Here are some interior decorating tips that I took outside:

REPEAT COLOURS

I stuck with a red, purple, white and (obviously) green colour scheme and repeated each throughout my gardens

BUT ALSO – VARY COLOURS…..AND HEIGHTS AND TEXTURES WHILE YOU’RE AT IT

Just like when I style a coffee table or book shelf I like to have variety for visual interest. In the garden, if everything was the same green it would look dull. Junipers can range from golden to blue green and I used a variety here. Variegated dogwood (on the left) adds a very light green. The grasses add movement, height and different textures.

MAKE LIFE EASIER – ADD SOME FAUX

I originally started with real junipers in the pots but they quickly died when winter hit and the pot didn’t provide enough insulation from the cold. Enter some fakes and my problem was solved….well almost. When it’s below zero and my little munchkins tackle them the trees shed their little plastic needles like crazy. I gave my boys a stern lecture and now they don’t touch those trees….unless their angry and then they go right for them. Sigh, what can you do?

GO FOR THE LONG HAUL – FOCUS ON FOLIAGE

Flowers are gorgeous but they just don’t stick around long enough. I used to put flowers in my urns, and they looked fantastic….for about a month and then they looked like crap and they had to be replaced. Now I use ferns. These have been here since May. They are almost 6 months old and really the only care I give them is splashing the remnants of my kids water bottles on them every night! They are elegant and they have the whole thrill, fill, spill thing going on. Now that’s a plant I can get on board with!

Now,  you still need some flowers, but let them be the accent.

Some foliage can be as colourful as flowers like this burning bush. I wanted year round interest in my garden and for the Fall nothing is as stunning to me as Burning bush.

PUT SOME PAINT ON IT

My urns were looking a bit tired, rusted and worn. Some glossy black (Tremlclad) spray paint made them modern and fresh.

Much better!