Flower Garden Design Ideas
My current flower gardens are less than 10 years old, but they've come a long way from the bare dirt we had back when we moved into our home. I've learned a little along the way about designing flower gardens, and thought it would be fun to share flower garden design ideas with you using pictures from my garden. These are some of the major concepts I've read about and tried to apply in my garden.
If you're designing a flower garden, make sure it has good "bones." That means that the overall outline should be strong and well defined. Even a country garden such as my own needs definition. Generally, formal garden use straight, even lines, while country, cottage and informal garden styles use softer, gentle more natural curves to denote garden beds.
A dominant color scheme for the season can help tie together different areas of the garden visually. My own garden depends on shades of purple in the early to late spring. Here, phlox cascade over the edging onto the garden pathway. Phlox grow so easily here in my Virginia garden that I transplant many of the unwanted plants to different areas of the garden; this also ties together the appearance of the flower beds.
Shrubs add height and visual interest to the garden. Lilac, also a shade of purple, blooms in the border along the back of my garden.
Don't be afraid to mix herbs with flowers! In the back of this little area of the garden is culinary sage. It looks kind of weedy now in the early spring, but in the summer, the silvery green foliage and soft purple flowers blends nicely with the blooming ajuga reptans in the front of the border. Day lilies mixed into the border bloom with vivid orange and yellow flowers. My garden transitions from mostly purple shades in the spring to a lot of yellow and orange in mid summer.
Symmetry goes a long way to add balance and appeal to a garden. Here, a little unintentional symmetry - pansies seeded themselves into the sidewalk cracks! In the actual flower garden, I've planted peony bushes, heather, salvia, monarda and foxglove on either side of the entrance pathway to balance out the appearance of the garden. Each year I move plants around the garden, sometimes shifting their offspring to new areas to balance out the color or plantings. Don't be afraid to experiment and change things as your garden grows. I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into my flower garden and taken some flower garden design ideas for your own yard.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
Join the conversation
1 comment
-
Beautiful flowers! I love Lilac.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?