Flower Garden Layout: Design and Ideas

Flowers are essential components of a garden. They can be considered as the centerpiece of any garden. In fact, a garden with a lawn, trees and fountains looks incomplete, until flowering plants are added at its borders as well as in other bedding schemes. Though flowers look beautiful in any layout, proper planning enhances the aesthetic value of a garden. While planning a flower garden layout, certain criteria should be considered, some of which include the flower bed, yard space, flowering plant type and other design tips. Let's take a look at flower garden design ideas.

Flower Garden Layout: Design and Ideas

The layout of a flower garden depends on its size. The space of the yard and total area of the flower beds should be planned first. The types of plants and their location in the garden should be decided later, considering their height, flowering time and color. The planning of color scheme and flower type depends on your choice. The flower bed should be wide enough (about 5-7 feet) so that you can have better planting options. Each bed can be demarcated from the other by straight or curved lines (as per your choice). A formal garden looks elegant with straight lines.

Once you complete preparing the layout of the garden, you can proceed to the next step of selecting flower plants. You can consider growing all flowering plants, including annuals, biennials, perennials and climbing vines. While choosing plants, make sure you consider the amount of care for each plant type along with the color of the flowers. Annuals complete their life cycle in one season; they grow, flower, bear seeds and die. They are most preferred for planting in bedding schemes, rather than growing at the borders. You can create a different flower bed in each season by planting annuals.

Another advantage of selecting annuals is that they are available in a wide range of colors. Some of the best annuals for a flower garden are geraniums, spider flowers, Brazilian verbena and marguerite daisies. You can design a color scheme by planting different annual flowers in the same bed. While doing so, make sure that the plants in one bed flower at the same time. Annual flowers also serve as great space fillers before the perennials start blooming.

Biennials develop their leaves in the first season and bloom in the next one. Then they shed their seed and die. They can be used at the borders and the hedges along with perennials. The most preferred biennials for flower gardens are foxgloves and hollyhocks. Perennial flowers are long-living plants, which bloom for a short duration (about 3 - 4 weeks) in each season. You can select perennials that flower at different times, so as to make the flower garden look lively. This way, there will be flower blooms in the garden throughout the year, irrespective of the season.

Other flowering plants include bulbs and climbing vines. Bulbs are easy to grow and maintain; they flower in one season, remain dormant for a while and again flower in the next season. Some of the stunning bulbs are tulips, daffodils, amaryllis and snowdrops. If there are trellises, you can give a different look to your flower garden by growing climbing vines. Vines like morning glory and hyacinth bean can be grown, based on the color scheme of the surrounding area. For lawns, ornamental grasses are best-suited for all seasons. In addition to these, you may consider using containers and/or raised beds in the center of the lawn or in the borders. Fill the empty space in the flower garden with potted plants and your flower garden will look complete.