Choosing flowers for a flower garden is troublesome, but surprisingly pleasant. Composing compositions from green spaces, different in shape, color, size and flowering time, you create a real work of art, the main purpose of which is to make your site unique. Therefore, before you correctly place the flowers in the flower garden, you need to familiarize yourself with the existing rules.
Well, of course, you need to have an idea which plants are best suited for a flower garden.
Arrangement of flower beds: how to place and group flowers correctly
The garden can be compared to a theatrical show where you have the role of director.
What flowers to plant in a flower garden and pick up worthy contenders for a flower bed is not an idle question.
How to group flowers in a flower garden so that the performance does not disappoint you or the audience?
Of course, plants for flower beds and flower beds, claiming such important roles, must be long and stably decorative.
What rules for designing a flower garden do they still need to comply with?
The first thing we notice in the garden is the color, the color of the leaves and especially the flowers, although flowering in the vast majority of cases is very short-lived, only 7-10 days.
In order for the arrangement of flowers in the flower garden to be decoratively stable, when choosing plants, it is important to take into account the habitus of the plant, its appearance, and the impression that it makes.
If we continue the theatrical associations, then for a garden actor a slender figure is more important than a pretty face.
When compiling flower beds, you must clearly understand what you need in a given place – a plant with vertical inflorescences or a soft, loose “pillow”, a column or a ball, a dense cone or something tender – drooping – weeping.
That is, observing the rules for the design of flower beds, when planting flowers with your own hands, first of all, pay attention to the shape of the plants.
Very important parameters are the height and diameter of an adult plant.
The combination of plants in classical-style flower beds should be as follows: tall plants are always located in the background so as not to block the low front ones, in island beds – the highest in the central part.
Flowers for flower beds and flower beds in a modern style do not have to be planted according to the same principle.
It is only important that when choosing flowers for a flower garden, it looks good from all sides, and it is not forbidden to plant a “transparent” plant such as cornflower or burnet, through which it is especially interesting to look at plants planted deeper.
When combining flowers in a flower garden, the abundance of flowering is also important.
It’s not bad at all to plant a long-blooming daylily : although this is not the last squeak of garden fashion, it is constant, blooms regularly, and not like a huge, terry, occasionally blooming fashion novelty.
DIY flower garden design and planting
Wise Chinese gardeners compared gardens to picturesque paintings.
Each artist has his own preferences: someone paints landscapes, someone especially succeeds in portraits, there are supporters of abstract art.
And in landscape design the same story, there are no principles for creating decorative compositions in the garden.
When choosing plants for a flower garden in the country, many are passionate about color, believing that such flower beds are superior to all others in terms of emotional impact. Someone is betting on shrubs, trying to create a garden with minimal maintenance. This principle is rejected by others: “Shrubs bloom in spring, and the rest of the time they look monotonous.” There are those for whom the contrast of inflorescence shapes and planting structure is most important, for example, the famous Piet Oudolf. I quote the master: “The structure of the flower garden and the shape of the plants are the most important components of successful plantings; color is important, but less important than structure.”
In the color wheel, neighboring colors are harmonious, for example, a pacifying combination of pink and purple looks wonderful.
A common type of composition in this spirit – pink roses and purple clematis – looks very elegant.
If you choose opposite colors in the color wheel, such as blue and yellow, red and green, you will get contrasting combinations, such flower beds are very effective, but may seem harsh.
Often they combine flowers for a flower garden in the country with blue and yellow shades, their range is quite large, they look good together.
Or, for example, a purple-leaved elder surrounded by yellow sedges. Bright color contrast, well balanced volumes occupied by an elder bush and five “bushes” of sedge about 40 cm high.
The ovoid, almost spherical shape of the elderberry bush looks good next to the shaggy tussocks of sedges, and the leaves of these plants also effectively contrast.
Pay attention to the photo: flowers in a flower garden in contrast to purple and yellow clematis with purple flowers and yellow-leaved barberry produce a completely different effect, but this picture is also impressive.
In general, this is an interesting topic when a bush serves as a support for a vine. Of course, you can decorate with flowers not only barberry, but also lilac or, for example, thuja.
Arrangement of flowers: how to make a flower garden (with video)
Often create pastel compositions that combine plants of pink, blue, light purple, silver and white flowers.
There are many plants with this color of flowers, they are perfectly combined with each other and with our soft sky, creating a feeling of relaxation.
Creating such compositions is pleasant and quite simple.
An elegant composition of daylilies with apricot flowers, located in front of a group of artichokes, which are planted here not for food, but for beauty.
Artichoke in the climate near Moscow can be grown as an annual, if you sow its seeds for seedlings in February.
The “hot” flower garden combines the colors of fire, plants with scarlet, orange, yellow flowers.
Due to its brightness, such a composition dominates the garden, is pleasing to the eye and creates a joyful mood, an atmosphere of warmth and security.
Yellow barberries, red astilbes and roses with bright scarlet flowers.
We miss the sun, it is on cloudy days that yellow, orange and red flowers are especially comforting.
Famed gardener Rosemary Verey said: “I always thought that bright colors were more suitable for sunny southern countries. However, later I realized that in addition to our calm spaces filled with soft grays, purples, pinks and bluish colors, bright, attention-grabbing spots that uplift the mood are well suited. She wrote about her native England, but in our northern country, flower beds of active saturated colors are also good.
Many garden designers (one of them is the famous Piet Oudolf) believe that the main thing in the composition is the contrast of the forms of inflorescences, for example, the spherical inflorescences of the muzzle (Harberry) create a striking strong contrast with the vertical slender inflorescences of Veronicastrum.
Isn’t it amazing? A flower garden without contrasts is boring, it is attention to the shape of plants and their inflorescences that is the key to success when designing flower arrangements.
Watch the video on how to make a flower garden correctly – you may get a lot of great ideas.
Combinations of plants for a flower garden in the country with photos and flower names
In order to understand how to combine plants in a flower garden, you need to talk about contrast.
Look at the photo: the plants in the flower garden are planted according to the principle of the contrast of the image (habitus), the shape of the inflorescences and the shape and texture of the leaves.
Habitus contrast – a combination of plants that are opposite in appearance, for example, the contrast of the columnar (vertical) silhouette of some varieties of thuja or junipers and the spherical sheared barberry of Thunberg or a weeping form, such as grafted willow or larch.
The contrast of the shape of the inflorescences – as an example, here we can give a wonderful strong contrast of vertical inflorescences, for example, digitalis, aconites, loosestrife, mulleins, veronicastrums, and horizontally arranged inflorescences, such as yarrow, sedum, some milkweeds.
The contrast of the texture and shape of the leaves is, for example, the contrast of the heavy “textured” leaves of a large hosta and the delicate fronds of the ostrich fern, the glossy rounded leaves of the bergenia and the graceful grassy leaves of the daylily, the excellent velvet leaves of the cuff of the soft and elegant foliage of the Goryanka, the openwork leaves of deciduous trees and dense crowns of conifers.
Plants with a vertical shape of inflorescences attract attention in the first place. This is a dynamic form, the viewer’s eye slides up and down. Here are the names of flower garden plants – typical representatives of verticals: black cohosh, veronica and veronicastrum, loosestrife, foxglove, fireweed (willow tea), reed grass (calamagrostis). Verticals in amateur gardens are often not enough.
Black cohosh demonstrates vertical “brushes” in the second half of summer.
At this time, aconites, Japanese anemones, astilbes, mountaineers, burnet, veronicastrums look great with him.
Derbennik is wonderfully combined with echinacea “daisies”.
Veronicastrums are unusually graceful, long-blooming verticals, their inflorescences are good even after flowering, they can be combined with horizontals of yarrow and phlox inflorescences, echinacea and gelenium daisies, reedgrass and millet cereals.
Plants with umbrella-shaped inflorescences organize a good contrast with verticals. Umbrellas are a static form, they keep the gaze in a horizontal plane. The duet of verticals and umbrellas is always good.
Here are the names of flowers for an umbrella-shaped flower garden: panicled phloxes , yarrows, prominent stonecrops, angels, luxurious window sills.
But if the flower garden consists of only umbrellas, then it looks boring, it has no structure. Take a photo of the flower garden plants in black and white: if it is interesting even without color, then it will certainly be good in the garden, if in black and white it turns out to be an amorphous mass, respectively, vice versa. Verticals (verokastrums and reeds), chamomiles (echinacea, gelenium minds), balls (monarda) will help to emphasize the beauty of panicled phloxes.
The flat inflorescences of the stonecrop “Matrona” contrast perfectly with the vertical spike-shaped inflorescences of non-peta (catnip).
When designing flower beds and planting flowers, do not forget about chamomiles (echinacea, rudbeckia, asters, gelenium, elecampane) – they are good with verticals of loosestrife and highlanders, flat caps of phlox, “sausages” burnet.
The best perennials for a flower garden and photos of flowers for flower beds
The best perennials for a flower garden are plants with spherical inflorescences.
They are well read against the background of other colors.
The balls include bows, such as Aflatunsky and giant, and blackberry (mordovnik), monards, blueheads, astrantia, medicinal burnet.
The beauty of astrantia will be supported by yarrows, Japanese anemones, asters, astilbes , highlanders, burnet, veronicastrums.
Exquisite balls of mordovnik hover in the air above the groups of plantings of yarrows, geraniums, phloxes, perfectly contrast with burnet and veronicastrum.
Blue balls of varietal mordovnika are beautiful among plantings of roses.
Panicles are a cross between verticals and horizontals, they are good next to both of them, they are also called plumes or sultans (like horses in a circus).
Typical representatives of plants with this form of inflorescences are meadowsweet, goldenrod, rogers, cornflowers, huge mountaineers – Sakhalin buckwheat and polymorph mountaineer, some cereals.
Yellow solidago panicles bloom towards the end of summer, next to them are good verticals of reed grass and tsimitsifuga (black cohosh), gelenium chamomile , helianthus (perennial sunflower) and Japanese anemone .
It is not necessary to build plants by height, it is interesting to look at some plants through the transparent veil of other, taller, growing plants in front.
As such transparent “curtains” or veils, you can use burnet, officinalis and ‘Alba’, cornflowers, lightning ‘Tranparant’, fennel.
Filling plants, our favorite cushion buns that we plant to fill empty spaces – hostas, wormwood, geraniums , lungwort , goryanka, geyhera, etc.
Each designer has his own favorite techniques and priorities when creating flower beds, but the best of them never break two rules: perennials in compositions are always planted in curtains, one chamomile or one foxglove, as well as one onion or tulip plant, look strange.
The requirements of plants should be respected, do not treat them as volumes or spots of color, they are alive, only taking into account their wishes for light, humidity, acidity and soil fertility, you can create a long-playing composition
One designer puts form at the forefront, another – color, the third – unpretentiousness, the fourth – seasonal effects.
Listen to yourself, decide what is most important for you.
Each of us loves his garden also because he can feel like a creator in it and do only that and only as he wants.
Rules for the selection of flowers, the creation and design of flower beds
Flower gardening in the garden is a high art, but this craft can and should be learned.
Below you can familiarize yourself with the rules for creating flower beds and try to bring them to life.
1. Formulate the concept of a flower garden, its functional purpose and color scheme. Examples: I want to design a flower garden that closes the garden area from the entrance area and recreation areas, with the participation of garden plants such as chard, artichoke, etc.; after visiting the famous white garden in Sessinghurst, England, I will make a white garden for walking at dusk; I always take a vacation in late autumn and these four weeks I live alone in the country, far from the city and a large family, I need a flower garden, the peak of which is decorative at this time.
2. Draw a plan of the flower garden at a scale of 1:100 on graph paper (1 cm on paper = 1 m on the ground), carefully checking against what background it will look and whether its borders are good enough.
3. Make a list of large plants that you plan to use (trees, shrubs, lianas on obelisks, large perennials), based on the concept of a flower garden, the shape and size of adult plants, taking into account their requirements for light, moisture, acidity and soil fertility. Plants in the flower garden are planted quite densely, they should not look like separate specimens, but as curtains, it is especially important to follow this rule for medium-sized plants.
4. Make a list of plants for the front end, choosing those that will be decorative for as long as possible, not forgetting, of course, the concept and agrotechnical requirements.
5. Fill in the empty spaces on the plan with plants. There is good advice – immediately after drawing up a plan to halve the number of different varieties and types of plants, this will help create a more spectacular flower garden. Don’t shrink!
6. Draw a color scheme for each month of the life of the flower garden. Having studied the monthly “coloring pages”, eliminate the errors, it is easier to do it on the diagram than on the ground.
7. Prepare the soil for planting and transfer the detailed design by “drawing” the borders of the clumps on the ground with spray paint or any powder such as chalk or fertilizer, plant the plants according to the plan.
8. Leave the flower garden alone for a year, caring for and observing it and entering the results of observations in a special notebook, fixing successful and unsuccessful combinations of plants. You will correct mistakes next season, after analyzing the records. Do not engage in senseless dragging plants from place to place!