Step One: Remove Anything Not Working
To begin your garden design journey on the right foot, give it an objective review and eliminate anything non-blooming flowers or those you don’t find attractive in general from your space. This will create a better starting point.
Considering each plant’s mature size and bloom time when making design decisions for your flower garden design. Varying plant height throughout your bed adds dimension and visual interest, as does changing up its placement throughout its location.
Location
Flower gardens add color and energy to any landscape, brightening up homes, driveways, or pathways. Before beginning planting your bed(s), take time to decide how you want it to make an impressionful statement against shrubs and trees or complement architecture of your home(s).
Begin by clearing away grass, weeds and debris from the site of your new flower garden. After doing this, amend its soil with compost, shredded leaves or coconut coir to add nutrients that will retain moisture for your plants while providing essential benefits to their growth.
Consider your hardiness zone and first and last frost dates before planting flowers in your yard. Choose perennials with staggered bloom times for staggering effect, while some annuals will fill any voids between perennials. Afterward, draw a map of your space so as to position taller plants behind shorter ones while grouping together flowers that bloom at different times.
Soil
Soil is your canvas upon which to create floral masterpieces. Select high-quality flower garden soil that provides your plants with essential nutrients they require for health and vitality.
Avoid peat-based soils whenever possible; harvesting peat is believed to damage surrounding peat bogs that play a vital role in our environment. Instead, opt for dark mixes of organic materials that provide both nutrients and water retention capabilities.
Look for a mix of flowers like Miracle-Gro Garden Soil for Flowers that contains slow-release plant food to foster more blooms and bigger plants, along with a wetting agent to keep the soil damp so watering needs are minimized. Furthermore, be mindful of your USDA growing zone when adding native species – these will be better adapted to your climate for easier care, supporting local biodiversity, and providing pollinators shelter.
Light
If your garden doesn’t get enough sunlight, growing flowers will be challenging. Knowing your USDA growing zone before selecting plants will also be useful; additionally, keep in mind the amount of shade (and sunlight) where you intend to set up flowerbeds as part of existing landscaping around them.
Piet Oudolf, one of the world’s premier garden designers, suggests considering shape when creating a flower bed. Grouping plants that share similar structures helps make a flowerbed appear cohesive instead of disorganized.
Once you’ve designed your bed, it’s time to begin planting! Our flower garden planting chart makes the process simpler by keeping track of seedlings and transplants as they develop over time. Be sure to water frequently, weed regularly, and cut back perennial flowers once they have finished blooming.
Water
Flowers thrive in soil that drains freely, filled with essential plant nutrients. Before planting your flower beds, add compost or shredded leaves as a mulch – this not only reduces water usage but also improves its capacity to retain moisture by decreasing surface evaporation.
Select flowers that meet the growing zone and light conditions in which you reside. Keep fragrance, pollinator appeal and year-round color in mind when making your selections.
Arrange your flower garden into height-based groupings to provide height contrast between short and tall plants, or create depth. Vary leaf sizes for added visual interest.
For long-lasting blooms this summer, consider selecting both annual and perennial varieties, so as to provide an evergreen supply of blooms throughout the season. In addition, it is wise to regularly remove spent flower heads so as to allow energy towards foliage development and winter survival rather than flower heads remaining dormant on plants.