Flower Garden Design
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Flower Garden Design Tips
Anyone interested in flower garden design will very quickly find out that creativity, like a parched garden, can often dry up. Like any other artist (gardening is an art), it is necessary to find ways to keep our works of art fresh and beautiful. Here are some gardening tips you hopefully will find are a breath of fresh air.
There is a tendency to want to separate out perennials, trees, shrubs and flowers in flower garden design. This is a natural and can produce an interesting effect. However, mixing it up can open up a whole new vista of stunning results.
Rather than developing a segregated design, mix your perennials in for a diverse border. The base of your trees and shrubs will shine if they are sprinkled with flowers of different colors and sorts.
Wide flower beds provide more opportunity for growth and possibilities than narrow ones. As your garden grows, you want to have the option of adding flowering shrubs or perhaps even trees. With a narrow bed, your optoins will quickly run out.
The disadvantage of a wide bed is that in the beginning it will look bare and skimp. This is part of the reason why many start with narrow beds. Resisit this tendency. See the beginning in the end and plan for a wider bed.
Like art, good flower garden design needs a point of focus. Scattered plants, flowers and shrubs will produce a better result if they are directing the attention of the admirer to a central point of focus. This can be a fountain, a rock or even a bench. When flowers are the point of focus, the admirer will unconsciously expect more and therefore be more judgemental. But on the other hand, when the focus is a bench or rock design, the flowers take on a decorative role. This will have a pleasing effect on the admirer and ultimately result in a more beautiful and esthetic result.
Finally, another often overlooked strategy in flower garden is forecasting what the different flower and plant varieties are going to look like when they are full grown or in full bloom. This is why it helps to have some plan in mind and not just haphazzardly planting this and that here and there. Garden design software can help with this. It also is a good idea to look at other people's gardens.
If you have other flower garden design tips, please share your comment below and share your experience and expertise with others.
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Comments
I agree that planning your garden is essential. I moved into a new home in 1996 in the Denver, Colorado area in a typical suburban lot - about 8000 square feet, and had blank slate to work with. It took me 5 years to finally say I was done. However, gardens are never REALLY done, are they? My garden design has changed over the years, to include the need to accomodate shade where there was sun, etc. Also, I've killed more plants, trees, shrubs than I care to admit. Even the best planning won't save you from some casualties. You have to roll with the punches. I've lost a few high-dollar items that really hurt.
The best tips I can offer to new gardeners is:
1) to do your research on what grows best in your area ( I now have quite the collection of gardening books ). Employees at the local nurseries knew me by name and became my new best friends. Also, visit the nearby botanical gardens to see plants in all their glory and to get ideas on bed designs. Pictures just don't do some plants justice.
2) Spend some quality time in your yard to get to know it. Where's the shade? Where's the sun? Where's the hottest spots? Learn about microclimates. Find out what kind of soil you have. Clay? Sand? Rich brown loam? You won't believe how many bags of compost and mulch you'll buy. Seriously.
3) Know your zone and plant accordingly. (I live in zone 5, but have a few hot microclimates where zone 6 plants flourish)
4) Don't overcrowd the plants. It didn't take long for me to need to pull out some plants that didn't have enough room due to overcrowding.
5) Before you plant something, find out if it is invasive in your area. Invasive plants take 5 minutes to plant, but a decade to get rid of if it takes over. Visit your local nursery and ask questions.
Andrea
-Misha, noted.
-Andrea, WOW!!! Thank you for adding all those great tips! It certainly makes this page richer. Why don't you do a hub on your garden and share it with us?
Regards,
Jonathan
Funny you should mention that. I'm starting a series of hubs called "A Year in the Life of a Denver Garden". I've been photo-documenting my garden every year since the beginning. Now that I found HubPages, I think it's a great place for a more active garden journal than just my pictures at Webshots. I'm going to do an introduction hub with some early pictures of the garden...from a dirt lot, literally. And I'm thinking of adding sections of what has died, what new plants I'm putting in, what is being moved, the trials and errors along the way, tips on xeriscaping (I'm in Denver, after all! The home of xeriscape.), what projects are planned for the year and their progress, design stragegies and tips, the books and authors that have helped me most, and whatever else I can think of. Lots of pictures will accompany. Nothing says "garden" like pictures.
Awesome!!! I can't wait to see your series. I'm sure it will get a lot of attention.
Cheers!
Jonathan
Very nice subject. Gardens are an inspiration. Yes, visuals would really give a much needed touch to such a well organized hub.
I used to do organic gardening; many good meals came from it...but it's been decades since then.
Yes, I need some visuals here. I'll get around to it.
Thanks for visiting.
In the hotter parts of the country, we find a great addition to your landscaping are container grown flowers. You can move them around depending on the heat, and set them where the lawn sprinkler system will do the most good for them as well.
working
Misha says:
3 months ago
More pics will not hurt with such a topic :)