Double the fun in your landscape by adding bicolor flowers. Using a bloom with multiple hues creates a color palette for your planting area and adds interest. Check out local landscapers' favorite color combos.

1. “Lil' Bang Daybreak Coreopsis is a long-blooming perennial providing a fantastic show of color summer through fall. Compact selection is great for the front of borders and mixed containers.” David Sherwood, Sherwood’s Forest.

For continuous color and interest in your garden, consider these favorite plantings from local landscapers. 

“One of our favorite multiple-blooming perennials is 'Summer Storm' Hardy Hibiscus. This large perennial is a prolific bloomer from summer into the fall and grows to 5’. The blooms themselves are wonderful; pink petals contrast with rose veins and deep magenta centers.” Daniel Mee, Frisella Nursery.

In my three short years here, one Midwestern generalization has been proven true, time and time again, by both county and city dwellers. The moment the freeze warnings lift, the ice turns to rain and the brown of winter gives life to the electric-green haze of early spring, Missourians are outside fussing with whatever patch of land they can get their hands on, be it county-style acreage or a strip of sun-soaked alleyway downtown. 

Why did the chicken cross the road? There are as many variations to that old riddle as there are trick or treaters on Halloween, who always seem to come up with a few new versions. But these days there are some new takes that even kids looking for a new joke to trade for candy haven’t dreamed up.