At the core of successful flower gardening is understanding your garden site. This means learning about its soil type and observing when and how sunlight reaches it throughout the day.
Most flowers thrive in loamy, well-draining soil; however, this varies between species and locations. A soil test can help identify how best to amend your garden’s soil.
Choose Your Plants
Before beginning your flower garden, it’s essential that you select your plants carefully. This can be accomplished online or at a local nursery with knowledgeable staff that can answer questions about a plant while making recommendations of complementary flowers that go with it well.
Be mindful when selecting plants. Any blooms not hardy for your area may quickly perish. Also pay attention to sun/shade requirements of each potential selection – those which thrive under full sunlight can quickly perish in shaded gardens beds.
Consider how tall your plants will grow once matured – having different heights within a garden bed adds interest!
Plan Your Layout
Plants thrive best when their garden is designed with them in mind, taking into account factors like sunlight and space requirements for flowers before selecting where to plant them. A garden plopped onto an unsuitable lawn looks unnatural at best and disastrous at worst.
If roses and peonies are the stars of your show, make sure other early summer blooming perennials don’t interfere with them so they can shine. Mix colors for an eye-catching display: complementary hues such as purple and yellow look great together; conversely colors across from one another on the color wheel are also recommended.
Make sure to choose flowers with different shapes and foliage textures in order to add dimension and interest when they’re not blooming, like selecting tall plants for the back row, bushy ones in the middle, and groundcover for front. It’s like creating an image collage!
Lay Out Your Pathways
Flowers make an attractive addition to any landscape. From creating a splash of color under your windowsill to designing an entire bed that blooms all summer, there are various ways you can plan and design a flower garden.
Commence by creating a site inventory of your yard and marking off its boundaries for your flower garden. Acknowledging sunlight availability and soil type (if it’s poor or sandy, amend before planting for optimal nutrition absorption).
Choose a selection of plants with staggered bloom times to create year-round color in the garden, such as shrubs for winter interest, perennials for summer blooms and colorful annuals for fall color. Also consider plants with distinctive foliage for added texture and structure in the space.
Prep Your Bed
Once you’ve selected and planned out your flower garden location, clear away grass and weeds before amending the soil with compost or organic matter to give your blooms the best start possible.
Be sure to select plants which thrive within your USDA hardiness zone, as plants outside will find it harder to survive in cold temperatures and could quickly perish.
Arrange your flower beds according to height to create depth in the garden. Taller plants such as sunflowers and hollyhocks should go towards the back, medium-height plants such as lilies and sweet alyssum should fill out the center, and shorter impatiens and lobelia should fill out the front row of planting beds.
Plant Your Flowers
Once the area is clear, dig holes to accommodate the seedlings, cuttings or bulbs you are planting. Be sure to read your flower package’s recommendations regarding hole depth for proper placement.
Always ensure your flowers grow best in loamy soil that drains well and contains organic material, with adequate drainage capabilities. Also take into consideration their needs regarding sunlight exposure – some flowers require full sun while others do better under partial shade conditions.
Once your flower garden is established, be prepared to regularly remove weeds and deadhead spent blooms to maintain the health of your plants. Fertilize regularly too and don’t forget to water between rainstorms – taking good care in cultivating an attractive garden is well worth your while!