Flower gardens add vibrant and beautiful accents to any landscape. When creating one, there are several factors to take into account including soil preparation, planting techniques and maintenance costs.
Acquainting yourself with your hardiness zone and first frost dates will enable you to select plants suitable for growing in your climate.
Be sure to protect your flowers from animals that feed on blossoms and seeds, such as deer and squirrels, that eat blossoms and seeds for sustenance. Repellents or wire cages may help deter them.
Prepare the Soil
Ascertain an optimal site for your flower garden by inspecting its surroundings to make sure there is sufficient sunlight for most perennial species and your desired varieties of blooming flowers (especially annuals).
Next, use a garden hoe or sharp shovel to clear away grass and weeds from the site. If the ground is particularly sandy or gravelly, add organic matter as an aid to improving soil structure and encouraging healthy plant growth.
Your flower garden requires rich and fertile soil. By mixing compost, sand and volcanic rocks like perlite or vermiculite together with it helps prevent any clumping and promote good drainage.
If you’re growing annuals, clip spent flowers to promote further blooming. Make sure to harvest flowers when they’re cool – either early morning or later in the evening is best – and place them in a bucket filled with cool water to ensure they remain fresh longer without turning brown or developing fungal disease. When harvesting perennials remove any dead blooms as well.
Choose Your Plants
Flower gardens are one of the easiest ways to add color and brightness to your yard. From perennial blooms that flower year after year to easy-care annual flowers that provide instantaneous splashes of brightness – flower gardens provide the perfect way to bring color into any outdoor space!
Planning a flower garden involves walking the proposed bed area and considering its size, location and amount of sunlight it receives. Also be mindful if any existing plants exist there – keeping some might make sense while moving others elsewhere into your new flowerbed garden.
Once you have selected the size and location for your garden, start selecting plants. It can be helpful to read descriptions of flowers in seed catalogs or nursery literature as this will give an indication of how tall or short they grow, when they bloom, maintenance requirements, etc. Some flowers such as sweet peas and climbing nasturtiums require support like netting or trellises in order to reach their full potential.
Planting
Before planting, clear away as much grass and weeds from your planting area as possible by weeding. It’s best to do this before the soil heats up too much and becomes overrun with tough weeds that require constant upkeep.
Visit the area in which you plan to plant in order to assess how much sun or shade it receives, which will influence what types of flowers can flourish there. “Flowers that require full sun will wither quickly in shaded gardens; while cold-hardy varieties will become crispy under hot sunlight,” according to horticulturist Molly E. Williams.
Mix perennials with annuals to add season-long color. Perennials provide structure and bloom time while annuals such as petunias, geraniums and pansies offer quick flowering that can be cut back after they finish blooming. Bulbs add early spring blooms before perennials emerge while shrubs with colorful foliage or winter interest can complete any garden design.
Maintenance
Maintaining an attractive flower garden requires some regular upkeep to stay its best. A steady supply of water helps young plants flourish; use a hose attachment with a fine spray pattern that won’t disturb or damage buds and leaves. Flowers need ample sunshine; choose mulches that won’t obscure the beauty of your blooms to maintain moisture in beds.
Retired garden designer Donna Hackman advises creating pathways around your flower beds so you can move through them easily without treading on any delicate plants. A decorative fence or chicken wire may also help deter animals that might try to make a meal of your flowers.
Deadheading or the removal of dead flowers, is another key task in keeping your garden in top condition. Deadheading promotes bloom growth while clearing away unsightly, unruly foliage – something you should do regularly for their wellbeing and to preserve their blooms’ vitality. This process should be performed weekly for optimal flower health.