When designing a garden or landscape, it's important to maintain a balanced color palette. Just as you wouldn't want an entire house decorated in blue and yellow, nor would you want an entire garden of only blue and yellow flowers. For this reason, we try to design our gardens and landscapes with a variety of colors that complement each other. The most obvious sources of color in a yard come from plants and flowers; however, color in your garden can come from many other sources. When planning your garden design, don't underestimate how other materials can impact the overall look of your landscape.

First and foremost, consider the type of garden edging or landscape border that you'll use in and around your planting beds. The possible material choices are endless. A few of the more common borders used are pavers, black plastic edging, landscape timbers, and brick or stone edgers. Because edging varies so much in color and texture, your choice will have a big impact on the overall look of your landscape. You might also want to consider mixing a couple different types of edging materials to achieve an eclectic look with even more color.

Mulch or groundcover is another easy way to add color and dimension to your garden. Materials range from bark and wood chips to gravel and stone, with many other alternatives in between. Colors of these materials vary widely; it's possible to find groundcover in almost any hue of the rainbow, as well as many colors that aren't in the rainbow!

When planning your landscape design, don't forget to include garden structures such as trellises, arbors, furniture, and more. Garden structures not only add color to your yard, but they also serve as an architectural element that can be used as a focal point in the garden, creating visual interest.

Trellises are probably one of the least expensive garden structures that can still provide a big visual punch. A garden trellis serves as a support structure for climbing plants and flowers, allowing them to grow upward instead of outward, and literally bringing your garden to new heights. Arbors and pergolas are the next step up in size and expense, but they also add a lot more height to your yard and can also provide shade, a place to sit and rest, or even a gated entrance into a back or side yard. Arbors, pergolas, and trellises are all available in a wide variety of materials and colors. If you want to color match the structure to your home, then you'll probably want to choose wood that can be painted. For something that doesn't require as much ongoing maintenance, consider a durable PVC vinyl that won't require painting or staining. Just make sure the plastic has been treated with a UV inhibitor so the color doesn't fade or change as exposed to sunlight.

Colorful outdoor furniture can compliment your design and improve the functionality of your outdoor space. Consider a well-placed bench in the middle of your garden, or even a pair of chairs and a table, nestled in a bed of daisies in the spring. Smaller pieces of outdoor furniture can be a good investment because they can easily be moved around and rearranged as desired. Like arbors, pergolas, and trellises, garden furniture also comes in a variety of materials and color choices. If you're really picky about the specific color you want, opt for wood that can be painted. Otherwise, a rust free metal like aluminum or a UV protected vinyl will offer lower maintenance options that are still available in many hues.

As you create your landscape design, remember that plants and flowers are not the only way to add color and visual interest to your yard. By thinking outside the box and incorporating other garden elements like some of those we've discussed, you can create a garden that's not only colorful, but also as individual and unique as you are.