Designing a flower garden will not only help you have a visually appealing landscape around your home; it can also help you release stress and form a new hobby. A colorful scenery can help you boost positive emotions.
This activity will let your creativity and imagination blossom even if you are not the artistic type. Mother nature can benefit from this as well. You do not have to be a professional landscaper to have a beautifully designed flower garden. If you have an area around your home that you would like to design into one, follow the steps below.
1. Study & Research
Studying the area where you will design your flower garden will help you identify not only the appearance but also what plants are going to thrive in it. First, consider the shape and size of your designated area and the amount of sunlight it receives all year round. Choose whether you will plant on pots or on land or combine both styles.
Next, acquaint yourself with the type of soil in your land and take note of the seasons and climate conditions in your place. Make sure to select flowers that can handle these conditions and also plants that will bloom consequently throughout the year.
It is better to plant flowers that have different bloom times so your garden will continuously have color all year. If you choose to use flowerpots, you can easily transfer your plants in arrangements you opt to.
When doing your research about flowers, consider these factors:
- their season of growth (long-lived perennials or short-lived annuals)
- the most optimal conditions they should be in (zone areas)
- their variations in colors and textures
- their limitations and needs (season and climate, sunlight, space, soil type)
Knowing these will benefit you in the long run particularly during your maintenance. Moreover, you can add add foliage, vines and grasses as filler plants for diversity.
Additionally, take into consideration the style of your house. The garden you are planning to create would look much better if it uses pots and grows flowers that match the appearance of the whole lot.
2. Decide and Design your Flower Garden
After studying your flower garden area, you can now decide which plants to use and how you will design your garden. This will depend on your personal preference and the lot around the flower garden. You can either make your plot look like a wide-ranging cottage-type or give it a modern minimalist look.
Cottage-type flower gardens highlights color and diversity while minimalist flower gardens focus more on placement and organization without much variation.
This planning will involve consideration to the color arrangement you want to see once your flower garden blooms and the time of the year when they will blossom. It is better to plant flowers with alternating bloom periods so your landscape will continuously look colorful.
Make sure to include pathways in your flower garden so the plants are easily accessible during maintenance.
3. Be Creative with Your Flower Garden
When you decide on the colors and landscape design, take into consideration the following techniques:
- Have a unified color scheme. The colors available on your flower garden must be able to unite the appearance of your whole landscape. Using flowers with the same color but varying color tones will hep achieve a unified look.
- Go vibrant. If you want to attempt a flower garden booming with different colors, use a guide on complementary colors so your garden will still look coordinated even with a lot of color variation.
- Have a focal point. This is the part of your garden that is first seen or focused on before the rest of the landscape. Aside from a dense flowering area, you can use garden statues, figurines, or garden art pieces to incorporate into your focal point.
- Consider plant shapes and layers. Take into account the shape of the flowers when they bloom. Put at least 3 of the same plant together to create a sense of continuity. Also, your plants must be arranged with regards to their height to result in a tidy, layered and organized looking flower garden.
- Do not hesitate to decorate. Other garden design materials such as arbors, arches, pathways, lights, and big garden stones can all add to the beauty of your flower garden.
3. Prepare, Buy and Plant
After careful planning on how to design your flower garden, you are now ready to convert your lot into one! Visit your local gardening store or browse on Amazon’s gardening department and on online garden stores such as Gardener’s Supply Company and Seeds Now for the materials you need.
Steps in Designing Your Flower Garden
After obtaining needed materials, the steps below will guide you into how to design your flower garden:
1. Clearing Weeds and Digging Up Old Grass
Prepare your flower garden by clearing weeds and digging up old grass growing on it. You must clear the lawn area especially the old roots. Remove any large rocks and till the soil to make it lose and suitable for planting.
2. Nourish Lawn With Organic Materials
Put a lawn with organic materials on top. You can add compost, old leaves, old manure, peat moss, and enriched garden soil to make your area ideal for growing a flower garden.
It will usually take 1 to 2 months for your compost to become part of the soil so keep watering your lawn until you are ready to transfer your plants.
3. Adding Fertilizers
Plant according to the last frost and seasons in your area. Make sure that your flowers will receive the best environment condition so they will blossom at the right time.
Add fertilizers to support your plants while they grow.
4. Watering
Water as needed depending on your zone. Look after your plants daily and check for drying and wilting. You can set up a garden sprinkler if your flower garden is bigger to lessen the burden of watering a vast land area.
Conclusion
Designing and making your own flower garden is not hard, all it requires is creativity and a little bit of your patience. Sure, it will take some time for them to grow, but once they blossomed, you will find your efforts are worth the price. Nothing is more satisfying than finally seeing the fruits of your labor. Design your flower garden now!
