At the core of creating an appealing flower garden is selecting blooms that thrive within your USDA growing zone and soil conditions, and consider their visual impact.
Consider how your flowers will interact with other garden elements such as a pond or birdbath before choosing plant height and shape for maximum effect.
Location
Flower gardens require ideal growing conditions in order to flourish, from climate and soil type analysis, through selection of suitable flowers that thrive there and sun exposure considerations, right down to remembering that full-sun plants can overheat in shade conditions, while summer blooms can succumb to low temperatures in autumn or spring.
Experts advise arranging the highest blooming plants at the back or center of a bed, with medium height and filler flowers closer to the front or edges for visual interest and depth in a garden. This arrangement adds visual interest while adding depth.
Consider both the color and foliage of each plant when designing your garden, such as its colors lining up on a color wheel; complementary hues like purple and yellow offer striking visual contrasts. A formal look with neatly mowed beds or more natural-looking curving paths with blooms spilling off their beds are both great choices;
Plant Height
Flower gardens are not stand-ins; they form part of the larger landscape. Therefore, creating a well-planned layout that complements its surrounding features is key to its success.
Consider their height at maturity when selecting plants; this will help you determine where and how far apart to space them. Consult the White Flower Farm catalog or website, the cultural instructions booklet shipped with your order, or label of each plant for spacing guidelines.
Carefully consider how height will impact a plant’s placement in your flower garden design. Larger plants may obscure views from other plantings or overshadow smaller beds. By including some shorter plants such as feverfew or variegated irises with variegated foliage – such as feverfew – shorter height can add interest while creating a balanced and visually appealing landscape – this is particularly essential in beds featuring roses as focal flowers.
Color
Color adds vibrancy to a flower garden, and can have a significant impact on its perception and use, especially considering how much sunlight falls upon the planting area throughout the day. Brighter summer sun may make colors seem more intense while dulled winter lights may decrease them.
Repetition of core colors, shapes and plant species throughout a flower garden creates an integrated look. Repetition makes these arrangements look stylish rather than random or chaotic.
Some of the most sought-after flower gardens are monochromatic, using shades, tints and tones of one color – such as an all-pink or all-white garden. Another great choice is creating a garden using flowers located close together on the color wheel such as red, purple and yellow flowers; these create an eye-catching display while drawing focus to individual blooms such as an eye-catchingly striped hydrangea flower.
Foliage
Flower gardens’ backgrounds and foreground plants can add or detract from its beauty, depending on what elements are included in their composition. A focal point such as a trellis, ornamental tree, birdbath or piece of garden art can draw onlookers’ eyes even before they view your flower bed in full.
Foliage adds color, texture and interest to a flower garden. Experimenting with different forms or habits (also called form/habit) of foliage is an easy way to change up its look; planting fine-textured marigolds alongside coarse canna lily leaves creates an eye-catching contrast in texture and visual weight that brings extra visual weight into play.
As part of a good garden design, consider the bloom times of its plants when creating your flower garden. Selecting varieties that bloom throughout the season is one of the hallmarks of good landscape design; planting blooming species that bloom at different times is another hallmark. Repetition in flowers serves the same function as real estate agents: repeating core colors, shapes, or species throughout a garden creates cohesion and unity among its flora species.