Flower gardens bring beauty all year-round, so creating one can bring year-round delight. Selecting colorful blooms that suit the space perfectly while providing interest throughout the year is key for its design.
Carefully consider the lighting conditions at your site. Sun-loving flowers will quickly wither and die in shaded conditions while shade-tolerant varieties thrive when exposed to full sun.
Evaluate soil quality by conducting a soil test and making amendments as necessary.
Location
As is true of any garden, flower gardening requires choosing an ideal site. Consider how the beds will be seen both from inside and out as well as how they might appear from private spaces like patios or porches.
Make sure your beds are accessible for watering and maintenance, evaluate soil quality, if necessary amend it to meet the needs of your chosen plants, and ensure there is plenty of sunlight without obstructions that might block light or interfere with plant roots.
Finally, be aware of your USDA growing zone and plant only flowers that will thrive in your climate zone. Selecting plants outside your zone could result in failure since they won’t withstand frosts and cold. Also remember repetition is key for creating beautiful flower gardens; using similar colors and types repeatedly throughout will create a sense of unity and balance throughout.
Design
Apart from selecting flowers that thrive in your growing conditions, most of the design decisions for a flower garden lie solely within your hands. Cowan suggests starting by drawing out a rough sketch of your flower bed before identifying what types of soil, sunlight, and water each plant needs to thrive. She advises visiting natural areas that resemble your gardening conditions to see what plants thrive in them as well as how they appear within their native environments.
Consider your desired flower garden ideas style first; formal landscapes might call for straight beds while cottage gardens often incorporate meandering paths and irregular clumps of blooms. Repetition is important in creating a cohesive look, yet don’t oversaturate your garden with too many blooms that overwhelm it with color and clutter. Vary bloom heights to add visual interest; choose plants with staggered bloom times so when some fade, others begin bursting forth again; also experiment with texture and size pairing fine-leafed marigolds alongside coarse foliage like canna lilies can add texture while providing contrast and intrigue!
Planting
Now is the time to get your flower garden plan underway. Start by planting showy blooms as focal points, then fill in around them with plants that bloom at different times throughout the season for maximum color impact.
Be mindful of how much sunlight each plant requires as part of your planning process. Without proper lighting conditions, many flowers won’t bloom as beautifully as intended. To avoid making costly errors, observe how the sun moves across your landscape daily to gauge how much direct sunlight each location receives.
As part of your flower garden maintenance routine, group flowers with similar water and sunlight needs together. This will help ensure they receive enough TLC without over- or under-watering or shading them, according to horticulturists’ recommendations. Repeating flowers of similar colors or shapes throughout your garden offers continuity while adding variety – for instance planting fine foliage plants like marigolds next to groups of bushier ones such as geraniums or canna lilies can create contrast and intrigue!
Maintenance
Simple concepts make planting and maintaining a flower garden easy. First, ensure the area is clearly defined and free of grass or weeds; use garden edging or stones to define borders neatly around each bed to keep out reach of mowers as well as prevent any stray weeds from creeping in between flowers.
Next, evaluate your planting options. A mix of perennials and annual flowers will bring color all season long; perennials will return year after year; annual plants must be replanted each year; perennials typically bloom between spring and summer while most annuals bloom most vividly during late summer or fall.
Assorted plants should bloom at different times to provide fresh cut flowers as some fade and others emerge to fill their place. When cutting, do it either early morning or evening when temperatures are cooler so the stems have the best opportunity to absorb moisture and become healthy again.