Designing a Flower Garden

Designing a flower garden can be an intimidating task, especially if you’re not artistically inclined. When you buy nursery flowers, it can be difficult to envision which varieties will look best together, how much space they’ll cover and just generally what they’ll look like in the ground.

Designing a flower garden can be an intimidating task, especially if you’re not artistically inclined. When you buy nursery flowers, it can be difficult to envision which varieties will look best together, how much space they’ll cover and just generally what they’ll look like in the ground.

Begin by deciding the shape and size of your flower bed(s). You may want rectangular plots in different areas of the yard, or you can choose to do something curvy, perhaps following the contours of a pathway. Before you start digging, draw a basic plan on paper.

A general rule for arranging flowers in a flower bed uses height differences to create visual variety. Mix and match tall and short flowers. Pick one type of plant that grows tall, one groundcover or climbing vine and one bushy type to fill in the middle. If you have room, you can add a fourth type to fill in gaps—pick something that contrasts in color, texture, or foliage size with the others.Consider when you want blooms so you can decide which annual or perennial plants to pick.

Continue using your sketch to fill in the types of flowers for each area of the garden. Keep in mind where the garden will be viewed from, so you can plan to put the tallest plants in the back. Know where and when the garden receives sun and shade so you can put the flowers in the locations best suited for them.

Once you hammer out the details, have fun designing a garden with flower colors and shapes you enjoy!