Woodie’s Picks: Plants For Unmatched Summer Color in The Garden
Summer in the garden is one of the most breathtaking displays of the year. With unique blooms and lush foliage at every turn, what’s not to love about the summer garden season?
If you want to add bold color and beauty to your landscape this season, look no further. In this week’s installment of ‘Woodie’s Picks,’ we will highlight the benefits of color in the garden and shed light on a few of our favorite colorful summer plants.
Benefits of Color in The Garden
Visual Appeal
The most apparent benefit of incorporating a range of colors into your landscape design is the visual appeal and joyful aesthetic it brings to a space. Vivid colors like reds, oranges, and yellows create a lively and energetic atmosphere.
Mood Boosting
In addition to the beauty and visual appeal a rainbow of colors in the garden brings, colorful plants can also boost and benefit your mood and overall mental health. In a scientific research study conducted for The Evolutionary Psychology publication, in-depth research highlighted the positive effects of growing flowers in correlation with positive emotions. The study states, “In three different studies, we show that flowers are a powerful positive emotion inducer.”
Beyond flowers and their positive impacts, we can dive even deeper into the emotions they evoke when we look at studies revolving around color in the garden. In another research study, conducted for The Journal of Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, researchers found that warm colors like orange, yellow, and red evoke uplifted emotions and deliver better positive affect.
Attract Pollinators
A final benefit to a colorful outdoor living space is its support for local pollinators. The evolution of flower color results from interactions between plants and their pollinators. Over generations, plants more effective at attracting pollinators were more likely to reproduce and pass on their traits. Many pollinators are attracted to specific colors. For example, bees are particularly drawn to blue and yellow flowers, while hummingbirds prefer red. The colors help guide these animals to the nectar, which is essential for pollination, and the more colors you incorporate into your garden, the more diverse your ecosystem is likely to be.
Colorful Planting Favorites in The Summer Landscape
As we’ve noted, the summer season is one of the best times of year to take in the vast spectrum of colors the landscape offers. And while the various options are beautiful, we’d be remiss if we said we didn’t have a few favorites. Keep reading to learn about Woodie’s top recommendations for a colorful summer landscape!
Peach Drift Rose
Peach Drift® roses are a popular choice for planting due to their attractive, soft peach blooms that appear from mid-spring to the first frost of the fall season. The classic summer bloomer sports a compact and low-growing habit and impressive disease resistance. The intoxicating fragrance and delicate allure are certainly selling factors on these hardy landscape shrubs. As an added bonus, Peach Drift Roses also boast relatively simple care regimens. Popular uses for these plants include yard borders, containers, and mass plantings.
Wee Bit Grumpy Hydrangea
The hydrangea cultivar's name, Wee Bit Grumpy, is playful and contrasts with the plant's actual characteristics. Where its name might suggest a sad, rather drab appearance, the Wee Bit Grumpy hydrangea cultivar is quite eye-catching and rather vivacious. It's a reblooming, compact hydrangea known for its vibrant, saturated purple and pink flower colors and ease of care. Plant as a statement piece or grow a vibrant hedge for a real splash of summer color this season!
Candy Crush Hardy Hibiscus
The Hibiscus Summerific 'Candy Crush' is a breathtaking summer perennial with massive dinner plate-sized blooms that protrude the landscape in midsummer through to early fall. The plant is most naturally praised for its striking, large, bubblegum pink flowers with a deep red center, vibrant foliage, and relatively easy care. It's a showy perennial that provides a long season of color, attracts pollinators, and is hardy in a wide range of climates. Consider planting the Candy Crush Hibiscus as a stand-alone focal point in the landscape, as a backdrop in mixed flowerbeds, and in rain gardens or wet areas in the landscape.
Tri-Colored Dappled Willow
A final colorful favorite we recommend incorporating into the summer landscape is undoubtedly a less conventional choice, but also a beautiful addition that yields captivating color and beauty. Tri-Colored Dappled Willows are popular choices for gardens due to their unique and vibrant foliage, which provides year-round interest. The new growth emerges in a striking pink, then matures to a mottled green and white, and finally turns yellow in the fall before the red stems are revealed in the winter. This makes them a beautiful addition to any landscape as an accent plant or as a privacy hedge.
Shop Colorful Plants Online Today
No matter your style or space, there’s no denying the power of colorful plants to transform a garden. From the bold blooms of hydrangeas and hibiscus to the delicate hues of roses and willows, these plants bring unmatched vibrancy and life to any outdoor space. Whether you're looking to boost your mood, support pollinators, or enjoy the beauty of nature’s palette, these summer standouts are sure to inspire. Shop Woodie’s Picks today and fill your garden with color that lasts all season long.