Design to the style of your home
prior to any design planning or actual plant purchasing, step outside your house and take a look: what is the style of you home? Ranch? Traditional? Country? Modern?
Your landscaping should reflect the style of your house. After having said that, I did see a 'country garden' in back of a very modern square box house. The gardens did look out of place with respect to the style of the house, but nevertheless were beautiful.
Stick with the style
- once the style is decided, try not to mix up the style, meaning don't mix a formal garden (structured and straight lines) with a country flower garden (flowing freely and curved )...unless you have plenty of room and can use garden separators (like hedging or a tree line).
Watch the colors
- when designing/deciding on plant color, any loved color can be used. Just make sure the colors flow seamlessly from flowerbed to flowerbed or even within a single flowerbed.
At times transition colors are needed. I use transition plants with silver, white or a groundcover of some sort. However, with every suggested rule of flowerbed color planning there comes an individual's choice. For example: I planted contrast colors right beside each other; the orange Calendula's alongside the Sedum Dragon's Blood. When not in bloom, the Sedum acts as a succulent groundcover and when in bloom the contrast is striking. I like it!
Garden size planning
- a common error for many gardeners is designing a flowerbed that is too narrow. Ergo, when designing your flowerbeds, I use a good rule of thumb: a flowerbed should be designed twice the depth as its tallest plant. Makes sense, doesn't it?
Plan for plant size
- take the time to consider all your plantings for the season, especially their mature size. Whether you plant for the edge of a pond or against a fence, size does matter.
Plan tier planting for front facing flowerbeds
- plant taller cedars or larger shrubs (like the Butterfly Bush or Joe Pye Weed) as a back drop
Tier planting for island flowerbeds
- plant in garden levels or tiers, like a wedding cake. You can achieve this by plant selection (short, medium, tall) or by mounding the soil higher. Layering works well too especially for planting on top of your spring bulbs.
Plan for flowerbed texture
Mix it up
- don't be afraid to mix heights; I have smaller plants tucked in amongst the middle size plants. This gives the garden its fullness and depth
Plan for just foliage plants
- try using varying colors of just foliage plants, like the Coral Bells (to me the flowers are so-so),Lamium or Oxalis.
Plan for more, not less
- plant close together, except where the plant require more space for circulation like the annual Gazania (always read the tags)
Plan for fillers
- consider planting more of the succulents like Sedums or Hens and Chicks. They are low maintenance and great fillers for those empty spots.
Plan for some low growing shrubbery
- I am planting low growing or dwarf shrubs like the Korean Lilac (beautiful foliage). Again, this is just another variety to include in your flowerbeds. Mix it up!
Plan a natural look
- if you have a water feature make sure to include edging plants. This year (2009) I planted the Quick Fire Hardy Hydrangea. Eventually this shrub will hang beautifully alongside the pond. I also use the Virgina Creeper Vine. This vine meanders through the stones, dipping it's ends in the water. And let's not forget about the Arctic Blue Willow. Wispy branches that will hang over the waterfall. All this softens the pond's stone edge. The same goes for a water feature in a container. Plant water plants that grow tall and wispy.
Plan for containers
- please don't discount container planters if you have a large flowerbed. Containers are not just for small gardens! I tuck planters into my flowerbeds wherever I have a bare spot. Could be a shrub that is not performing well and needs to be hidden or an area that takes a little longer in the spring to get going.
Edging Flowerbeds with Limestone
In designing for the flowerbed edging we used the principles explained on my Garden Designing Page to design and outline our flowerbeds.
As with all of our flowerbed gardens, we edged the flowerbeds with limestone, see the Stones and Boulders Page . First we outlined the flowerbeds with the contractor spray paint , laid down landscaping fabric and then 1/4" down gravel prior to laying the limestone.
This method prevents weeds from growing up through the stone. Once the limestone is laid, additional down gravel is lightly poured over the limestone. The gravel down falls between the cracks/spaces and when it rains (it inevitably will) this wetness helps the gravel seal like concrete.
For soil information please see my garden soil page my amended soil mix recipe.
To know more about my own flowerbed designs, please visit: My Flowerbeds.
To view additional images of my flowerbed, please visit: My Flowerbed Pictures .
Other Design Elements Within Flowerbed Gardens
Of course this can be over done. A few static elements has the eyes meandering through the garden...
- create focal/conversation points in your gardens like a sun dial, a specimen plant or a sculpture.
- attract wildlife/birds to your flowerbeds. We are lucky or not to have the male and female Mallards swimming in our pond. Do this by providing the water or sand bird baths, feeders and bird houses.
- use lighting (low voltage if you can) within your flowerbeds. We have our evergreen lit with mini LED white lights. This brings the eye to the very back of the garden/property. Our back trees are staggered back toward our garden house.
- if you create paths within your flowerbeds, make your paths wide enough and use some color (we use the red bark mulch). Nothing is worse than narrow walkways. Makes a person hurry through your garden instead of capturing every last fragrant, beautiful bloom.
- create smaller vignettes (rooms)(if you have the space) within your flowerbeds. Then place a conversation piece or focal points within the room like a bench, bistro set, birdbath or any garden sculpture. The rooms become a pleasant place to sit and ponder life or just view your garden masterpiece.
- a very important design tip to remember...plant in clusters, rather than in rows and within the clusters insert small gazing globes. The birds just love to sit and peck at their own image and I get to see the garden's reflection.
So, if you are considering a specimen tree like my favorite, the Siberian Larch, then give adequate length to the bed. This tree can grow very tall, however I clip mine. Very soft needles and great fall color.
Remember that gardens are always in transition. Most perennials don't last forever. Most need to be replaced at some point. So plant what you like, love. But REMEMBER, design and plant for what you can handle.
Please visit My Plant Selection Page and read about my plant and shrub selection process.
And while you are on that page, look for the link to My 2008 and 2009 Perennial flowers list. Also my 2008 and 2009 Annual flowers list.
Related pages:
Go to My Sun Loving Annuals and Perennials Page
Go to My Shade Loving Annuals and Perennials Page
Go to My Plant Selection Page
Go to My MYKE Page
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