Add Color To Garden To Get Jump On Spring

Landscape Designer Shirley Bovshow Shows How

(CBS)  Flowers may not be blooming yet, but you can still add color to your garden, both indoors and out.

Shirley Bovshow, garden designer and co-host of "Garden Police" on the Discovery Home Channel, says playing in the dirt now will get your plants AND your spirits ready for the sunny days ahead! Creating a bright spot of color in the garden is sure to raise your spirits during the last gloomy weeks of winter. Beat back the winter blahs, she suggests, by turning your garden into a festive bouquet of color!

On The Early Show Thursday, Bovshow offered some creative ideas for dressing up containers holding blah winter plants, green houseplants, or pots that are awaiting the appearance of spring bulbs. She demonstrated how to turn bland containers into "works of art" using simple items you may already own.

CONTAINER 1: Outdoor Winter Container

When you look out over your yard right now, you probably see a barren, brown wasteland. While it's too early to expect blooming flowers (in most parts of the country), you can create a bright focal point in your garden. Many people still have some containers outside, maybe on the front porch or back patio. It may be empty, or there may be some hearty winter plants inside. Either way, Bovshow suggests adding some interest. Bare doesn't have to be boring: She purchased some beautiful curly willow stems to stick in the container. These are architecturally interesting, and add a dimension of height. They are simple cuttings, but will continue to flourish when placed in the ground. The willow can deal with the cold and snow just fine; when it warms up, they'll begin to bloom. Bovshow finishes the look with bright splashes of yellow and red glass. She says this glass is a big trend in gardening right now. In many cases, it's recycled or being re-purposed, making it a "green" gardening material!

CONTAINER 2: "Wintering" Plants

There are many different types of plants that people in cold climates keep outdoors during the summer, then bring inside during winter months. If you live somewhere warmer, you might keep the plants outside year-round. Either way, these plants are going to be somewhat drab this time of year. Bovshow adds pizazz by giving her containers a theme. For starters, when you bring plants inside, you don't have to keep them all in separate containers. Bovshow has three "culinary" plants -- a fig tree, bay leaf, and rosemary -- that she grouped together into a giant pot. Her next pot is full of succulents -- the hot plants of the gardening world right now. Succulents are smooth, plump plants full of moisture. Because they store so much moisture in their leaves, stems or roots, they can survive periods of drought much better than other plants. A cactus is an example, but there are many different types, and they can be quite beautiful. By adding a simple statue to her plantings, Bovshow's arrangement becomes a piece of art. She says you can take the idea of a theme even further if you wish. On the set, she featured some tropical plants in a container with a seaside theme.

CONTAINER 3: Houseplants

Even people with no gardens, or who aren't big enough gardeners to be "wintering" their flowers, likely have a houseplant around somewhere. These plain green plants don't have to be an afterthought in your décor. You can really bring them alive with just a little work. Planting them in colored pots makes a big difference. Bovshow suggests topping the soil with colored glass. You can go with a solid color, or several colors, depending on how adventurous you're feeling!

CONTAINER 4: Small "Personal" Gardens

Not a gardener? Shirley assures you that a small patch of green really will raises your spirits during these final days of winter! She has two easy ideas that don't require a lot of space or attention. First up, a water garden. She taks a beautiful ceramic bowl, fills it with water, and adds a couple of water hyacinths, also known as water lettuce. They're available at any large garden center, live simply off water, and are very hard to kill! This garden would also make an eye-catching centerpiece. Another approach: using a large seashell as a planter. Bovshow simply nestles the shell on an attractive tray, surrounded by smaller shells, and plants a simple succulent inside. The shell should have a drain hole drilled in to it so you can water the plant.

For many more tips from Bovshow, visit her Web site, by clicking here.