Flowers gardens require careful design. Experts agree on several core concepts that will help create an eye-catching display of color and texture.
Assess your garden’s sunlight conditions and soil quality to determine which plants will flourish in its surroundings.
Cowan advises incorporating perennial flowers with staggered bloom times for year-round interest.
Color
Planning the perfect color scheme for a flower garden requires striking a balance between brightness and contrast and unity, creating a stylish aesthetic without overdoing it – something many gardeners aspire to master.
Strive for a harmonious combination of flowers whose hues complement each other like pieces in a puzzle. If you select one hue, look for flowers from an analogous group which are near each other on the color wheel – for example red, blue, and yellow are logical examples.
Consider also the color of the foliage when selecting flowers for your garden. Silvery green or blue-green perennial flowers add cool, soothing beauty, while an assortment of plants with colorful bark or berries add four-season interest and provide four-season interest in any landscape.
Form
Make sure your flower garden receives enough sunlight – full-sun gardens require at least six hours of direct sun each day, or it could lead to plants dying quickly or becoming leggy.
Consider using the color wheel when choosing flowers for your garden. Flowers adjacent on the color wheel, like pink and red blooms, make an attractive combination. Consider also including foliage for added depth of color and texture after blooms have faded.
Experienced flower garden designers understand the importance of including both perennials and annuals to maintain year-round color in their gardens. In addition, they take into account frost dates in their area as well as staggered flowering times; this ensures gardens that burst with color during summer won’t turn stark by autumn. It is also crucial that garden beds be evaluated first before purchasing plants.
Size
As it will help determine how many plants to purchase and where you should place them, drawing your flower garden borders precisely is key for successful gardening. You should use a ruler or yardstick to keep lines straight. Doing this will give an accurate representation of your flowerbed.
Flower gardens require careful maintenance throughout the growing season for blooming success, including watering, removing weeds and trimming perennial flowers as well as selecting appropriate combinations that suit climate conditions, soil requirements and garden goals.
For example, if your flower garden’s aim is to serve as pollinator habitat, planting annuals such as calendula and zinnia as annuals while overwintering biennials with early flowering biennials as biennials will attract pollinators before other flowers bloom in spring. This will attract butterflies before more common flowering plants emerge with blooming periods that match up more closely. Furthermore, consider staggered blooming times for fuller color throughout the growing season.
Texture
Garden design includes more than spectacular blooms; texture plays an essential part in floral garden design too. Bold, coarse textures can give a landscape an uninviting feeling while fine and smooth textures give a softer aesthetic. Professional gardeners use various combinations of rough, soft, smooth, coarse and light/dark elements in order to make their gardens appear less disjointed and more cohesive.
Seed packets and plant tags often provide valuable clues as to the ideal soil texture for specific varieties, but you still must decide if you prefer a garden with curved or straight lines, when flowers will bloom, so your blooms add color throughout the growing season, as well as pollinate fruit and vegetable crops. Consider including annuals as annual flowers provide continuous color as well as helping pollinate.
Add a Focal Point
Focal points add dimension and draw attention to any flower garden. These may include prominent plants or groupings of plants, as well as objects like statues or trellises that catch people’s eyes.
Experienced flower garden designers know to include show-stopping flowers and shrubs, and choose plants with various flower sizes and year-round interest to keep a garden engaging throughout its season. Mixing colors, forms and textures adds further dimension; mixing up planting heights from tall formal spires and perennials to short ground-hugging annuals creates a relaxed ambience in any garden, according to world-renowned designer Piet Oudolf. When creating plans use a garden hose as a guideline and view it from various angles before committing plants in place!