Plants come in all sorts of shapes (also referred to as forms or habits). Some are round or bushy while others take on more structured forms like spires or screens. Gardeners sometimes group similar plants together.
Sunlight and soil conditions also play an integral part in creating successful flower gardens. Be sure to familiarize yourself with your USDA hardiness zone to select plants suitable for growing in your climate.
Choose Your Plants
Flower gardens offer endless choices, but narrowing your selection can be daunting. To simplify your planning of a garden of blooms, decide what kind of flowers you wish to cultivate and why; are you interested in cultivating cutting garden blooms, so that vases with show-stopping blooms filling them? Or do you prefer growing perennial plants that thrive in your climate?
Before selecting plants, be aware of your USDA Growing Zone and understand what conditions exist in your garden. For instance, living in an extremely warm region might preclude growing hydrangeas or rhododendrons which require cooler temperatures; also pay attention to how much sunlight an area receives as too much exposure may result in scorched plants which won’t return the following season.
When selecting plants, take note of their maturity size and color. Consider planting tall delphiniums or hollyhocks at the back of a garden bed alongside mid-height black-eyed Susans, iris or dicentra plants in the middle, as well as lower-height blooms like chrysanthemums tulips or sweet William at the front for visual balance and to hide anything that you don’t want visible like electrical boxes or HVAC units. Varying plant heights add interest and visual balance as well as help conceal electrical boxes or HVAC units from view! Varying heights create visual balance while simultaneously helping conceal anything unattractive such as electrical boxes or HVAC units from view by covering up visually with different plant heights or concealing things within your yard such as electrical boxes or HVAC units from view by hiding behind tall plants at different positions from each other–thus creating visual interest as well as visual balance as well as hiding electrical boxes or HVAC units from view! Varying heights create interest while visually balance among flowers garden beds or beds which might contain mid-height black-eyed Susans from mid-height black-eyed Susans from middle ground-height black-eyed Susans from middle ground-height black-ed Susans from mid-height black-eentra from being concealed behind trees (dec if needed to hide your flower beds!). Varying heights helps create visual interest as well as hidden obstacles within yards! Varying heights from view; conceal things you might need hidden from view by helping hide electrical boxes or HVAC units! Varying the way in which plants lie: black-eye Susan iris from mid iris from Di iris from dicentra or black-eye Susan iris or dicentra or dicentra to lower William plants are placed next. iris from black eyed Susan iriss from mid height with either or sweet William or black-eye Susan vs mid iris with sweet William from front by planting with mid height plants are used effectively hiding those unwanted views by either hiding unwanted items in between, black i.
Design a Layout
Once you’ve selected your blooming plants and determined their growing requirements, the next step in creating an effective flower garden is planning the layout. Accurate measurements and an attentive approach will reduce or even eliminate the need to relocate plants once established.
To achieve a sense of coherence and unity in a flower garden, try grouping plants in odd numbers of three or more. This visual design trick creates an interesting dynamic effect over the more symmetrical looks achieved with even groups. Another factor important in flower garden design is repetition – world-renowned garden designer Piet Oudolf suggests repeating key shapes across your plant selection and landscape arrangement, giving a sense of cohesion and stability which becomes even more effective as your garden matures.
Utilizing color to set the atmosphere in your garden is also essential in creating your flower bed design. Pale pastel shades and white can help open up a space, while darker blues, reds, and yellows tend to close it in. Hardscape elements like trellises and pergolas add structure to a garden and can serve as focal points. A trellis draped with climbing roses provides a prime example of merging function and beauty together in one garden space.
Prepare the Bed
Flowers grab our attention, but plants also come with different shapes and colors of foliage to add texture and color to a garden. To ensure that a flower bed looks appealing from every direction, vary plant heights; placing taller plants at the back while shorter plants nearer to the front will achieve this. Also group blooming times together for a complete garden appearance throughout its season of blooming.
Before beginning a flower garden project, make sure that its location offers enough sunlight for your planned plants. A simple way to test this is to record how much sun each area receives during an average day; gardens receiving 6+ hours of direct sun will support most species while part-sun or shade gardens require special shrubs and perennials for year-round appeal.
In the fall or winter, clear away grass, debris, and any weeds from the area you want to plant in. If the bed is new, add compost or organic material such as vermiculite to enrich its soil and help prevent weeds. Once prepared, mark its edges using plastic edging such as brick, stone, or wood landscape borders; gardens without clear boundaries look unorganized and difficult to manage.