yellow, and carmine hues.
Fothergilla
Curly kale holds its form in the vegetable garden.
Kale
Two of my favorite hardy greens for late season harvests - kale and Swiss chard.
Kale with Swiss chard
Lamb's ear holds its form under a light frost. This is Stachys byzantina 'Helen Von Stein', USDA zone 4-9.
Lamb's Ear
A gorgeous head lettuce in the vegetable garden.
Lettuce
One of the earliest perennials to leaf out - Alchemilla mollis, USDA zone 3-7
Lady's Mantle
This is Anenome 'September Charm' photographed with a Nikon D-80.
Japanese Anenome
A lovely textural combination - coral bells with carex, photographed at the High Line, New York City.
Coral Bells
Gorgeous rows of edibles on display at the Chelsea Flower Show, London.
Ornamental Edibles
Cabbages, kale, and other leafy greens in a formal parterre at the Montreal Botanic Garden.
Ornamental Blues
A pair of modern chairs offset cool blue lilies at the Chelsea Flower Show, London.
Yellow Chairs
This is the chartreuse elderberry 'Sutherland Gold' which is a knock-out foliage shrub with great texture.
Elderberry 'Sutherland Gold'
Photographed at Savill Gardens, UK - one of the showy varieties of spurge gives visual punch to a mixed border.
Euphorbium
Japanese forest grass (Hakone spp.) takes center stage in a tapestry of shade tolerant perennials.
Japanese Forest Grass
The best solution for jazzing up shady sites is to mix a variety of chartreuse variegated hosta together!
Hosta
Chartreuse 'All Gold' photographed in Washington, D.C.
Japanese Forest Grass
A finely textured low shrub that contrasts well with stone - Sorbaria sorbifolia 'Sem', USDA zones 3-7.
False Spirea
One of the most versatile and easy to grow perennials, Lady's Mantle puts forth sprays of delicate chartreuse blooms.
Lady's Mantle
One of the very best display gardens at the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show, designed by Thomas Hoblyn.
Chelsea 2009
Every now and then a garden needs a little surprise, like this container planted with Carex 'Bowles Golden'.
Whimsical Planter
This is Cornus sericea 'Baileyi' also called red twig dogwood, a multi-stemmed shrub that makes a good screen in a naturalistic hedge.
Redosier Dogwood
The classic purple shrub, Physocarpus opulifolius 'Diablo' is a native cultivar that looks good every season of the year.
Eastern Ninebark
One of my favorite forms of winterberry, this is Ilex 'Winter Gold' which has orange berries that birds love.
Winterberry
A great tree for winter interest, Crataegus viridis 'Winter King' looks lovely in the snow.
Green Hawthorne
This asymmetrical birdhouse is made of repurposed barn wood. I put it in my front yard where it can be seen from the house as it makes a good focal point.
Winter Birdhouse
A light snow dusts the leaves of Carpinus caroliniana, a native understory tree that's also called muscle wood for its contoured trunk.
American Hornbeam
Elegant boxwood makes a great shrub for containers of all sizes as it can be trimmed to hold its shape (use frost-free pots for outdoor use).
Boxwood Planters
The seed heads of Sedum 'Autumn Joy' are a standout in the winter garden.
Winter Sedum
Cold frames protect tender plants from frosts and allow for early propagation.
Cold Frame
Cold frames protect tender plants from frosts and allow for early propagation.
Plant Starts
Another cold frame with baby plants getting hardened off before spring planting.
Plant Starts
An antique cloche is like a miniature greenhouse that protects young plants from early frosts.
Cloche
Young lettuces that are ready for cutting in the early spring garden.
Mesclun Mix
I like to harvest Swiss Chard when very young and sautee it quickly with garlic and shallots.
Baby Chard
Lettuce
A magnificent Cedar of Lebanon outside the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
National Cathedral
Maple trees forming an alee along a dirt road in Vermont.
Maple Trees
Wild Meadow
Multi-trunked serviceberry give great architecture to a landscape and have edible fruit.
Serviceberry
Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is a U.S. native with outstanding foliage.
Oakleaf Hydrangea
A colorful annual display using an antique box.
Geraniums
Mosaic art mural photographed in Key West.
Garden Mosaic
A living wall on display at the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show, London.
Red Door
The perfect blue - grape hyacinth.
Grape Hyacinth
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Tulips and forget-me-nots photographed in spring at the New York Botanical Garden.
Spring Blues
Japanese Forest grass combines beautifully with heart leaf brunnera and lamium in a shade border.
Green Medley
A frog adds a fun accent to a pond border.
Frog
Love these colors!
Astrantia
Commonly called dog toothed daisy or sneezeweed (though it doesn't make you sneeze), and sometimes called Helen's flower, this is Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer'.
Helenium
A beautiful combination of shrubs - Sambucus 'Black Lace' and Hydrangea 'Annabelle'.
Purple Elderberry
Why not?
Rainbow Chairs
Red chair with container plants makes an inviting place to sit.
Red Chair