Border Garden

A border garden is a garden that is generally planted in a small, defined space, such as along the side of a house, between a driveway and a walkway, or in a small area in front of a picture window. This type of garden is usually distinguished by some unique characteristic...or shall I say, "challenge"...in your backyard landscaping design depending on how you look at it.

The area may be surrounded by concrete, next to a driveway, in a particularly sunny or shady location, or in front of a low-window. Depending on the characteristics of the location, you will need to be selective about the type of landscaping plants that you establish.

A border garden might also be installed to "define" a border on your property, such as between you and a neighbor. A well-planned garden can add a great deal of curb appeal to your home.

Take a look at the border garden that my friends Robin and Norb have established along their property line.

They did a wonderful job of enhancing the beauty of this flowering crab apple tree, by adding a couple of accent plants, like the bleeding heart, and the flowering rose almond bush on the right side. I know when I'm landscaping my own yard, I have a tendency to put too much in too small a space. This photo shows the importance of letting each of your landscaping plants stand out!

The backyard landscape and design created for Jeff and Amy, shows that they have a very small area next to the driveway, which is no more than 2 feet wide and 6 feet long. When they moved into their home, they had lavender planted in the area. While lavender is generally a well-loved fragrant perennial, it was a bit too intense for them next to the driveway, mostly because it grew tall enough to lap over onto the driveway, which then caused it to get run over repeatedly. Getting run over repeatedly led to an intensely lavender smell which made it not-so-desirable.

Jeff and Amy’s border garden is also in a full sun location, which means that a plant such as the hosta, might not be a good fit. While hosta can tolerate some sun, it probably can’t tolerate the full sun it would get in that area. Also, because of it’s location, the plant selected needed to be a very low grower, and due to Jeff and Amy’s requirement for low maintenance, it needed to be easy on them.

For this backyard landscape and design, I ended up selecting the Stella D’oro Daylily because of it’s preference for full sun, it’s ability to tolerate a wide variety of soil conditions, it’s characteristic as an ongoing bloomer from summer through fall, and it’s low height – about 12-18 inches. Due to the fact that this is a very small area, I only planted one variety of plant, however if you are working with a larger area, a colorful display can be very attractive.

My parents have a border garden along the side of their house, and another in the front of the house directly in front of their picture window. The area on the side of the house is in a predominantly shady location, and is only about 1 ½ feet in width and 8 feet in length.

They chose to plant Snow on the Mountain in this location, which was a very good choice because it thrives in the shade, and is a beautiful spreading plant that can be quite invasive. Because it is surrounded by the house and the concrete walkway, this limits the invasive quality of this perennial, and focuses on the beauty of the plant. If there are any perennials that you’re particularly fond of, but have such an invasive quality, a border garden is a good location. Unfortunately, Snow of the Mountain does grow stalks of about 3 feet high, and these stalks have a tendency to lop over on the walkway. My parents simply trim those off, and enjoy the low growing mound left on the bottom.

The area in front of their picture window cannot have plants much larger than 2 feet, or they end of detracting from the inside view. The area is approximately 4 feet wide by 10 feet long, and my parents have decided to focus on their spring bulb plants, such as tulips and daffodils.

As I continue to develop this website, I will put some sample plans of border gardens for your use. You will also find designs available at online plant resources, who provide you with the border garden design, and allow you to purchase the exact plants in one easy package. One such package can be found at: Spring Hill Nursery (opens new window). Not only do these border garden plans provide you with step by step instructions for planting, but the nurseries have taken their time to ensure continual color throughout the growing season, by selecting plants that bloom at different times of the year. This provides months and months of changing interest throughout the growing season.

Take the time to develop a plan for your border garden, and you will be rewarded with season after season of enjoyment.