An effective flower garden begins with an easily maintained border. Edging protects the flowers from being overwhelmed by grass or weeds, making their maintenance simpler.
Careful design guides the eye across blooms while offering restful focal points that add interest. A focal point may include trellises, birdbaths or any other piece of garden decor that adds something special.
Color
Color selection for your flower garden design should also be taken into consideration, for instance to complement or harmonize with the colors of other landscape features such as your driveway, sidewalks and patio.
Create color harmony using subdued or monochromatic colors (where all plants share one hue value). A helpful tip when selecting flowers for these schemes is using a color wheel as this will enable you to visualize these schemes more clearly.
Professional flower gardens often employ odd numbers of plants in odd numbers (threes, fives, sevens or nines) in order to achieve an unbalanced composition. Don’t be afraid to experiment with mixing coarse and fine leaves – their visual weight can dramatically change the composition.
Height
Cut flower gardens aim to produce abundant bouquets each month. In order for this goal to be reached, plantings must be spread out enough that each plant reaches its maximum height while still having enough room to develop and flourish.
If the site is windy, trellises or hedging may be necessary to protect flowers from being flattened by gusts of wind. Furthermore, irrigation may be required in hot, dry environments to keep the soil moist.
Expert garden designers use an effective formula for designing flower beds with balanced color and height, starting by placing tallest plants at the center and gradually decreasing them outward. Tinkering with texture and size can add interest: for instance, grouping dainty flowers near coarser leaves provides contrast. Seasoned gardeners also include bloom times that vary year-round for year-round beauty: consider shrubs at the center for structure and winter hues; perennials provide summer color while autumn brightening enhancers; annuals can fill in gaps between.
Texture
While color may be the focus of a planting design, texture should not be neglected when considering flower garden ideas. Experimentation with various textures from fine to coarse and different shapes will add depth and visual interest to your garden design.
Planting flowers of similar textures can help create a rhythmic garden design, leading the eye through your landscape with ease. For instance, clustering fine-textured plants near or at the base of taller ones creates an immediate focal point while including medium texture daylilies (Hemerocallis) or columbine flowers draws the eyes toward either the sky or front of your garden.
At its heart, the ideal flower garden designs are those which provide continuous color throughout the year. To do this successfully, find blooms that bloom at various points during each season, so when one set fades, another set may already be coming into bloom to take its place.
Focal Point
Focal points in gardens serve to draw the eye, providing resting places as it traverses. A focal point can take many forms – be it strong color, unique plant groupings or objects such as bird baths or garden statues – though to achieve optimal results it is best to limit how many dominant features there are so that the flowerbed doesn’t look overcrowded and disorganized.
Experienced garden designers employ a technique called layering when planning flower gardens, which involves planting tallest blooms at the back and gradually decreasing in height as you move towards the front of the garden. This creates a continuous visual flow from area to area without becoming overwhelming or confusing. Playing around with texture and size can also add interest; try pairing coarse foliage like marigolds with fine foliage like feverfew for an example of how this might look in practice.