Successful flower gardening requires understanding its fundamental needs – this includes choosing an ideal location, soil and water sources.
Establishing an aesthetically pleasing garden starts by grouping flowers according to their bloom times, before considering shape and color considerations as well as fragrance and movement.
Location
Planning a flower garden begins by finding an area with enough sun. Perennial flowers typically require full sunlight; planting them in areas where there’s only shade may result in their leaves withering rapidly, leading to quick decay of their blooms and eventual crisp up of their stems and petals.
Prepare the space you intend to place a flower bed and select its dimensions, including any paths or borders that should be added. Draw out a rough sketch of your plan in order to visualize its design and layout.
Select plants with show-stopping colors that you find appealing as a focal point and color combinations that excite you, including mature heights and bloom times, fragrance, year-round foliage color and whether or not their flowers attract butterflies, hummingbirds or birds. For an organic touch add shrubs such as easy-to-repeat roses for structure and four-season interest; native or nonflowering plants provide structure while native perennials offer bee-butterfly-hummingbird-friendly perennials offer structure while four season interest as a four-season garden! Additionally look out for perennials which provide flowers which attract butterflies or birds or attract butterflies, bee-butterbirds or birds!
Soil
Flower gardens owe their success to having optimal site conditions that best support the plants they intend to grow – sunlight and soil condition are particularly crucial elements.
Most flowers require full sun in order to bloom at their full potential. When selecting a location in your yard that will receive at least six hours of direct sunlight every day, many types will benefit greatly while some can tolerate partial shade but often die if exposed too heavily.
Discover your USDA hardiness zone and frost dates so you can select plants suited to your climate. In addition, conduct a soil test to evaluate its type, drainage abilities and nutrient content.
Before planting, loosen the soil by working it to loosen it and make digging easier for yourself and providing new plants with more favorable growing conditions. Avoid working too wet of soil as this damages its structure; add compost or organic material such as peat moss to improve it if necessary.
Light
Most flowering plants need full sun to flourish; only some species tolerate partial shade (and their blooms will likely be less numerous and profuse compared with those requiring full sunlight; please refer to Flower Gardening Guides for further information). To maximize blooms’ showiness, place beds where they receive at least six hours of direct sunlight daily.
Many flower gardeners rely on herbaceous perennials as the core of their plantings, with spring-flowering bulbs and annual flowers as decorative touches. You might also wish to include shrubs or small trees for fall and winter interest or groundcovers that require minimal care as accents.
Remember that plants come in all sorts of shapes and forms – from upright and spiky to round and bushy. Gardeners sometimes arrange these different forms near one another for an aesthetically pleasing arrangement; others choose species with similar forms for ease of maintenance.
Water
Many flower garden plants require full sun in order to achieve their maximum bloom, although some species such as groundcover ivy may still thrive there. When planting around trees, aim for at least six hours of direct sunlight per day in your chosen location.
Certain flowers possess distinctive forms that add visual texture, so when designing your garden layout consider these shapes when selecting flowers. Perhaps creating a gradation of heights might work best, with taller plants to the back, medium height ones near center, then shorter blooms on front edges.
Remind yourself that any garden should be close to an easy source of water. Staying hydrated will keep your flower beds looking full and lush all season, unlike in hot and baking summer conditions that can quickly reduce even beautiful flowering plants to wilted heaps.