Befor you start planting flowers in your garden, it is essential that you understand both its requirements and those of the flowers you plan to plant. Choose between seeds or seedlings purchased from stores; for even simpler gardening options consider annual bloomers that bloom quickly before returning back dormant after one season has passed.
Cowan suggests exploring show-stopping plants as focal points and exploring flower sizes with year-round interest, color combinations that look appealing together, as well as strategically repeating key shapes or colors for a cohesive aesthetic.
Choose a Site
Flower gardens can be an exquisite way to increase curb appeal and attract pollinators, yet curating an ideal garden bed may seem intimidating for newcomers. Deciding where exactly on your landscape the beds should go and which types of flowers to grow can be daunting; how should they be arranged so as to maximize visual impact should also be carefully considered.
A beautiful flower garden can be as simple or elaborate as you like, the first step being selecting a location with full sun; most popular annual and perennial flowering species need at least six hours of exposure daily for optimal performance. Furthermore, make sure the soil drains well – poor drainage is often responsible for plant death.
Plan the Layout
Flower gardens provide an effective way to add color and interest to any landscape while simultaneously providing pollinators habitat such as butterflies and birds.
Experienced garden designers ensure their beds feature plants with staggered bloom times to maintain color from spring through fall. Furthermore, odd numbers of any one plant are usually preferred over even numbers in order to achieve an eye-catching aesthetic.
Begin your flower bed design using a hose; walk around and view them from different angles to get an overall view. Additionally, consider including hardscaping elements like pergolas or trellises as possible additions.
Select Your Plants
As part of creating or updating an existing flower garden, it’s crucial that the plants selected thrive within your USDA growing zone and understand first and last frost dates as part of a strategy for success.
Begin by clearing away grass and amending soil as necessary in preparation for planting your garden. Most flower varieties prefer full sunlight; therefore, make sure the area you have selected receives at least six hours of daily sunshine.
Expert flower garden designers rely on plants with staggered bloom times to keep their gardens looking vibrant throughout the year, including spring-flowering bulbs such as tulips and daffodils, summer showpieces like dahlias, asters, and chrysanthemums, plus fall bloomers like asters and chrysanthemums. When selecting plants for your garden consider their shape, texture and colors when making selections.
Create a Focal Point
Focal points draw the eye and help orient it in a landscape, as well as helping define garden styles and themes. Focal points may include art pieces, fountains, statues, unique plant groupings or benches – these all make great focal points in their own right!
Consider size and scale when choosing an object as the focal point for your garden. A large statue may look splendid in a formal, large garden but would look out of place in an intimate cottage garden.
Plants make great focal points. A grouping of perennials or annuals makes for stunning seasonal focal points; while shrubs and trees with prominent features (such as color, branch structure or fall foliage ) can serve as year-round features.
Create a Color Palette
Color plays an essential part in flower gardens. Selecting an analogous color scheme (i.e. colors right next to each other on the color wheel) to unify your design will bring calm to the space – violet and purple flowers work perfectly alongside yellow zinnias for instance!
Complementary colors (opposites on the color wheel) make for an eye-catching display and contrast wonderfully against each other, such as yellow ‘Moonshine’ yarrow and red ‘Moonfire’ lily blooms.
Consider plant textures when planning your flower garden. Experimenting with various foliage textures – for instance coarse-textured yarrow paired with fine lacy bleeding heart leaves – adds visual interest.
Add Accessories
Flower garden accessories add the final touch to any garden and showcase your personal style. Whimsical garden stakes or colorful wind spinners capture attention while adding movement throughout the space, while birdhouses decorated with vibrant hues or unique shapes add another element of fun and playfulness.
Texture can add another level of interest to your flower garden ideas. Try grouping plants with varied foliage textures ranging from the coarse texture of gladiolus leaves to the delicate lacy leaves of bleeding hearts, creating groupings with distinct visual weight and intrigue that last throughout the season. Combine plant heights and sizes to layer visually weighting visually pleasing displays all summer long!