Add Color and Curb Appeal with Southern Classics

Spring landscapes are splashing color across Birmingham, as flowering plants and shrubs paint the town in vibrant hues. There’s still plenty of time to add your own color splash and extend the impact through summer. As an elite Southern Living Custom Home Builder, we especially appreciate the updated classics featured in the Southern Living Plant Collection. Just as we add modern design and luxury to classic Southern styles in our custom Birmingham homes, this collection introduces new and better versions of the flowers and shrubs our region has long enjoyed.

First up is the hydrangea, a Southern staple for cut flower arrangements. The Big Daddy Hydrangea variety produces balloon-sized pink flowers in alkaline soils and blue in acidic soils. Blooming throughout the spring and early summer, the Big Daddy grows almost to six feet, offering a dark green backdrop for mid-sized shrubs that flower later in the summer and fall. Plant with the complementary Yewtopia Plum Yew, a shorter evergreen shrub, for full green coverage that lasts throughout the year.

Another standard for Southerners is the gardenia, whose distinctive fragrance often evokes memories of grandparents’ gardens. The updated Jubilation variety can be used to create a compact evergreen hedge, producing its first flowers in spring, then reblooming in the summer and fall. The white blossoms contrast beautifully with the plant’s glossy, deep green leaves. They are similarly striking in fragrant indoor arrangements, bridal bouquets and container gardens. To welcome visitors with a warm scent and a true Southern classic, situate large pots of the Jubilation Gardenia near entryways or outdoor entertaining areas.

The cheery blooms of the Gerbera daisy brighten any Southern landscape and, as cut flowers, bring the vibrant colors inside the home as well. Growing about a foot high, the Fushcsia Garden Jewels^TM Gerbera Daisy provides hundreds of blooms throughout spring and summer and into the fall. Use this low-maintenance perennial as a border plant, adding color to your landscape for years to come. A newer flowering border plant, the Celebration Gaillardia, is destined to become a Southern standard as well. The red blossoms on this low-maintenance, drought-tolerant perennial will brighten your lawn each spring and summer, thriving even in Birmingham’s heat.

Incorporating the proper plants into your landscape design will not only add to the enjoyment of your home but also increase its curb appeal and possibly even its value. Check out the Southern Living Plant Collection for more ideas to bring new and soon-to-be Southern classics into your Birmingham lawn.

If you’re ready to design and build your Birmingham custom home on your land or in a location we help you find, call J. Wright Building Company at 205-820-0100 or click here to contact us.