2021 Garden Plans for Zone 5B

We are just weeks away from the unofficial gardening season kickoff in Chicago and I could NOT be more excited! Early May is generally considered a safe time to start planting in zone 5B because there is less risk of frost. If you are itching to get outside, I wrote a garden to do list for April that will keep you plenty busy until planting season. Today is all about daydreaming and talking through our 2021 garden plans for zone 5B.

This is our 2nd year in the house, so my plans could look vastly different from yours. However, looking at what other people are planning for their gardens is always inspiring and I hope this will be for you, too! We are only the second owners of our home. Although it had not been cared for in many years, it was obvious that the previous owners had a garden at some point. Unfortunately due to old age, they let things go quite a bit and the garden was wildly overgrown by the time I bought the house. I spent most of last Spring and Summer trying to tame the garden and build new flower beds. Now that things are more under control, I am excited to watch my plants grow.

East Side Border

The East side border of our garden is half full sun and half dappled shade. Last year I put mixed perennials from my mom’s garden in the full sun spot. I didn’t know a lot about each plant and some grew too wide or tall for the small space. This year I plan to move some of the bigger plants to the new west side border bed. That will leave room for the smaller plants to thrive. The dappled shade half of the garden had peonies, which I imagine were planted prior to the shade tree. I moved those earlier this Spring because they didn’t bloom without sun. Fingers crossed that I didn’t kill them!! In addition to the peonies, my mom gave me many hostas which I intermixed with some astilbe for color. This year I plan to add a couple coralbells, but otherwise this area will remain the same.

Vegetable Garden

Ahh, the vegetable garden. Known affectionately as “the pit.” This was by far the most overgrown area of the garden last year. And that is really saying something. It was full of day lilies, grasses, weeds, and who knows what else. But mostly day lilies. We would like to make this area our vegetable garden, so we didn’t want to spray chemicals to kill off the overgrowth. Instead we put a huge tarp over the area and hoped that it would starve all the plants beneath it. We haven’t taken the tarp off, but I have a horrible feeling that the day lilies survived. I can already see some poking through the tiniest gaps in the tarp. They are the devil. There is a solid chance we will have to pay someone to completely overhaul this spot. I’ll keep you posted!

North Side Border

This is the area that I put the most work into last year. It involved extensive pruning of the lilac, digging up sod to combine beds, having the overgrown barberries taken out, and planting new perennials and shrubs. All the work paid off because this bed is looking great this year. We already pruned the lilac even further and I edged the whole bed. I will have to move the hostas to a shadier spot and fill their space with something else, but that’s about it. I’ll see how things grow in and reassess later in the season.

West Side Border

This garden bed is fresh and new! I spent all last summer trying to tame the ancient barberries that lined this spot and finally had to throw in the towel. I was so tired of how sloppy they looked and kept getting pricked every time I pruned them. It was also very hard to control the weeds in this area. We had them taken out in November and it was the best (most expensive) decision. This year we are planning to line the bed with shrubs and perennials. Our neighbor already told me he will be splitting a lot of his garden and my mom is ALWAYS giving me plants. I will fill in the rest of the area with shrubs. My list includes Ginger Wine Ninebark, Flamingo Dappled Willow, and Limelight Hydrangea.

Burning Bush Bed

This flower bed is also looking great this year. Much like the East side bed, I will have to move some plants around due to their size. There are a lot of Sundrops in this bed and I have a feeling they are overrunning some of the other plants. I will dig some out or move them to another area to leave room for the other plants. The Bee Balm seems to have multiplied as well, so I will be watching it carefully to make sure it doesn’t take over other plants.

What plans do you have for your garden this year? I would love to hear about them! Send me an email or tag me on Instagram . My 2021 Garden Plans for Zone 5B are very much at a beginner level, so take what I say with a grain of salt. And feel free to send me suggestions or corrections 🙂 Happy gardening, friends!