*Add early spring color by mixing yellow flowers of Little Gem combine beautifully with blue Chionodoxa.

*Use roses generously, a bright pink shrub rose is a good partner to Iris.

*Rely on annuals like Petunias and Pentas. These two plants will bloom nonstop from May to September.

*Mix flower shapes and add interest by mixing flowers with different petals and sizes. Some examples of flowers would be Penta flowers and Stella D’Oros.

*Purple pairings like Veronica, Bearded Iris, Feather Bluestar, Catmint, and Chives would be full of textures and contrast.

*Include Hydrangeas, most of these bloom from midsummer to fall, which make them ideal for mixing them with flower borders.

*Mix shrubs and flowers and make shrubs the backbone of your flower border. They add color and structure to your garden even when everything else is not in bloom.

*Plan for drought, Anise Hyssap and Creeping Seedum, both of these grow and bloom even when rainfall is scarce.

Just because snow is coming does not mean that you should abandon your yard until the thaw of spring. If the snow has not yet come, here is what you should do to prepare your yard before it is frozen.

1. The Lawn

You should continue to mow until the ground has frozen. When it gets chilly, some warm weather grasses will go dormant, but grasses like bluegrass and fescue, which are cool season grasses, will continue to grow until the ground freezes. You want to keep it trimmed because this will reduce the chances of fungus growth, which will later harm your lawn. A side benefit is that this will also shred leaves and other yard debris, which will help fertilize the yard. If you plan on using the leaves as fertilizer, make sure you keep up on mowing them to shreds, or you may have to rake some of the leaves up and dispose of them.