Your Summer Garden Starts This Spring

If you’re looking for a stellar outdoor environment this summer, you can start by planning and planting a wide variety of vegetation this spring. Plants add beauty, an enveloping scent, and can serve practical purposes—insect control, privacy, or a fresh herb and vegetable garden that adds flavor to your family’s meals.

And at the heart of it all, your Highwood USA furniture lets you immerse yourself in your handiwork, creates a focal point, and provides a structure and foundation to give your plants a home.

Begin with window boxes, such as the Highwood Beckett collection, available in 3-, 4-, and 5-foot lengths. Window boxes bring your flowers to eye level and work well on patios and apartments. Fill them with colorful annuals like impatiens, which come in bright reds, oranges, and yellows and thrive in shaded or low-light areas. Zinnias, geraniums, and begonias are other good choices.

To complement your window boxes, accent your walkway with our Windsor planters to welcome you, your family, and your guests throughout the season. Consider trailing plants such as ivy or golden creeping jenny to soften the edges.

Next, turn to your garden and patio furniture. When positioining pieces for the new season, consider your plantings; you might create a seating circle inside a ring of flowers (but be sure to leave a pathway into the circle). The Highwood Lehigh 3 piece Round Dining Set could be a perfect option, or a pair of Hamilton Deck Chairs. You could even pick our Lehigh 5 ft Garden Bench as a comfortable spot to sit and smell (or gaze at) the roses.

While many people appreciate annuals such as impatiens for their bright colors, don’t limit your ideas to annuals—perennials will let you enjoy labor-free beauty year after year, much like the hassle- and maintenance-free durability of your Highwood furniture!  

For a particularly delightful experience, consider hanging plants. Our Bodhi Pergola with a bench or chairs inside will create a comfortable spot to sit and appreciate your green thumb. Colorful geraniums, begonias (which grow well in the shade), and petunias, are popular summer favorites and excellent choices for a hanging basket. Or you can go green with a variety of ferns or pothos.

Your garden plants do more than just lend beauty to your backyard oasis. Some have insect-control properties. Here are a few common plants and the insects they tend to keep at bay:

• Lemongrass – mosquitoes
• Sage – moths
• Basil – mosquitoes and flies
• Catnip – mosquitoes
• Lavender – mosquitoes, flies, moths, and fleas
• Marigolds – mosquitoes and aphids
• Peppermint – mosquitoes, ants, and spiders
• Rosemary – fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and slugs

Maybe 2022 is the year you add a hedge for security or privacy. English holly, with its prickly leaves, provides large, protective greenery. Barberry bushes and its sharp thorns add a layer of protection as well. And traditional boxwood shrubs are deer-resistant while defining garden areas.

Placing a Highwood Weatherly Picnic bench, on the inside face of your hedge provides a “hidden hideaway” with a view of your outdoor space and a great place for a picnic or conversation.

Last but not least, your outdoor space can be a source of for your family well into the fall. Tomatoes are colorful, while peppers, cucumbers, and a variety of herbs grow well in temperate climates. Remember that the earlier you plant in the spring, the sooner you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of your labors!

So don’t think it’s too soon. Get started on your garden today!