Create a Nonstop Color Border: A 5-Year Garden Journey

Year One: Learning from Mistakes

When Lark Kulikowski and her husband David moved to their country property, she envisioned a prairie-style garden with daisies, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, yuccas, and sedums among existing field grass. The perennials didn't spread as hoped, and the grass overwhelmed them. David suggested killing the grass with herbicide and starting fresh.

Year Two: Structure and Strategy

Lark created three beds separated by paths, amending sandy soil with aged horse manure (later switching to compost). She divided existing perennials, planting in clumps of three — one spring bloomer, one summer, one fall — repeating groupings throughout. She began a disciplined plant-buying approach: researching plants for each bloom season instead of impulse purchases. Annual seeds filled bare spots while she battled weeds. Visiting other gardens revealed a common gap: little color from August to October, which became her next goal.

Year Three: Adding Late-Season Color

Winter research identified Japanese anemones, asters, and Boltonia 'Snowbank' for late-season interest. She added these to her perennial groupings in spring.

Year Four: Refining the Palette

Lark expanded beyond three bloom categories to six: early spring, late spring, early summer, late summer, early fall, late fall. She added prairie smoke, meadow rue, lupines for the late-spring gap, and discovered Knautia, rose campion, and self-seeding larkspur bloom through fall. Focus shifted from flower color to foliage texture and form: silvery-blue Russian sage, chartreuse lady's mantle, vertical ornamental grasses.

Year Five: Gardening with Heart

"The garden was really popping," Lark says. Confidence grew, and she began incorporating found-object art — iron gears, rusty truck springs, blue vodka bottles — inspired by a naturalized patch of blue forget-me-nots and daffodils. Blue bowling balls from thrift shops edged paths. "I wanted something that would make people smile."

Lessons Learned

• Budget shopping: Write down needed colors and bloom times before visiting nurseries to prevent impulse buys.
• Visit gardens: Note plants blooming when you have color gaps (e.g., mid-August).
• Divide anytime: Fill color holes by dividing and transplanting whenever spotted, watering regularly until established.
• Plant densely: Reduces weeding.
• Repeat combinations: Creates pleasing visual flow.
• Pinch for extended bloom: In May/June, cut back half of summer/fall bloomers (asters, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans) — the trimmed portion blooms later.
• Container annuals: Slip potted plants into old chairs (seats removed) for movable color pops.

"Every year I learn a little more. Every year makes me happier and happier," Lark marvels.