Planning A Flower Garden Starts with a Design Plan

Planning a flower garden starts with a design plan – yet too often newbie gardeners are content to simply fill up an available space with a plethora of plants, shrubs and flowers only to wonder when they begin to grow past the confines of the flower beds. Secondly, at times some plants will not do well together simply because they have different water requirements than others in the same flower bed. This may lead to over watering, the occurrence of root rot, and maybe even a propensity of the plants to suffer from powdery mildew.

Here are some tips for planning your flower garden with a design plan:

First and foremost, consider the layout of your yard and plan the location for your flower garden. Will you have a barbeque outside? If so, where will you locate it? Will you have a table, chairs, benches or other equipment outside where you will be entertaining? What about play equipment for the children? You will need to mark off these areas from your map. Additionally, glower gardens need to be located as far away from playing children as possible, otherwise you will watch your prized flowers get shredded by baseballs, soccer balls, and the occasional Frisbee.

Now that you have the location of your flower bed nailed down, you need to understand whether it is located in full sun, partial sun, or in the shade. You will be able to find flowers for any of these conditions, but it is imperative that you know ahead of time what kind of condition your plants will be facing. There is nothing worse than purchasing a beautiful partial shade plant only to watch it slowly burn in full sun.

The next question you will need to answer impact the use of the garden. Do you want to make potpourri and are planning of planting flowers for that use? Are you looking to attract hummingbirds or butterflies? These choices will impact your design plan since the different plants you choose will also require you to consider if you will plant them in the front of the flower bed or toward the back.

Budget considerations also factor into the creating of a flower bed. How fancy the plants you will introduce into the garden are going to be stands in direct correlation to the amount of money you are looking to spend. Smaller budgets call for bigger and bushier plants to cover more ground, while larger budgets will allow for larger varieties and smaller flowers.

An oftentimes overlooked design aspect is the overall impression you want the garden to give. Is it to look well manicured and formal, or is to give the impression of being a piece of wilderness?

Start out with a piece of paper and draw a rough outline of your yard. Cross out the areas you will not use for flower beds. Next, mark the areas that will become flower beds and mark down the light they receive. You are now ready to consider the plant selection more closely. Tall flowers for the back, sprawling flowers for the areas that will become borders – maybe you will also factor in some seasonal plants such as those that come up from bulbs during the spring and then die back after they bloom. Do not give in to the urge to buy more plants than your flower garden can support. Remember, you can always add plants, but you do not really want to rip out any that you have planted to make some extra room for those that are now growing larger than you had anticipated or planned for.