6 Steps to Start a Garden from Scratch: Foundation Plants, Sedum Secrets, and More

Gardening isn't for the faint of heart. Beyond physical labor and hours of attention, there are endless decisions. Bring home 10 plants and you have 10 decisions: where? Will they clash? Will mature shapes complement neighbors? Will they die from insufficient sun?

One article can't eliminate the work of designing a garden from scratch, but here are steps to start. Don't be overwhelmed—go step by step, learn the "sedum secret," and soon you'll be building your own garden from the ground up.

1. Start with a Foundation Plant

Not typical "three green bushes by the foundation." These plants become your garden's foundation.

Foundation plant characteristics:

• Fairly fast-growing
• Disease and pest resistant
• Easy to care for
• Propagate easily
• Blend easily

You want a plant usable anywhere, repeated for consistency without seeming overdone, self-propagated rather than bought by the hundreds, looking good all season.

The 'Knock Out' rose family fits—blooms continuously with few pests/problems. Cuttings root easily for building your garden foundation.

2. Accessorize Your Garden

Once you have a primary foundation plant, think about large accessories—in garden speak, large bushes or small trees. These secondary plants should mimic or complement the foundation plant's shape and form but show diversity.

Here, 'Knock Out' roses in foreground, red tip photinia in background. Photinia mimics the rose's color scheme—deep red foliage fading to green—and its rounded form matches the rosebushes' growth pattern.

3. Find a "Pepper" Plant

Not jalapeños—a plant to sprinkle or "pepper" anywhere. Easy to split and propagate, beautiful foliage, no uncovered legs (stays low, grows lushly with no bare stems). My choices: lemon balm and mondo grass. Both mound well, perfect for filling blank holes.

Notice the line of grass and lemon balm in the background—lighter green than roses, contrasting nicely and directing the eye.

4. Link All the Pieces

With foundation, accessory, and "pepper" plants, one bed is complete. Now link garden pieces. Here, a star magnolia is added—same color as lemon balm, similar leaf size, same rounded habit.

Closer look: the tree is pruned to follow the lemon balm path line, subtly connecting them visually.

5. Learn the 'Sedum Secret'

Building a garden atop an existing one? Reclaiming space without mowing everything? Foundation and "pepper" concepts work here too—the "sedum secret."

This "before" photo shows a bed overrun with weeds and overgrown plants.

White circles = weeds; black circles = overgrown plants worth keeping.

To save a garden like this:

1. Pull as many weeds as possible in an hour or two.
2. Cardboard and mulch: lay thick cardboard on areas to replant (here, a pathway through large plants, cutting out weeds).
3. Top with 6-8 inches of wood chips or leaves.
4. Plant sedum.

"Plant" loosely—sedum stems easily create new plants in months. I stuck 15-20 stems around the pathway; by fall they filled beautifully.

6. Add Cover Plants

Beyond sedum, I added accessory and cover plants. Cover plants are annuals that suppress weeds. I used zucchini and pumpkin vines—fast-growing, large leaves shade out weed seedlings. In fall they're removed, leaving space for mature plants next spring.

Here's the pathway this spring. Sedum balls will grow tall by fall; path is nearly weed-free thanks to cardboard/mulch combo.

All this starts with paper and pencil, not trowel and dirt. Plan ahead. Note plants with similar leaf shapes and complementary colors at the nursery. Track sun and rain in your plot. Then get planting!