Dress up your deck or patio with colorful container plantings. Containers allow you to mix and match varietals while also being able to move the container to any desired location. Local landscapers share their favorite container combos.

“For an easy combination that creates a delightful cottage-garden look, we mix pink Petunias, yellow Millionbells and blue Lobelia. Having been bred to take the heat and humidity and to be self cleaning, these beauties always look fresh.” Ann Lapides, Sugar Creek Gardens.

Ten years ago, when they built their stately, brick, European-style home, the owners of this Ladue residence may not have moved heaven, but they certainly moved a lot of earth to do so. A backyard pool and a large space to entertain family and friends was a priority. “We had a long, sloping yard, and we had to push back a hillside to create a flat space,” the homeowner explains.

Give your feathered friends a stylish spot to stop and grab a drink with a backyard birdbath.

one: Vintage floral birdbath, available at Terra.

two:  Daring dragonfly birdbath with stand, available at Terra.

three: Berry birdbath in falling blue, available at Frisella Nursery.

four: Garden birdbath, available at Passiglia’s Nursery & Garden Center.

If it weren't for the patch of blue overhead, you might not realize you were sitting in Mary Tramelli’s garden and not her home. Colors, textures and ambience flow so perfectly from the inside to the outside, it’s hard to tell the difference.

It was the stucco walls, tile roof and Mediterranean feeling of the residence that drew Mary and her husband, Dan, to their Richmond Heights home 30 years ago.  Through the years they’ve added on and raised three sons within the walls, all the while keeping the rustic, Italian ambience of the home intact.

“The tomato nicknamed 'love-apple' becomes reality with the heartbreaker tomato, a cherry tomato with heart-shaped fruit. Heartbreaker has excellent vigor and produces rich-tasting hearts. The skin is soft, plus the fruit is juicy with the perfect sweet/sour content. Heartbreaker can be used as a snack, for cooking and salads or to decorate your dish for a fun and unique look.” ~ Ann Lapides, Sugar Creek Gardens.
 

Many of us are likely already mulching our gardens and landscaping with wood chips, grass clippings and leaves, spreading them on top of the soil for insulation and to save water, reduce weeds and prevent erosion. While a huge help above ground, mulching doesn’t address the nutritional needs of the soil underneath the surface.