5 Most-Pinned Gardening Ideas

These reader-favorite container gardens, Midwest plant picks and yard designs will inspire your gardening plans.

1. Lilacs: Spring’s favorite perfume

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ilacs: Spring’s favorite perfumeWhen lilacs bloom, it's suddenly spring. With their sweet scent, pastel blooms and delicate, heart-shape leaves, they're the perfect bouquet. These flowers were photographed at Ewing Park lilac arboretum in Des Moines.

2. Blanket flower

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Give these red or orange daisylike flowers full sun, and they’ll bloom from summer deep into fall. Another plus: These drought-tolerant flowers attract butterflies, not deer.

3. Backyard water feature

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Invoking beach getaways and lounging by the seashore, water in motion adds an aural sense of escape to a backyard. Reflective and soothing, it can veil the sounds of nearby traffic or too-close neighbors. You can install waterfalls to bring the benefits of water to your yard or use a self-contained fountain for a similar effect at less cost.

4. Great gate

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Set the tone to your yard with a gate that reflects your style. Pretty flowering plants frame this garden gate, creating a lovely doorway from the yard.

5. Mini lily water garden

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Place hardy miniature waterlilies, such as these Nymphaea pygmaea 'Helvola', in a yellowware bowl for an easy, striking container water garden