Plants need healthy soil in order to flourish, and understanding your garden’s type of soil (whether sandy, rocky, clay or silt) is crucial to selecting appropriate plants for a location.
Be relentless when weeding–remove any plant that’s not performing as planned, like flowers that won’t bloom or are blocking your view. Add an annual and perennial mix for maximum seasonal color variation.
Location
Before beginning planning a flower garden, be sure that its location is suitable. Sunlight, shade and soil all play key roles – planting your flowers under inadequate conditions won’t allow them to flourish and bloom fully.
Make an effort to examine your home and landscape to identify an ideal spot for your flower garden. Common locations may include rectangular beds below windows of a house, long beds lining driveways or entryway walkways and circular or oval beds around trees or other garden features.
Find flowers with year-round interest and staggered bloom times for maximum appeal and visual impact. Shrubs provide winter structure while perennials bring summer blooms while annuals can fill gaps between other plants. A range of vibrant hues will keep visitors interested all year long while drawing butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard!
Soil
At the center of a successful flower garden lies its soil. Most flowers prefer loamy, well-draining soil enriched with compost and organic matter for best results, while certain hydrangeas and roses prefer more acidic environments.
Sunlight is also essential to plant health; full-sun plants require at least six hours of direct sunlight every day in order to thrive, while dappled shade plants only need about four.
Interspersing perennials with shorter-blooming annuals is one way to keep your garden vibrant all season long. Consider mixing colors and textures; for instance, pairing bushy plants with dainty ones adds visual weight. After pruning spent flower heads away from plants so they can put more energy into foliage development for winter survival, be sure to remove or cut away.
Light
Your garden’s exposure to direct sunlight is of critical importance if you wish for its success. Flower gardens require at least six to eight hours of direct sun each day in order for flowering plants to flourish successfully, so make sure the areas in which your garden lies receive full sunshine.
Build clearly defined borders using garden edging or other materials to prevent grass and weeds from invading your floral beds, creating an appearance of polish in your garden. Group flowers that share similar water/light needs together for easier maintenance: for instance, group roses with airy fillers like feverfew or snapdragon; color schemes (such as red/yellow combinations) can also help the eye relax!
Temperature
After you have cleared and prepared your site, the next step should be planning your garden. Take into account both your gardening experience and space constraints when making this decision; consider also any features of your home or landscape you’d like to integrate with flowerbeds.
Select flowers that thrive in your garden’s conditions, and group together plants with similar water and sunlight needs so that you can meet everyone’s needs without over or under-watering any one group.
Experienced flower garden designers know to incorporate plants with staggered bloom times for year-round interest and Wiley recommends pairing plants with similar color combinations and textures, such as purple and red on the color wheel, to achieve visual harmony in their gardens.
Water
An attractive garden full of blooming flowers not only enhances the aesthetics of your home, but it’s also a vibrant habitat for pollinators such as native bees, butterflies and hummingbirds – providing year-round interest and providing perennials that you can cut from.
As soon as you arrive at your chosen garden site, begin by taking note of its lighting conditions. Full sunlight is best for growing flowering plants; however, indirect or shaded sunlight may work too.
Repeating colors, shapes and plant species are essential to creating an aesthetic garden design. World-renowned Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf recommends grouping perennials of similar shape together and pulling off dead flowers or cutting back brown foliage to encourage new growth – helping the plant focus its energy on storing nutrients and moisture for its survival.