Designing With Flowers

If you've ever walked through a beautiful flower garden, you've appreciated how well designed the plantings are.

Garden designers can spend years perfecting their flower garden design skills. But even novices can create nice looking beds and borders on the first try by keeping in mind the following tips:

Give it room!

So many flowerbeds are undersized—just a foot or two deep and a few feet long. Supersize it! Larger beds allow for a better mix of flowers so that you always have something in bloom. Larger beds also allow you to plant in larger clusters or "drifts" of six, ten, and even 12 of the same flower—giving your planting more impact and preventing a messy, patchwork look. It's better to plant, say, 12 marigolds in a cluster than three marigolds, three petunias, three salvia, and three periwinkles.

Choose a color scheme

Not all colors look good with each other. As much as possible, choose three or four flower colors (pink, blue, white, and purple is a classic combo) and stick to those flower colors. Keep in mind that even a single color can come in pastels or vivid colors. A soft pink, for example, is very different from hot pink. In a flower bed, stick to all pastels or all brights to keep things harmonious.

Foliage is important

As much as possible, seek out flowers that also have attractive foliage. Sedum 'Autumn Joy,' for example, looks good from the moment it emerges from the ground in spring. It blooms brick red in fall. Then the flowerheads dry in place and provide interest all winter. Compare that to Oriental poppies, which bloom in early summer for a few days and then their foliage turns brown for a couple of weeks and dies. Both plants are useful, but when given a choice, go for plants with foliage that looks good all growing season long.

Keep plant shape in mind.

Put taller plants in the back and lower ones in the front. Artfully combine different shapes and leaf types for contrast. Put tall skinny plants next to lower, sprawling ones. Put a fluffy, shrubby small-leaved plant next to one with large, bold shiny leaves.

Mix it up.

For the longest bloom time and more interest in a flower bed, mix flowering shrubs, perennials, annuals, and bulbs. Each type of plant has an important role to play:

Flowering shrubs, once established, have the benefit of being large right off the bat in spring, adding "volume" to your bed or border all year long. They're also easy to care for, usually needing no more than a light annual pruning, if that. Roses are a type of flowering shrub and work well in beds and borders. Look for low-maintenance shrub-type roses, which can be practically care-free.

Perennials come back year after year. They tend to bloom just a few weeks at a time, but their foliage adds welcome greenery and they are low-maintenance. Perennials may cost more per plant than annuals, but because they are pretty much permanent they're a good long-term investment that saves money in the long run. Some perennials bloom in early spring, some in late spring, some in summer, and some in autumn. Choose a variety so you've got color from flowers all growing season long.

Annuals last just one year but bloom their little hearts out during their short, sweet lives. Many will bloom all growing season long. Change each year for a fresh new look in your beds.

Bulbs are also good to mix into your border. The spring-blooming bulbs, such as daffodils, crocuses, and tulips, are great for planting in the fall in groups of 20 or so of the same type (for best impact) in between perennials. The bulbs will bloom in early spring before the perennials and then the bulbs die back, allowing room for the perennials.

Most spring-bulbs are perennials, coming back year after year. However, some of the favorites, such as tulips and hyacinths, usually come back just one year or two and need to be replaced after that.