An attractive flower garden makes an impressive visual impact. By applying key design concepts, you can craft the ideal garden for your space.
Tip 1: Repetition
Just like location is key when purchasing real estate, repetition in flower garden design is equally essential. Reusing core colors, shapes and plant species throughout your garden creates cohesion while expert flower garden designers often group odd numbers of plants into groupings as this is more visually appealing.
Location
Flower gardens will take on different looks depending on soil conditions and light levels, but their principles remain the same.
Establish the location for your garden and sketch its boundaries using garden edging or stones, so as to prevent grass and weeds from overtaking it. Mark any steep slopes as these may need terracing in order to prevent soil erosion.
Choose plants that thrive in your USDA growing zone, taking into account their height requirements and bloom times. Perennials with varied bloom times provide year-round interest. Professional flower garden designers utilize repetition of color and shape to ground the garden and create visual unity; garden designer Piet Oudolf usually incorporates at least three, but ideally more than four of a particular type of plant in his designs.
Sunlight
Considerations must be given to how much sunlight your garden receives when designing its layout. Some flowers need full sun while others flourish under cover of shade. Furthermore, selecting plants that work well within their natural environments such as shrubs and trees should be considered when choosing plants for your flower garden.
Color is an integral factor, with certain flowers looking better together than others. Some individuals prefer cool hues like blues and purples while others enjoy warmer tones such as yellows and reds.
Height is another important consideration in gardening. Playing around with plant heights adds visual interest, while mixing heights, sizes, textures and shrubs keeps your garden engaging all four seasons long.
Soil
Beautiful gardens don’t happen through soil preparation alone or matching flowers to site conditions; some artistic license is also needed to give flower beds an eye-catching design.
Repetition is key when designing flower gardens, avoiding an untidy look. Choose repeating colors, shapes, and plant species across the garden to achieve visual cohesion and goal for odd numbers of groupings of plants over even ones; as this makes more pleasing arrangements.
As flowers wilt or die, mixing heights, colors and textures keeps your garden interesting for much longer. Foliage provides structure as well as visual weight when flowers don’t bloom; use coarse and fine foliage varieties like marigolds and ferns to add visual interest and depth.
Water
Location, soil type and sunlight all play an impactful part in designing your flower garden design, but your goals and personal tastes also play a part.
Repetition is a timeless design trick to give your flower garden cohesion. Professional garden designers often employ this strategy when designing flower gardens; using odd-numbered groupings of similar plants instead of even number groups as this creates more pleasing visuals than even number plant groups would.
Before planting your garden, create a list of all of the plants you would like to see there and determine their appropriate placement in your chosen location. Be ruthless about eliminating plants that are underperforming or don’t satisfy you – Michelangelo had only so many ceilings he could paint in Sistine Chapel after all!
Hardscaping
Once a garden has been established, hardscaping can help define its boundaries. Walkways and access aisles make it easier to tend the flowers while adding visual interest. Paths may be formed using gravel, bricks, wood chips or any combination thereof; steep slopes require additional considerations such as terracing to protect soil erosion and prevent the loss of blooms.
According to garden designer Piet Oudolf, one general guideline for planting beds correctly involves placing taller plants nearer to the front while shorter and more delicate species should be located nearer the back. But ultimately it comes down to individual style and preference – some prefer straight-edged beds with even numbers of plants while others favor natural, flowing styles featuring clumps with mixed heights and colors.