When designing your perfect home, its important to consider the type of climate you live in when selecting plants for outdoor landscaping. The climate in the Portland area, as well as the surrounding areas, is mild in the winter and warm in the summer. While we may get little snow, our area gets an average of 43" of rain every year - with plenty of cool days but little snow, we have a climate that not every plant can adapt. On this list show, we'll show just a few variety of plants that thrive in our climate, that are also perfect for use in landscaping the yard of your Custom Renaissance Home.
Bee Balm
The varietal called Monarda Didyma is a tall plant with a spectacular scarlet flower. It will bloom during the summer and attracts bees and hummingbirds. If you have an area with a high mosquito population, this plant will help to keep them at bay thanks to its scent that smells much like a bergamot orange. They are a perfect border plant as well as being good for the back row of a flowerbed.
Sword Fern
It's hard to go anywhere in Oregon without seeing the sword fern - its native to the area and therfore fits in perfectly with surrounding foliage. It loves being in full sun, but it loves being in the shade just as much - it can even thrive in poor soil. If you're not a natural green thumb, no worries! it's hard to get this plant wrong, and it lends a certain natural character to the area.
Brunnera
The brunnera comes in various varieties with the Jack Frost variety being a popular way to add blue to a flowerbed. The flowers are small, delicate looking, and have a sky-blue color that is rare in nature. The fuzzy, heart-shaped leaves have an impressive shape and silvery color. It will grow just about anywhere, and they love areas that are shady and dry - these are a perfect flower to accent your landscape garden and you'll find that they bloom in the springtime.
Hardy Geranium
The Hardy Geranium is a fantastic flower with many different varieties of color, coming in purples, blues, pinks, whites and multi-color flowers. If you're looking for something that blooms often, most varieties will start blooming in the spring and keep blooming up until the fall. They are low-lying plants, getting as tall as 12" to 18" and are perfect for borders, edging and the front rows of flowerbeds.
Black-eyed Susan
The black-eyed Susan has a well-known look with its brown center and cheery yellow petals. These plants will cheer up any area you put them in, and they bloom in July and August, and sometimes September when fewer plants are in bloom. They are great border plants, and the bright color and stunning contrast make them one of the first things you'll notice in your landscaping.
Lavender
Lavender not only looks great anywhere you plant it, but it also smells great. This plant has soft purple flowers that will bring a lot of color to your landscaping, but they can also be used as sweet-smelling dried flowers. They like to be planted in full sun, and allow a circle of about 3' to 4' to give it room to grow and thrive. If for some reason they get accidentally neglected, they should continue to thrive as they are known to be drought-resistant.
Daisies
Daisies love the Portland area climate, and once they were planted they will just keep growing. As long as they get six or more hours of sunlight each day, they will stay happy. They can spread so fast that they can be invasive, so they may need pruning each winter to keep them in check. These flowers can be planted in either full sun or partial shade.
Black Mondo Grass
Black Mondo Grass is a great way to add contrast to your garden and adds a dark purple, almost black grass-like foliage. In the Summer, this grass blooms dark lavender colored flowers that are followed by purple berries in the fall. It works wonders as edging and borders. This plant is also a type of evergreen that will retain its leaves throughout the year and It will thrive in anything from shade to full sunlight. Another perk is that if your land is trafficked by wildlife, don't fret, It's also deer-resistant.