If it’s a crime to plant loads of color, then I plead guilty. Color just feels good. Or does it?

The last few years during my morning walks around my neighborhood, I began to notice that my eyes were continually seeking out green-on-green gardens, landscapes that relied on nothing for their beauty other than year-round evergreens and perhaps a lawn area and some especially bright green summer additions.

You’ve finally tracked down that plant your local nurseries don’t carry, and at a great price to boot! But the description says, “Ships bare root.” Not sure what that means? Or are you afraid of getting a bunch of dead-looking roots that won’t grow?

Tall, multicolored ‘Granny’s Bouquet’ zinnias flourish in the sunny border. We’ve been clipping them regularly for the table, which encourages new flowering. Heritage garden roses are into their second or third flush. Landscape roses continue strong and brighter than ever. Grape, patio and large luscious tomatoes are at peak production. Yellow and green summer squash are so prolific that neighbors walk the other way when they see you carrying yet another vegetable.

July and August also can bring out the worst in marginally healthy plants. Plants are a collection of living cells, just like us. We’re more susceptible to going downhill fast when stressed, underfed, dehydrated, injured, too hot or too cold.

This is the time of year when we go from just harvesting to harvesting in earnest. You actually have to have a plan. What you can’t eat, freeze or can now, you need to give away and give away fast. Here are some great ways to make the most of your bounty.

The most admired image of a garden bridge is the one at Giverny in France, immortalized in paintings by Claude Monet and photographed by scores of visitors intent on capturing Monet’s vision. Gently arching over a narrow part of the lily pond, this Japanese-style bridge has green railings and an arbor that rises above it, entwined with trailing wisteria vines. Looking across the glistening pond filled with waterlilies, the bridge creates a romantic and dreamy background in harmony with the graceful weeping willows and the green lushness of the garden.

Garden bridges can be both purposeful and enchanting. They not only provide access across a pond, a small stream, a ravine or a swale, but can also create a dramatic focal point. Bridges are a symbol of transition and passage, and are often considered a metaphor for life. Crossing a bridge and looking down into a swiftly flowing stream or still pond opens up vistas into and across the water. It also gives you a new perspective as you view the garden from such a vantage point.

New beginnings are easily born on thresholds. Whether it’s in the garden or in life, this point of transition symbolizes a new beginning. For brides, being carried across the threshold of a new home marks the start of a new phase of life. For my own wedding in 1988, my husband and I were married on the banks of the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, Va., on a dock that served as the threshold of our new life together.

A threshold is where one moves from one space to the next – an arbor, a bridge, a gate, a break in the hedge, a set of dramatic steps leading to a level change or even a pair of columns – made of either shrubs or trees, or hardscape materials. They punctuate a space, alerting visitors they are about to experience a change in scenery.

The hardscape of a landscape provides the “bones” of an overall design. Typical hardscape features are patios, pathways, stairways and various garden structures.

Concrete is often used for paved areas, and the number of options available to homeowners is only limited by one’s imagination. The bright white of new concrete is highly reflective and sometimes isn’t the first choice of a finish. Given a little bit of time, any concrete will begin to age and the bright-white tones will mute to a tan, earthen color simply through normal weathering.

Whether for entertaining guests, enjoying the view or finding solitude, a garden gazebo adds a focal point to the landscape that draws the eye and invites a visit. The placement of the gazebo, materials used and the selection of surrounding plants are all elements that determine the style and personality of the gazebo and help tie it in with the existing home and landscape.

Tap the Southern mind and I promise you, a swirl of porch-swing memories will pour out. For me, the gentle wind of a summer rain transports me back to Grandma’s veranda swing as she sat with her Burpee Seed catalogin hand anda cold Coke nearby on the porch rail … the two-note song of the back and forth swing harmonizing with rain hitting the tin roof and the far-off sound of rolling thunder. In To Kill a Mockingbird,iconic Atticus, immaculate in his linen suit, sways with Scout on the front-porch swing, teaching her about compromise on that stressful first day of school. Eli Wallach in Baby Dollpreys on sultry Carrol Baker in her front-yard swing. In Deliverance,the deep-country banjo player settles on the porch swing as he duels with the city guitarist, his effortless fingers a blur on the strings, making the city guy sweat.

We can sway on the porch as fireflies flicker at dusk and enjoy the garden perfume of peonies and roses, tea olive, magnolia, gardenia, phlox and on and on. Mosquitoes are kept at bay by our personal breeze and we enjoy being outside even as the great heat rises from the earth to engulf us. We inhale the aroma of supper cooking inside, laugh with our cousins, cry alone, and sleep easy on the screened-in porch swing with our pillow, quilt and favorite little mutt ...

For me, a garden is decidedly manmade, a deliberately arranged space. After all, no matter how natural or realistic a garden is designed to be, it is, by its very nature, contrived. Furthermore, a garden (along with its plantings) is meant to activate one or more of the five senses. In other words, it sets a specific mood and engages the visitor; and so it is with indoor spaces and plantings as well. So, why should designing for the attractive and effective use of office plants be so different from doing the same thing outside in the garden? With this in mind, I decided to use my own office as a testing ground for learning more about this living form of decoration. I hope the results will stimulate and inspire you to grow your own success story by adding a little stylish green to your workspace.

One of the most common topics of conversation between gardeners is the weather. Rain, heat, cold and drought all present challenges to maintaining a good-looking garden and landscape. Together, these environmental factors are referred to as the “climate” for a particular area or region. Since these areas can be rather large, we can call these environmental factors the macroclimate for a given area. The USDA Hardiness Zone map is a resource we use to determine growing conditions over wide areas and regions.

Within the larger macroclimates are smaller areas that have different or modified conditions. These pockets may be warmer or cooler, or wetter or drier than surrounding areas. These areas are termed “microclimates” and can be influenced by buildings, trees, bodies of water or elevation changes.

It’s summer, and that means war … on mosquitos! In 2014 Bill Gates called the mosquito “The Deadliest Animal in the World.” They carry a host of debilitating and often fatal diseases. Yes, we can douse ourselves with chemicals, light some incense, or plug in the bug zapper … but rumor has it that plants can also keep mosquitos at bay. The essential oils in some plants and flowers have been said to repel mosquitos, while you should not rely on plants alone to protect you from mosquito bites, you may want to include a few in your landscape or garden.