Colour, lots of colour. That is what is coming to the yard soon. Over the last few days, we have gotten all of our barrels, planters and pots filled with beautiful flowers. We chose as many colours as we could in the hopes of splashing the greenspace with lively swaths of colour that will not only invite the eye, but also the birds, bees and bugs.

As usual, we love canna lilies so they are featured in all of the barrels. This year, we planted a bunch of our own, so we were also able to add them to all the front yard planters as well. We did buy a few for the backyard barrels because the ones we planted are still a little small and may be a bit before flowering.

Next year, I will start the canna lilies in December so that they are nice and big in the spring for in the planters. We’ve event considered potting them and trying to keep them indoors over the winter, but we don’t have an ideal space for them. I just got half my living room back from the plants and I forgot how much I like the living room when it feels spacious and not like a jungle.

So, instead of potting them indoors for the winter, I will harvest seeds and just plant much earlier for next year.

In front and around the canna lilies in most of the planters is our go-to wave petunia in a rainbow of colours. They are such a beautiful flower that comes in so many colours and grows so long and abundant that they pour out of the barrels and planters all the way to the ground. Like a wave…get it?

Anyway, we keep going back to those because we love the look and they are such a simple flower to grow. The waves don’t need to be deadheaded, so we just plant them in the spring and enjoy them until winter. Easy.

This year, I am excited about the Sunset waves and the black cherry waves. Very different ends of the spectrum, but both so very beautiful. We actually planted a lot of them together to get the vibrant brightness with the vibrant darkness mix.

On a whim, I bought some beautiful, vibrant pansies. They had large flowers in so many different colours that I had to have them. I knew I would find somewhere for them, and that is what I did. The planters beside our AC unit have the canna lilies at the back, and are surrounded by the vibrant pansies. We also planted a few pots of pansies as well to add some colour by our back door.

I do have some extra wave petunias, so I will likely purchase some extra pots tomorrow to plant the rest in. We will put them around the pool as some landscaping there. Plus, we never have flowers in the bottom garden area of the yard, so it will be nice to start adding them into that area.

I also considered planting them up at the top of the triangular bed by the path and letting them wave down to the path. I may still do that, I just have to figure out irrigation to that area so that they have proper water drippers. Having flowers there, may keep me more on top of the virginia creeper that seems to thrive in those top walls.

Once the pool, deck and landscaping is done at the bottom, we plan to have large planters down around the pool and deck with lots of flowers as well. So this will be a nice start.