Looking for a meaningful way to spend Mother’s Day? Gardening offers a wonderful opportunity to bond with your mom while enhancing your outdoor space. Whether you’re tending to a garden, planting a window box, or creating a container garden, here are expert tips to help you make the day memorable and green.

DIY Mother’s Day Flower Basket

For a portable and charming gift, create a flowering basket using a small recycled container. Line it with plastic if necessary, and plant a combination of early-flowering annuals like stock, pansies, and alyssum. Add edible herbs such as parsley, sage, or Thai basil to enhance the arrangement. While this won’t last the entire summer, it will bring cheerful color to a deck, porch, or patio until July.

Container Gardening for Smaller Spaces

For those with limited space, such as front stoops or city patios, container gardening is a perfect solution. Use the “thrillers, fillers, and spillers” method:

• Thriller: A bold focal point with an eye-catching vertical shape, like tall ornamental grasses.​
• Filler: Two or three different annuals or perennials to add fullness.​
• Spiller: A cascading plant that gently falls over the sides of your container, such as sweet potato vine, ivy, vinca, or trailing begonia.​

Refresh Window Boxes

Mother’s Day is an ideal time to refresh window boxes. Choose vibrant geraniums or sunny marigolds to add color and joy to your landscape. Additionally, consider dividing perennials like Heuchera, Acorus, and evergreen ferns to rejuvenate existing plantings.