For most of our fellow citizens, the suburban area has ceased to be a means of survival. Indeed, the same vegetables are much easier to buy at the nearest supermarket. The dacha is increasingly being used as a vacation spot. After office work, you really want to arrange a holiday for yourself, finding yourself in the world of landscape delights, beautiful plants and fragrant flowers! However, flower beds in the country were welcomed at all times. There was always room for gladioli, peonies, mallow, golden balls, tulips and snapdragons. An elegant flower garden, laid out by the porch or in the front garden, seems to meet the owner of the house and his guests, inviting them to leave their worries behind the threshold, plunge into a good mood and fully relax!
The flower garden, located directly in front of the entrance to the house, plays the role of a kind of visiting card. And the first impression they get depends on how well he will present home ownership to the guests. Therefore, it is very important to decide what kind of flower garden in front of the house we are going to create. After all, each species has its own characteristics that must be taken into account.
Option # 1 – flower bed like flowering geometry
The flower bed is characterized by a strict geometric shape: oval, rhombus, circle, rectangle. The choice of location is also characteristic of flower beds. They are placed on a hill so that all flowering plants can be clearly seen. An example of a flower bed can be a round flower garden, in which plants are placed in rings.
The height of plants can be uniform or decrease when moving from the center of the composition to its periphery. In such conditions, each flower will be clearly visible. Plant height is not the only accent that is used in drawing up a flower bed. Color is often used for the same purpose. The site is very decorated with a round flower bed, in which the plants are located by rays from the center to the edges.
Related article: Examples of the design of beautiful flower beds and the rules for creating a good flower bed
Option # 2 – long bed ridges
If you need to disguise a small defect in the building or decorate that part of the building that you don’t like for some reason, it’s hard to come up with something better than a rabat. These flower beds can be a decoration of inexpressive garden paths, the beds can be placed along the fences or parallel to the foundation of the cottage.
Usually, flowers of the same type are used for flower beds, kept in a single color scheme. But the designer’s imagination can suggest another move. For example, you can create a border of all colors of the rainbow, alternating them with stripes of the same width. Plants planted in a checkerboard pattern look great.
Option # 3 – very different curbs
The final element of complex compositions can be a border. Located along the paths, along the perimeter of the flower beds or the flower garden in general, the border is always in place. However, as an independent flower garden, it looks no worse. This requires low plants that do not grow more than 25 cm. Not only the usual hawthorn is used as border plants, but also bright petunias, various marigolds, as well as other flowers growing in bushes, or herbaceous plants.
Related article: Curb flowers: choosing an edging for a flower bed and garden paths
Option # 4 – plant commonwealth on a mixborder
The rows of various plants that are collected in a mixborder have one quality in common: they get along well with each other. Do not encroach on the living space of another, do not strangle a neighbor and do not fight for water and sunlight – these are the main qualities of flowers and bushes that make up a single mixborder.
Step-by-step instructions for creating mixborders:
Option # 5 – a piece of natural landscape “rock garden”
An alpine slide or rock garden is today at the peak of popularity and enjoys increased attention from both gardeners and landscape designers. Even palace complexes today use rock gardens. In addition to real high-mountainous plants, those that only outwardly resemble mountain plants are used in their creation.
Related article: Rock garden: the best diagrams of the device and an example of creating with your own hands
In order to correctly plan how exactly to break the chosen flower garden in front of the house, you should make a sketch on paper. It is better if it is colored for clarity. Then you can not only correctly plan the place allotted for this purpose, but also calculate the need for planting material and fertilizers that will be needed to translate the idea into reality.
It should be noted that when planning a plot for a flower garden, you need to provide for all the nuances of the subsequent care of it. For example, it is best not to plan too wide plantings so that each crop can be easily reached. Usually, you should not make a landing wider than 2,5 m.
The choice of a place opposite or near the house is natural, although it does not exclude the possibility of setting up several flower beds in different parts of the garden. There are wonderful places for this purpose along the paths, on the banks of reservoirs or in the area of the gazebo. It is important that a specific location is determined already at the planning stage.
Based on the existing experience of such plantings, it is possible to offer the gardener to plan a flower bed with a certain amount of territory “for growth”. Usually, with a positive result, there is a desire to complement an existing flower garden and transform it. After all, the visual result, as a rule, exceeds the plans. To enable the wildest dreams to come true, the reserve territory will come in handy.
The crops that are to become the basis of a flower garden should be chosen taking into account the illumination of the site and its soil. Different plants have their own preferences that need to be considered. For example, the most important thing for tulips is the fertility of the earth and sunlight. Next to them there is a place for annuals. And irises, crocuses and lilies of the valley will feel great in the shade of buildings or trees. Daffodils look good next to perennial lilies, phlox and peonies.
If the flower garden does not consist of only one type of flowers, planting groups will have to be compiled taking into account their soil and light requirements. It is important that the plants in the group do not turn out to be antagonists fighting incessant battles. Otherwise, the defeated flower will look sick and will still have to be replaced. Not only flowers, but also decorative herbaceous plants with leaves of an attractive color will be an excellent decoration for any flower bed.
Dreaming of how to make a really beautiful flower garden, we will definitely imagine the intended area in bloom from early spring to late autumn. This means that our collection should include spring primroses, along with annual sowing plants and perennials, which will form the backbone of the planting. By replacing each other, different crops will create the effect of continuous flowering. And this is exactly what we are trying to achieve.
Planting work must begin with transferring the existing sketch to real soil. At this point, we need not only to clearly imagine how we are going to arrange a flower garden near the house, but also to have at hand all the planting material along with fertilizers, as well as a supply of fertile land. We mark with the help of pegs and twine the borders of the future flower garden.
If the land of the intended site has not been dug, the fertile layer should be removed by 20 cm. Fertile soil should be poured onto the bottom of the pit. The removed soil must be carefully sieved, removing the rhizomes of weeds, pebbles, glass and other debris. After that, fertilizers are added to it, fall asleep in place and moisten. If you are building a rabatka, gravel must be placed on the bottom of the flower garden for drainage.
The flowerbed should be planted from the center, moving towards the edges. Otherwise, some of the seedlings or seeds may be damaged or trampled. The elongated flower garden is filled in succession. Move from planting one row of seeds or plants to the next. It is better not to place a heap of flowers. A distance of 30-60 cm can be considered optimal.
At the end of the work, a curb is planted, after which you can check the result with the plan. It is recommended to pay special attention to the fence, figured decorations and other decorative excesses, which so diversify not only the flower garden, but also our life in the country.
Breaking a flower garden is just the beginning. To make it look the way you dreamed, you must remember to take care of the plants. Periodic watering is an important part of grooming. For the first time, you need to water the plants at the time of planting them in the soil. The next watering will take place only after a few weeks. It is important to consider the actual weather conditions. The plants should soon sprout. Now the need to loosen the soil and remove weeds will be added to watering.
Autumn is coming and the last plants are blooming. Annual flowers must be removed from the flower bed. Perennial flowers are pruned, leaving the roots in the ground, and covered with lightweight material. You can show foresight and peg the locations of the plants that make up the flower garden. Then it will be easier to restore the planting in the spring. It will be necessary to examine the plants, remove or transplant some of them. Infected or dead shoots should not be left to rot naturally. Better to remove them.
If you follow the flower garden, carefully looking after the cultures that make up it, you will have a wonderful island of romance, which you can rightfully be proud of and admire.