Garden Party: Five-Plant Gardens

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Some changes to our backyard landscape have inspired me to think about ways to spruce things up in this spring. We had woods behind our house for years, but the lot was cleared and a house built on it, so now we have a really sparse area in full sun to contend with. I'm don't have much of a green thumb or much knowledge of what to plant when and where. I usually just choose what looks pretty to me and seems low maintenance.
I am finding Five-Plant Gardens by Nancy J. Ondra to be a great resource in planning to pretty up the backyard, and not only is it a gorgeous book to look at, but even a novice like me can follow the simple plans.
52 different garden designs are featured, with complete shopping lists and plans for planting the prettiest five-plant beds with perennials. There are illustrated garden plans, plant shopping lists, season-by-season tips, and ideas for expanding your garden or using alternate plantings.
I can't wait to get started!
How about a sneak peek?

A Nonstop Garden When nice spring weather puts you in the mood to plant a new garden, it’s tempting to head to the garden center and pick out whichever perennials look pretty at the moment. Impulse buying like this can be fun, and your new garden will be filled with flowers right away, but there’s a good chance that it won’t look very pretty for the rest of the year, once the early bloomers are done. To get the longest possible season of interest, look beyond instant color to choose perennials with flowers that bloom for months instead of weeks, as well as those perennials that have attractive leaves for interesting color and texture from spring to frost, or even all year round.
Sß Full sun to partial shade
∑w Average to dry soil
The Garden Plan
Shopping List
1 ‘Blue Fortune’ hyssop Agastache | 3 plants Zones 5–9 Alternates: Another 4- to 5-foot-tall perennial with an extended bloom period, interesting seed heads, and/or colorful foliage, such as ‘Bluebird’ smooth aster (Aster laevis) (3 plants), Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum) (3 plants), or ‘Prairie Sunset’ false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) (3 plants)

2 ‘Color Guard’ yucca Yucca | 3 plants Zones 5–9 Alternates: ‘Golden Sword’ yucca, or another spiky-looking, 2- to 4-foot-tall perennial with long-lasting seed heads or evergreen leaves, such as ‘Cassian’ or ‘Hameln’ fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) (3 plants) or blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) (3 plants)

3 Arkansas bluestar Amsonia hubrichtii | 1 plant Zones 4–9 Alternates: Another mound-forming, 2- to 3-foot-tall perennial or shrub with colorful fall leaves, such as Sunshine Bluebluebeard (Caryopteris incana ‘Jason’) (1 plant) or ‘Brookside’ geranium (Geranium) (1 plant)

4 ‘Magnus’ purple coneflower Echinacea purpurea | 6 plants Zones 3–8 Alternates: Another 2- to 4-foot-tall purple coneflower or other perennial with an extended flowering period, such as Gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) (6 plants), orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida) (6 plants), or red valerian (Centranthus ruber) (6 plants)

5 ‘Angelina’ sedum Sedum rupestre | 6 plants Zones 3–8 Alternates: ‘Fuldaglow’ or ‘Voodoo’ sedum, or another 6- to 12-inch-tall perennial with colorful foliage, such as ‘Aztec Gold’ speedwell (Veronica prostrata) (6 plants) or ‘Big Ears’ lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina) (6 plants)

{Excerpted from Five-Plant Gardens (c) Nancy J. Ondra. Photography by (c) Rob Cardillo. Photo Styling by Nancy J. Ondra. Illustrations by Beverly Duncan. Used with permission of Storey Publishing.}