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Adding Color to Your Garden With Potting Benches

Potting benches are work stations created for gardeners. They usually offer several shelves for storage, as well as a work area. Some offer additional storage through hooks and drawers. Others include an inset basin for mixing soil.

Variety sparks interest in gardens. Even a plant with the most unusual shape, color, or texture won't hold the average person's attention long if it's the only plant in your garden. One component of variety is color. Potting benches not only offer you organized work space; they can also add color to your garden.

You can use a potting bench as a focal point, or centerpiece, for your garden. If you arrange some small potted plants and flowers on its shelves, you can create a gorgeous display. You can easily rotate the pots as certain plants stop blooming and others begin.

Potting benches come in different woods. The material itself can add color to your garden. Choose white cedar for a frosty look or red cedar for a warmer look. You can also paint or stain the wood to achieve a particular shade.

Team potting bench colors with the colors of foliage or flowers. For instance, if you prefer a natural white cedar bench, use lamb's ears plants with silvery foliage to carry the color throughout your landscaping. If you want to plant lots of yellow sundrops, choose a bright yellow paint for the bench. You can also use contrasting color schemes to add variety and interest to your garden.

If you like bright colors, consider not only flowers, but also foliage and vegetables. Many leafy plants, such as varieties of coleus, display stunning combinations of color. Some are bright, while others are deep and rich. Arrange plants both on and around potting benches.

Yet another way you can add diverse color to your garden is to plant vegetables. Some people prepare a separate plot of ground for a vegetable garden, but you don't have to. You can consider more common garden plants, such as tomatoes and lettuce. Don't forget eggplant, beets, and kohlrabi. And some common vegetables come in uncommon colors. How about purple or yellow carrots, orange or purple cauliflower, red cabbage?

You can use other accents to carry color throughout the garden. Recycle objects that no one else wants. Reclaim an old bowling ball by painting it, or by gluing mosaic tiles or faux gemstones to it. Use a colorful old tennis shoe as a planter. If you can imagine some use for an object that you would normally throw away, give it a try and see if your idea works. When you rework an object, you can make it exactly what you need to fit your garden theme; you are no longer limited to what you can find in a store.

Color and variety play a large factor in how pleasing your garden will look. You can experiment with color by bringing in potting benches, unusual foliage, colorful vegetables and flowers, and recycled objects. You can move potting benches and planters to different locations, so try several spots until you decide which location satisfies you most.

About the Author

Rachel Dawson is a freelance writer who enjoys quiet getaways outdoors. She writes about
potting benches
, particularly
wood potting benches
.

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