By Casey Ahl
Cover Photo: JAAP BUITENDIJK/WARNER BROS
This blog is part of our inspiration series as we prepare for spring. For plant recommendations for your specific conditions, we recommend coming in with some information about your space, sunlight, and watering so that we help you choose the plants that are best for you. Keep checking back to our blog for more gardening inspiration ideas.
It’s the dead of winter as I write this blog post. Although my garden may be a mess of brown sticks at the moment, I am already dreaming of spring. It’s got me thinking, “Where can we find inspiration for our gardens?”
The answer: a resounding “everywhere.” Just as we might base our fashion sense or home decor choices on time periods, locations, and vibes, we can use those same principles to create a dream garden that reflects our personality and interests. I dove down some rabbit holes to bring you an inspired garden series, using pop culture and other themes to inspire your garden this spring. You can use the themes you like as guiding principles or super literally. That’s the fun of garden design–It’s up to you!
A Barbie Garden:
“Hi Barbie!”
“Hi Ken!”
The Barbie movie has truly become a phenomenon, taking over our social media feeds and driving people back to the movies. If you watch the 2023 film, you’ll notice just a few notable plants in the background (Do you not watch movies to look at the plants?). Since Barbie and Ken inhabit a California-esque dreamland, palm trees dominate the landscape. But if you look closer, you’ll see a few more familiar tropical plants including birds of paradise and possibly snake plants (or a close equivalent). Hedges separate the yards in Barbie’s neighborhood. In the travel scenes, you’ll see fields of waving tulips and a forest of evergreens.
Of course, Barbie lives in a Dreamland–a tropical Dreamland, at that–which can be difficult to replicate here in Pennsylvania. Still, there are many elements that we can bring to the garden to evoke elements of Barbie’s world. In this blog post, I’ll give you some overarching tenets of creating a Barbie-inspired garden and some plants that you should definitely have to bring the vision together.
Essential Elements:
If Barbie is synonymous with one aesthetic element, it’s definitely PINK. While Barbie’s dreamland brings in pink with her bubblegum pink car, pastel outfits, and eye-popping Dreamhouses, we have to work a little harder in the real world to bring pink to the picture. Lucky for us, the plant world is full of pink blooms that will do a lot of the heavy lifting for us. While any shade of pink will add to the aesthetic, make sure you have a bubblegum or hot pink in bloom over the summer as your Barbie touchpoint. Break up the pinks with tropical oranges and yellows or add some purples for some depth. Avoid red, as that may pull you into a more intense color palette with darker hues.
Looking at the color palette, green is another essential piece of the Barbie puzzle. Even though it’s plastic, Barbie’s Dreamland is in perpetual summer (I’m sure if they have winter, it’s the kind with thick, powdery snow, great for skiing and pink snowsuits). Here in PA, that means making sure that you have a mix of leafy green plants for the growing season and some evergreens that continue to shine and add structure to your garden as we wait out winter. In the summer, you can lean on lush, tropical vegetation with large leaves. You can even bring your houseplants outdoors over the summer to add that touch of tropics.
Finally, this look is about clean lines. This part can take a little extra work as it requires maintenance of your yard and beds. Look for the edges of your beds to have a clear delineation from your grass and keep your hedge trimmed, if you have one. Space your plants evenly with consistent groupings to make the blooms feel larger and more intentional. Planters can help add elements of symmetry while adding solid blocks of color to the front of your home. Keep it clean!
Plant Ideas:
Before you select any plants, look at the light conditions, soil conditions, and space in your garden to make sure you select plants that will thrive in your space.
Pinks
Flowering Trees: Probably the most eye-popping of these choices would be cherry trees, which explode with pastel pink blossoms in the spring. Other options include the native redbud, dogwoods, crabapples, or varieties of crape myrtle, which add pompoms of late-summer blooms of white, pink, red, or purple. Flowering trees tend to stay on the smaller end and benefit from some shade for part of the day, but make sure to read the tags since there are so many. (Here at Colonial Gardens, we carry over 70 varieties).
Tulips: Imagine bright pinks bursting through that late-winter snow. For the best results, plant tulips in the fall before the ground freezes. Choose a space with well-draining soil and at least 6 hours of sun. Plant the bulbs in groups to give the biggest pop. If all goes well, you’ll have tulips reappearing year after year without much work!
Supertunias: You’ve heard of petunias, but have you heard of supertunias? It’s everything you love about petunias–the bright colors, huge blooms–without everything you hate like deadheading sticky blooms. These AMAZING plants deadhead themselves and grow to blanket the beds with dense, eye-popping color. Choose Bubblegum Pink or Fuschia to really commit to that Barbie theme and brighten up the front of your beds, hanging baskets, or planters. You can also look for the Black Cherry color or other pinks to add contrast. Supertunias are more cold hardy than most other petunias, but plan to plant them after the risk of frost passes. Find a full sun location with good drainage, or plant them in a container for spilling color all summer long.
Dianthus: This plant is also known as “pinks” and is actually where we get the name for the color from! Dianthus are hardy perennials that will give you a pop of pink year after year. Different types of dianthus can grow to different heights, so they may be suited best for the front or middle of the bed. Dianthus thrive in full-sun and its blue-green foliage looks great even into the early winter.
Hardy Hibiscus: Producing flowers so large, they look fake, hardy hibiscus can give you that larger-than-life vibe you’ve been looking for. Also known as rose mallow, these perennials do well with moist soil and full sun. They grow several feet tall, so find a spot in your garden with some space, like along a fence or around the back of the mailbox. Come August, these heavy-hitting perennials will become a show-stopper in your garden.
Other Options: Clematis (Part-Shade), Begonias (Part-Shade/Shade), Bleeding Hearts, Caladiums, Cosmos, Pink-Blooming Azaleas, Roses, Meadow Sage
The Greens
Ferns: Ferns are the perfect choice for shady areas of your garden. They bring a lush element to the darker corners of your garden and there are many native species to choose from. Ferns do best in shaded areas and can fill space under trees. You could also use tropical ferns in hanging baskets or planters for instant size, but remember to bring them inside for the winter or risk them not coming back.
Evergreens: Arborvitaes, inkberry hollies, boxwoods–all of these plants can add blocks of green through the season. Choose the appropriate evergreen for your space, keeping in mind sun, soil, and drainage. Keep these evergreens tidy for the manicured Barbie look.
Elephant Ears, Hardy Bananas: These tropical plants sport oversized leaves that evoke the tropical setting of Barbie’s Dreamland. While they won’t survive the winter here in PA, they are a fast way to add swaths of lush green to your summer garden.
Coleus: Coleus is a wonder plant: a combo of green and pink! Because the color comes from the foliage, you don’t need to worry about deadheading or fertilizing to keep its color. While it’s often suited best for shady locations, some varieties can thrive in the sun. Use coleus in a grouping to add another dimension to shady locations in your garden by choosing a pink variety or one mixed with lime greens to brighten the bed.
Topiaries: At the end of the day, Barbie is a product of human imagination and so are topiaries! Topiaries are typically trimmed evergreens that keep an artificial shape through trimming and training. If you’re feeling ambitious, or have the extra dollars to pay someone to maintain it, these plants can add that extra unreal element to your garden.
Other Options: Sedums, Ornamental grasses.
Conclusion:
The great thing about “inspired” gardens is that you get to choose how far you take your theme. Maybe you go for the full Barbie look, or maybe you use the principles outlined here to give you a colorful garden anchored with rich greens. The choice is up to you, just make sure you keep in mind the conditions of your garden to choose the right plants for you so you can keep your garden looking beautiful year after year.
If your goal is for your neighbors to say, “that’s that pink house” (with admiration and a little jealousy in their voice), this is the theme for you. Happy gardening, Barbie!