Before planting a flower garden, determine its goals. It could serve as an area to cut fresh-cut blooms for floral arrangements or provide pollen-free relief from allergies.
Once selected, select a spot in your yard with full sun exposure. Sunflowers and zinnias thrive best under these conditions.
Choose a Location
Flower gardens require at least six hours of direct sunlight each day, so select an area in your yard where there will be sufficient sunshine to invest the necessary time and energy into creating one. It should also be easily accessible so you can regularly water it and remove weeds as necessary.
Location is entirely up to you when choosing where to place a flower garden, but take into account how it will appear from within your home and any private outdoor spaces. A garden that can be seen from your kitchen window could make an excellent focal point, brightening up its interior space as well.
Before planting, take time to familiarize yourself with your USDA Growing Zone so you understand which flowers are hardy in your region and when frost may strike. In addition, get acquainted with first and last frost dates so you can plan the timing of planting and harvesting accordingly. After researching light and soil requirements of different flower varieties, select perennials with staggered bloom times along with colorful annuals to fill any gaps throughout the season.
Prepare the Soil
Flower gardens rely heavily on their soil. Different flowers require various amounts of water, sunlight and nutrients in order to thrive, so learning what kind of soil exists in your yard is the first step toward successful gardening. You can either conduct home soil tests with a home kit or visit an authorized garden resource center to make this discovery.
Knowledge of your USDA climate zone will allow you to choose flowers suitable for the area’s temperatures and length of daylight hours.
As part of your garden preparations, remove grass and weeds from the area, before digging to a depth of 12 inches – roughly equivalent to the width of your shovel blade – so as to prevent roots of new plants becoming tangled up in grass or other debris. This will allow them to flourish uninterrupted.
Select the Plants
Flower gardens add beauty and charm to any home, yet can be challenging for beginners. There are many factors to take into account, from where to plant the garden to soil preparation.
An effective flower garden begins by choosing the appropriate plants. Most blooming species require full sun to thrive, so select a location that receives at least six hours of direct sun daily. Morning sun tends to be less harsh than its afternoon counterpart which may burn or crisp delicate flowers.
A great flower garden design includes plants that provide year-round interest and staggered bloom times, from shrubs for winter interest through perennials that bloom in the spring, annuals that add summer color and autumn blooms, as well as mixing plant heights, colors, textures and meadow-like qualities that give visual interest and create meadow-like characteristics – aromatic flowers placed where their aroma can spread are also an asset to this type of design.
Plant the Flowers
As soon as frost dates have passed and your soil is ready, it’s time to plant flowers! Before digging up anything new, be sure to refer back to each individual flower plant’s label for optimal height and spacing requirements.
As a general guideline, it’s wise to plant tall plants at the back and short ones at the front in order to minimize weeding and other garden chores. Also consider including some low-growing ground cover species as they work like living mulch to suppress weeds and reduce maintenance requirements.
Finally, make sure that if you live in an arid region that you water regularly. Regular irrigation will reduce the amount of water necessary for maintaining a healthy flower garden.