Flower gardens provide an opportunity to experiment with colors, sizes and heights while creating an aesthetically pleasing landscape. To achieve the best result, it’s wise to choose flowers that complement each other in color, size and height.
Before planting, assess how much sunlight an area receives over an entire day. Most flowering plants need full sun in order to achieve maximum bloom.
Location
As the days lengthen and the sun draws you outside, consider what kind of impression your flower garden will make on its surroundings. From filling the front yard with splashes of color to designing an edge leading up to a patio – taking time to consider how your garden fits into its surrounding is important when designing it to complement landscape.
Understanding your USDA growing zone is also essential when selecting plants for a garden bed. A plant that doesn’t thrive under local temperatures or soil conditions won’t return year after year – which means extra work in terms of maintenance!
As a general guideline, flowers that require full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight) tend to perform better than their part-shade counterparts. When designing the bed, use this knowledge to achieve an attractive balance of colors and textures throughout your garden – repeating similar colors, shapes, species or forms can add cohesion while making the bed less disjointed; odd numbers tend to look better so ensure groups of three or more flowers make your design.
Focal Point
Flower gardens require focal points that draw the eye from one area of the landscape to the next, be it unique plant groupings, colorful garden art pieces or an eye-catching architectural structure. To achieve this goal, focal points may include creating groupings of plants or pieces of garden art; architectural structures also make an interesting point of focus.
As you plan your garden design, ensure to include both major and minor focal points to avoid overwhelming your senses and diluting its overall impact. This will keep the overall effect of the garden in perspective.
Focal points can also be created using different plant colors or shades to achieve an integrated look. For instance, adjacent colors on the color wheel such as pink and red complement each other well, as do plants with staggered bloom times that keep your garden full even after blooms start fading away. To add further dimension and shape to the garden during non-flower bloom times consider including foliage that adds shape and color such as an array of vibrant leaves lining paths in your yard.
Background
Apart from making sure the flowers you grow thrive, it is also essential to consider their visual appeal. When matching plants to their sites and soil types as well as light conditions, design options become endless!
An effective flower garden should include contrast in texture and shape as well as color. A clump of daisies may look pretty, but when combined with Liatris spikes or Foxglove foliage or Achillea or Gypsophila foliage your borders truly come alive!
Many flower gardens were part of a more complex landscape or garden structure, such as Loudon’s 1849 article in The Horticulturist featuring his knot garden or geometrically laid out parterres popular in nineteenth-century design. A background like these helps prevent your eye from wandering off from your carefully placed plants while making the whole look cohesive and pleasing; adding focal points such as trellises, bird fountains or ornamental trees can draw the eye directly to certain spots in the garden.
Plants
Your choice of plants will have a major effect on how your flower garden appears, so take into account bloom size, color combinations and year-round interest when selecting flowers for planting.
Flowers that bloom in shades of the same color, like pink or purple, pair nicely. Colors across from each other on the color wheel such as blue and yellow also complement well together. Also consider height; tall plants work better in the back while shorter varieties work best at the front or edges of borders.
As part of your layout plan, begin with shrubs and perennials before moving on to annuals and bulbs. To extend your gardening season further, include perennials with various bloom times before adding hardy summer-blooming annuals like zinnias or cosmos for hardiness. Also incorporate shrubs with lush foliage when flowering has ended so the garden remains lush and full; this will keep its look full and lush for longer. A well-designed flower garden offers ambience while increasing curb appeal while being therapeutic too!