As Linda embarks on the adventure of an all-new landscape, she’ll be crafting her cottage landscape with fabulous picks from the Southern Living Plant Collection! From beautiful blooms to landscape solutions that work in the tough Oklahoma climate, Linda is planning to use plants that will keep her garden gorgeous and glowing all year long.
Picking the Site
When asked what factors she considered when looking for a new home, Linda cited the yard as a major factor. Linda was looking for a more walkable neighborhood and wanted a “clean slate” landscape to host her design creativity. She had always loved a bungalow garden she had visited many times in the Oklahoma City area, and that bungalow garden feel was the inspiration behind her new storybook cottage garden.
A Blooming Walkway for Children
Linda’s new home faces south, which was a significant factor to consider with Oklahoma’s sweltering and humid summers. She loves that this new home sits on a corner in a prominent location and is on the route for children walking to and from school. Accordingly, her vision for the new landscape includes bold blooms lining the sidewalk to bring the children and parents joy as they pass by her home. Where the sidewalk on the school path passes her yard, Linda decided to fill the area with the cloudlike white blooms of White Wedding® Hydrangeas and Autumn Moonlight® Encore Azaleas.
A Hot and Sunny Water-Wise Planting
The front yard of Linda’s new home presents a challenge. The exposure is facing south, and in Zone 7b, this can mean unforgiving sun exposure and drought in the middle of summer. Before adding new plantings, an irrigation system was installed to facilitate watering. Linda also selected plants that were water-wise and could stand up to the oppressive summer heat. In this hot and sunny area, she will use groupings of BetterBoxwood®, Butterfly Candy™ Buddleia planted en masse, and a mixture of Little Blue Fountain™ and Indigo Frost™ agapanthus. In between the Butterfly Candy and Agapanthus, Linda is adding mounds of salvia, creating a lovely pollinator haven.
Linda’s Lemon Lane
A showpiece of the new landscape is an area near the front porch playfully entitled, “Linda’s Lemon Lane.” On this charming path, pavers meander through ‘Lemon-Lime’ Nandina, Miss Lemon™ Abelia, ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum, and Little Bonnie™ Spirea. For seasonal interest and complementary pops of color, Linda planted yellow daffodils, giant alliums, and grape hyacinth muscari.
Adjacent to the new walkway, large hollies have been installed to provide dappled shade to the plants below and establish some privacy and separation from the next yard.
Want to follow along with Linda’s progress as she designs and creates her new outdoor haven? Stay tuned, right here on our blog!
With the concern of harsh sunlight just around the corner, the race is on to establish her plantings in the front lawn. Be sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter so you don’t miss a minute of the journey!
