Transforming the Barnside Border with an EZ Scape Perennial Garden Recipe
The Barnside Border has been one of those areas of my garden that I knew had potential, but for quite a while I just wasn’t sure what to do with it.
It sits along a large wall of our barn, and although this area has been beautiful in the past, it had gradually become overgrown and difficult to manage. Before adding anything new, I needed to clear the bed, deal with the weeds, and get back to a place where I could actually see the space again.
Once that was done, the fun part could finally begin.
For this project, I partnered with Walters Gardens, who gifted me the Proven Winners perennials used in this planting. Walters Gardens grows these perennials at their nursery in Michigan, and I was excited to use them to completely rethink this part of the garden.
Rather than choosing individual plants one at a time, I decided to use one of the combinations from EZ Scape. I chose Buzz & Bloom #3 , a combination of four Proven Winners perennials selected to grow well together and create a cohesive planting.
What drew me to this particular combination was how naturally it fit the direction I want for my garden. I’m working toward a country cottage garden style, with plenty of flowers, softer planting combinations, and a garden that feels welcoming to pollinators.
Buzz & Bloom #3 checked all of those boxes.
Why I Chose Buzz & Bloom #3
When I looked through the different EZ Scape combinations, I wasn’t just looking for something pretty.
I wanted a planting that felt like it belonged here.
My goal for this garden is a country cottage style that feels relaxed and full of flowers, but I also want the plants I choose to have a purpose beyond how they look.
Creating a pollinator-friendly garden is especially important to me, so that was one of the biggest factors in my decision.
Buzz & Bloom #3 checked those boxes. It works for my growing zone and sunny conditions, while giving me the color, texture, and pollinator interest I wanted for this border.
It also includes plants that feel right at home in the cottage garden style I’m trying to create. Tall phlox and rudbeckia bring that familiar, old-fashioned garden feeling, while allium and sedum add different flower shapes and textures that keep the planting interesting.
Instead of feeling like four unrelated plants placed together, the combination feels cohesive while still giving each plant a chance to stand out.
The Plants in Buzz & Bloom # 3
The combination I planted includes four Proven Winners perennials grown by Walters Gardens:
Treasure Trove Rudbeckia
Rudbeckia brings that classic late-summer garden look that I love. Its daisy-shaped flowers add a relaxed, cottage-garden feeling and provide a strong block of color in the planting.
Luminary Sunset Coral Tall Phlox
The tall phlox adds height to the combination and brings another flower shape into the mix.
Phlox is also one of those plants that immediately gives me the feeling of an old-fashioned garden, which fits perfectly with the country cottage direction I want this garden to take.
All the Buzz Allium
The allium adds something completely different.
Its rounded flower heads create little pops throughout the planting and help break up the larger flowers and foliage around them.
I especially like what this kind of shape adds to a mixed perennial border because it gives your eye somewhere to stop.
Rock ’n Grow Coraljade Sedum
The sedum adds wonderful texture and structure to the planting.
It also helps carry the border later into the season, when some of the earlier flowers may begin slowing down.
Together, these four plants give the bed a nice combination of height, texture, flower shape, and seasonal interest. What I especially liked was having the plant combination already worked out while still being able to arrange everything in a way that suited the shape and personality of my won garden.
Laying Everything Out Before Planting
Before putting a single plant into the ground, I placed all of the pots in the border.
This is a step I almost always find worthwhile because a planting plan can look great on paper, but seeing the actual plants sitting in the garden gives you a completely different perspective.
I moved the pots around until the spacing and repetition felt right and then stepped back several times to look at the bed from farther away.
Because this border is viewed from several areas of the garden, I wanted the planting to look balanced from more than one direction.
Planting the Border
Once I was happy with the layout, it was finally time to plant. Having the pots already positioned made this part much easier because I wasn’t trying to make placement decisions while I was digging.
I simply worked my way through the bed, planting each perennial where its pot had been sitting. This also helped me maintain the repetition I wanted throughout the border.
Finishing the Bed With Mulch
Once everything was planted, my husband generously added a fresh layer of mulch throughout the border.
Mulch immediately makes a newly planted bed feel more finished, but of course, serves a practical purpose too. It helps hold moisture in the soil, keeps the soil temperature more consistent, and gives me another layer of help with weeds while these young plants begin filling in.
I was careful not to pile the mulch directly against the crowns of the plants. Instead, I left a little breathing room around each one.
After weeks of clearing this area and staring at bare soil, seeing the entire bed planted and mulched felt like such a turning point.
Remembering That Perennials Need Time
One of the hardest parts about planting a perennial garden is remembering that the first season is only the beginning.
Right now, there is quite a bit of open space between these plants. That is intentional.
Each perennial has room to reach its mature size, and over the next few growing seasons, the open spaces should begin to soften as the plants establish and spread.
It can be tempting to fill every empty spot immediately, especially when you love that full cottage garden look. I definitely understand that temptation.
But I’m trying to give this planting time to become what it was designed to be.
I may tuck in a few annuals here and there while the perennials mature, but the bones of this border are now in place.
Why an EZ Scape Perennial Garden Recipe Worked for This Space
What I enjoyed most about using an EZ Scape perennial garden recipe was that it gave me a starting point without making the garden feel cookie-cutter.
The plants had already been thoughtfully combined for similar growing conditions, but I could still adjust their placement to fit the shape of my border and the way this garden is viewed from different directions.
For anyone staring at an empty garden bed and wondering where to begin, I think that can take away a lot of the uncertainty. You aren't starting with a completely blank page, but you still get to make the garden your own.
And because Buzz & Bloom #3 includes plants with different heights, flower shapes, textures and bloom times, I already have the framework for the layered cottage garden feeling I want this space to eventually have.
The Barnside Border Today
This border still has plenty of growing to do, but already it feels completely different.
What had become an overgrown part of the garden that I kept putting off now feels like a space with direction again.
The phlox and rudbeckia will eventually bring height and generous drifts of flowers. The allium will weave smaller rounded blooms through the planting, while the sedum will add structure and carry interest later into the season.
Most importantly, it feels like it belongs with the garden I’m trying to create.
A little relaxed. A little old-fashioned. Full of flowers, movement and plants that offer something to the pollinators that share this garden with me.
A Garden That Will Get Better With Time
I think one of my favorite things about gardening with perennials is knowing that you aren’t really planting for just this season.
You’re planting for next spring, and the summer after that, and hopefully many seasons beyond.
I’m excited to watch this border settle in and change as the plants mature. I’m sure I’ll move something eventually. I probably always will. That's part of gardening for me.
But for the first time in a long while, I can look at this side of the barn and see where it’s going.
And that feels really good.
This project was created in partnership with Walters Gardens, who gifted the Proven Winners perennials used in this planting. As always, the combination I chose and the garden I created with it reflect my own garden, growing conditions and style.
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