9 Easy Garden Border Combinations That Look Good All Year

So, you want to create a garden border that is both beautiful and enduring. I completely relate. Borders create boundaries and organization in the landscape. They define walking paths, outdoor living spaces, and make your yard feel more deliberate and decorative. 

Building a border can be time-consuming and costly, depending on what you plan to grow. The size and location of the border are factors to consider, as well as your climate and soil. If you want a border that looks great throughout the year, you’ll want to choose plants with multiple seasons of interest. 

If you choose annuals or things that only look good during one season, you’re likely to put in more work, or have a space that looks subpar for a season or two. Let’s take a look at some easy border ideas that will keep your garden margins looking beautiful and deliberate, for as long as possible. 

Hydrangeas and Ornamental Grass

To create an enduring border, it’s important to add plants that offer more than one season of interest. Hydrangeas and ornamental grasses are great for this. Hydrangeas start leafing out in the spring and bloom through the summer. In the fall, leave the flower heads intact and allow them to dry on the bush. They will last in the winter months this way.

Ornamental grasses also have an enduring quality. They add a novel texture, mixed with larger-leafed hydrangeas. Their foliage emerges early in the year, flowers in summer and fall, and most have beautiful autumn colors. You can leave them in the garden through the winter as a space saver. 

The combination of these two things creates a wonderful foundation for flowering annuals and perennials. Add an evergreen shrub here and there to keep things green all year. 

Mediterranean Herbs

You can’t overuse herbs in the border. Their aromatic foliage and pretty flowers are enjoyable for human visitors and attractive to pollinators. Many are evergreen, and others are attractive for three seasons. 

Many herbs are native to regions like the Mediterranean, where the soil is rocky and droughts are common. Rosemary is a tough evergreen that becomes shrubby over time. Mint can be aggressive, but if you’re looking for an easy plant that takes up space, you can’t beat it. 

If you’re inclined, terracing in an herb garden is lovely. It makes it possible to view more plants of a similar size by raising some of them to a higher level. You can also create boundaries this way, which will contain those more aggressive plants. 

Tough and Textural

Create a sturdy border with perennials that have enduring charm. This combination of coneflowers and echinops is ideal. The color combination is gorgeous, and both are attractive to pollinators. 

These both retain their spiky seed heads for a long period, feeding birds in fall and winter. They both have an extra-long blooming season, particularly if you are diligent about deadheading. This drought-tolerant combo is great if you prefer a more wild and natural look in your borders. 

Salvia and Mixed Florals

Salvia is a fantastic plant if you want something that requires minimal effort and produces a profusion of flowers. Find a variety that grows to the appropriate size, and consider mass planting or interspersing other flowering plants between them. 

Plant a variety of flowering annuals and perennials that will bloom during different seasons. This way, you have an ever-changing color palette and something new to look at through each season. This combination is ideal for warm-climate gardeners who grow salvia as a perennial. 

Evergreen Heavy

If you live in a colder climate and want to maintain a beautiful garden all year, consider planting a variety of evergreens. Juniper, false cypress, boxwood, and various conifers work together to create a textural masterpiece. 

This is truly the most versatile and enduring combination. You can’t go wrong with evergreens. If you love flowers, make sure to leave spaces here and there to add some flowering annuals. Add some Japanese pieris, an evergreen that produces beautiful clusters of white flowers and color-changing foliage. 

Soft Textures

This stunning mixture of ornamental grasses proves that too much of a good thing is still a good thing. I love the soft, windswept texture and subtle color variations. Choose grasses that bloom in different seasons to add even more color and texture to your borders. 

Many ornamental grasses change color in the fall, becoming more vibrant shades of orange, red, and even purple. In winter, they look rustic and provide shelter for insects and small animals to hibernate in. Here, there are some long-flowering perennials and annuals mixed in to add larger blooms and brighter shades in spring and summer. 

Minimalist Palms

For striking borders in tropical climate gardens, utilize palms and other similar plants that create a structural vibe. This clean, classic, minimalist landscape incorporates palm, dracaena, bird of paradise, and citrus topiaries. 

Citrus trees are lovely all year. They have fragrant blossoms and brightly colored fruits. Dracaena is typically a houseplant, but in warm climates, it thrives outdoors and requires minimal maintenance. It’s easy to keep this border looking polished throughout the year. 

Drought-Proof Plants

Another great idea for warm climate borders is succulents and other drought-tolerant plants. Here, agave mixes beautifully with red aloe and other flowering succulents. These are all evergreen, so they look beautiful from January first to December thirty-first. 

Some species of agave tolerate temperatures as low as -20°C (-29°C), making them suitable for zones 6-11. Some types of sedum and sempervivum are also good for cool climates, with a few that survive the winter in zones 2 and 3. Their drought tolerance and contained growth habits make them low-maintenance. They’re unlikely to get out of hand, and always look manicured. 

Boxwood and Camellia

This evergreen combo will be clean and green for most of the year. If you love simplicity with a twist, this is the perfect pairing. The camellias are taller and present a wonderful backdrop for the more compact boxwoods. The boxwoods have dense, modeled foliage that is easy to care for and maintain. 

The beauty of this combination is most pronounced in winter when the camellias burst into bloom in shades of pink, red, and white. These two look lovely alone together, but also make an ideal backdrop for other flowering annuals and perennials that die back in winter. They will keep things looking intentional and alive during the cold months.