DIY Garden Makeovers

All-White Makeover Garden

• 1

  Transform your front yard, backyard patio or any aging flower garden with a new all-white look. Choose a mix of annuals and perennials. Select shade-loving plants such as white impatiens for shady areas.

• 2

  Attract attention to your makeover garden with a centerpiece dwarf weeping cherry tree. Ring the base of the tree with two circular rows of white spring-blooming violets. They'll keep their heart-shaped green foliage all summer long.

• 3

  Anchor one end of your makeover garden with a fragrant white mock orange bush. Plant a mass of snowdrops in front of the mock orange to provide blooms while the mock orange is developing. Install a white snowball bush at the other end of the garden.

• 4

  Sow several rows of tall white summer phlox as a backdrop against the house or garden wall. Dot the back corners of your all-white makeover garden with old-fashioned white double-bloom self-sowing hollyhocks.

• 5

  Choose any cascading white tea roses to climb along a windowsill, porch rail or even a tall birdhouse. Mass two dozen white Shasta daisies in an under-window cluster. Plant a colony of fragrant white Easter lilies between the roses and daisies.

• 6

  Extend your all-white garden makeover theme to a satellite garden in another part of your property. Plant a white-flowering dogwood tree bordered on either side by a pair of bridal-veil spireas.

• 7

  Water your new garden well. Cover the entire area with a thick mulch of dark cedar chips to dramatize the all-white flowers, preserve moisture and discourage weeds.

Cottage and Ivy Makeover Garden

• 8

  Establish a dramatic backdrop for your new makeover cottage garden. Plant a row of bi-colored climbing ivy--such as Hedera helix--against your house foundation, garden fence or retaining wall. Allow the ivy to climb upward by cutting off any shoots that attempt to grow outward toward your garden bed.

• 9

  Create a striking centerpiece for your makeover bed. Choose a spring-flowering perennial bush such as a rhododendron or spirea to plant in the center of your new bed.

• 10

  Balance the ends of your makeover cottage garden with tall plantings. If one end is near a porch or doorway, plant a pair of fragrant climbing English roses, such as the pale pink "Albertine" or the deep magenta "Alexander Girault." Plant an old-fashioned lilac bush on the other end.

• 11

  Splash color across the tall back third of your new bed with masses of oriental lilies, blue speedwell and pink peonies. In the middle third, select medium-height perennials such as yarrow, hardy marguerite, autumn damask moss roses, white coneflowers and golden columbines.

• 12

  Plant dwarf and short-growth perennial dianthus pinks in the front row as a continuous edging. Include white, pink and bi-colored pinks. Interplant white and purple sweet alyssum to fill out the edging.