A shed our outdoor building is a great place to plant some trees, shrubs, or flowers. There are a wide range of plant specimens that would give your outdoor storage area a new appeal. I had thought about showing you some different pictures of finished landscaping around some outdoor buildings. What I have decided is to share with you a few photos of outdoor buildings before they were landscaped. Here are some suggestions to see a variety of different plants.

As you can see in these two pictures, they are typical outdoor buildings in a backyard. In the first photo, there are existing evergreen shrubs along the fence. We put those in about a year or so before we were asked to plant around the building. There is also a big existing tree which indicates planting some specimens that can take a good amount of shade. The second picture also shows you a building surrounded by multiple existing trees. What shade plants you can use will depend on your geographic location. Doing this outdoor project is just like any other landscape venture, always plan, prep, and plant.

Decide what type of a bed you would like around the building. One of the ideas I like to incorporate in this type of project, is to have two shrubs on either side of the entrance way to the building. In these particular buildings, some suggestions would be an evergreen shrub that will mature anywhere from three to eight feet in height, and no more then one to two feet in width. The height and the width will depend on the size of your structure.



The dark Curly Leaf Ligustrum, the Steeds Holly or Sky Pencil look nice for an entrance way. The Sky Pencil can reach eight feet tall but can be topped to keep it at the level you want. In the garden project section. there is a page on shade plants that may also give you some other ideas. Another suggestion is a combination of some different size shrubs along the length of the building. In the pictures of variegated plants that will work for a shed area. The variegated plants add a nice contrast to solid specimens. Think about planting a staggered look of perennial or annual flowers in between the shrubs. The flowers add a great accent to the overall bed. The picture below is of a shed in an open area in full sun. The gallery of plants section are photo pages of both annual and perennial flowers that will work well in both shade and full sun.

If you have a shed in full sun and an open area, go ahead and plant some small trees that will give height to the building. Your main goal when planting any size tree around a structure, is to not plant it too close. Some small ornamental trees is another option for you to consider. In an open space like the picture above, you can also enlarge the bed and design it into a full garden project. In this particular setting, an idea is to plant some native plants from your region.

This last picture is in a tropical setting. It is enclosed in a fenced area. There are existing plants that surround the entire building. This is a courtyard that is full of different tropical evergreens. Many tropical courtyards that have outdoor storage buildings, have a variety of palms. The tropics section has some pictures and descriptions for you to get some ideas if you are planning on a landscape project around your outside storage shed. Any of these plant specimens would look striking in a tropical setting.

A tip when doing a project around an outside building, make sure there are no utilities around the structure. If you are unsure of where your utilities are located, contact an agency in your area that can come and mark off any power or other utility you might have buried. Another thought for you is if you are planning on installing an outdoor building and also doing some landscape around it, plan ahead on the positioning of the building. Check to see how much sun the area will receive. If you live in a colder climate, your hours of sunlight will vary throughout the changes of each season. Doing a bed around your outdoor storage building can add such a nice touch to your landscape. I hope this has given you some suggestions if you are planning to install a shed, doing a make over or wanting to plant some specimens around the building.