How to design a perennial border that looks great year-round

A perennial border is one of the most rewarding things a gardener can plant. Tackle the challenge and make your garden looks great in spring, summer and fall.
By considering the colour, height, and bloom time of each plant, you can arrange your perennials into garden design that will look its best all the time.

It's a good idea to limit your flower palette to just a few colours that look nice together. This will help you narrow down your choices and keep from getting overwhelmed when you start shopping for plant in a catalogue or at the nursery. Keep in mind the colour of any backdrop behind you garden, such as your house, a garden wall, or neighbour's fence: the flower colours you choose should offer a nice contrast to their background.

It's easy just to pick your two favourite colours and choose flowers in that range, or you can work with a classic colour palette. A pastel garden of pinks, blues and lavenders is the easiest colour combination for beginners, as practically nothing will clash with it. For a bolder look, you could choose fiery reds and golds. Yellow and purple also work well together and you can't go wrong with a patriotic red and white combo either.

Once you've chosen your colour palette, consider the heights of the plants you like. Tall plants should be planted at the back of the border, mid-sized plants in the middle, and low-growing plants or ground covers at the front. To stay organized, keep notes on a sheet of paper turned sideways to landscape orientation. Fill in each section with the names of the plants you are considering as you research their heights. You will need at least a few varieties of each size.

To make sure that your garden looks good for several months, you must choose flowers that bloom at different times of the year. Use a few highlighters to colour-code your plant list, marking plants that bloom in spring in pink, summer in yellow and fall in green.

When you step back and look at your list, each row of plant heights should have some of each highlighter colour in it. If it does, you can be certain that your border will flaunt flower colour across the three growing seasons and in all areas of your border. If you notice a high concentration of one colour, you may need to tweak your plant list for better balance.

You can take this list directly to the nursery, or you can use graph paper to plot out where you would like each plant to go. Soon you'll be ready to start digging and plant the garden of your dreams.