HelpfulGardener.com

Hello I feeling quite clueless as to how to bring some more life and curb appeal to my urban garden. Living in a big city on the East coast US, people walk by and admire our houses but then my garden is quite boring I think. I live in 7b and love flowering exotic plants but most that I like wont tolerate our winters. The planta I have just look shapeless and blobby lol. Help with some inspiration!!

I didn't respond to this before, because I couldn't quite tell what area you were talking about. The little strips with all the evergreen shrubs in them? It seems like they are so full of the shrubs, it doesn't leave you much room to work with. You could underplant the edges with something that will be colorful all season. That would likely be annuals like impatiens.

Here's a hedge row underplanted with begonias, petunias, and other stuff:


The one evergreen near the end in top picture looks in bad shape. If you were willing to take it out and reduce the number of daylilies, it would free up some space for you to add something prettier.

If you have room there, it seems like putting mixed plants in large decorative containers mite was go?

I don't think the shrubs actually go together well and the yellow plants are all in a row with a space between them. They do not make for a harmonious view. I would keep the silvery shrub in the corner and get rid of the other two. Replant the yellow flowers so they form a triangle and blend them together better so there will not be a space to see through them. Plant them a little back from the edge so you can plant some border annuals. Do that on both side ends to balance it. A lot of colors will go with yellow, but try to match the colors so they complement the colors of the house. Low annuals in front and some taller annuals or shrubs in between. Limit colors to two or three and try to carry the color from one plant to another or if the plants do not bloom continuously plant so one color does not compete with another. For example the other plants can be yellow and red or or blue and yellow, or a complementary color to yellow. If the yellow plant only blooms for a few weeks, plant something that will be foliage when the yellow one blooms but will provide color when the yellow plant stops blooming.

Designs need anchoring plants like shrubs that will be there all year and plants with interesting foliage. Colors should be a limited palette and complement each other and the colors in the house so it looks more cohesive. Fewer plants are easier to make look good. Group the same plants in threes so they stand out. When plants are separated by too much space and lined up in a row they don't look very natural. When you have a strip garden, the ends need to be balanced and the heights graded.