I want a flower bed, now what? – Part 1

It’s such an exciting time of year!  Spring is in full force and it’s time to think about your yard.  You’ve decided you want flowers and your first thought is.  I want a flower bed, now what do I do?  Pick your spot, decide on a design and then plant.  Sounds simple right?  With proper planning and preparation it is. I will break the process down into three parts that are manageable.  The first part will be sight selection and yard prep. The second part will be putting the bed together.  The final step will be planting it all up.

Flower bed, How do I prepare?

Flower Bed

In order to be successful when creating a flower bed you have to know what you want.  Look at yards around the area and take pictures of things you like.  Look through gardening magazines for pictures of flower beds you love.  When looking at flowers make sure you understand what kind of growing conditions the flowers you love need.  I love English Country Gardens and would adore one to go with my English Country Cottage home.  But alas, I live in Texas, English Country Gardens do not like Texas Heat, they love English country weather.  So be realistic when picking plants.   Once, you have an idea of what you love and know the growing conditions of the plants it’s time to get started.

Layout the design of your flower bed with a water hose or anything that will show you the shape and size. When you have moved that around and decided on the perfect size and shape.  It’s time to figure out the sun and shade patterns for the flower bed.  You do this by watching the flower bed for 24 hours and seeing how much sun and shade the area gets.  Then you need to compare that to the plants you picked, are they compatible?  Do you need to move or adjust the borders?  Do you need to pick other plants?  Also, take a look at the placement does it look good with your house? Does it work for how you want to use your yard?  All of these questions are part of the process when creating beds for your home.

Now it’s time to think about the border for your flower bed.  Do you want rocks, stones, metal edging, rubber edging, or nothing at all.  The options for creating the edging are only limited by your imagination.  If your flower bed is next to your home create a space between the foundation and the flower bed.  This is important, you don’t want dirt or water to sit around your foundation.  As an added note, you need 4 inches of your foundation showing if you sell your house for inspections.  Most houses don’t have that spacing but it’s something to keep in mind if you are creating beds new. At my home I have a 2 foot border of river cobble between my flower beds and home so that I can get into my beds to water and weed, and it catches the run off from the roof.  (Our neighborhood doesn’t do gutters so this was my solution for drowned flower beds when it rained!)  I also have beds that are 15 feet wide so it’s a necessity in my yard.  I have a combination of metal edging and rocks so that I can plant draping plants between the rocks.  This helped me get the shape I wanted.  It also let’s me have a nice clean look around my sidewalks.

Now you know how to decide where to put the flower bed.  You’ve decided on the flowers.  You know your growing conditions and you’ve picked the border.  It is time to build and plant this fantastic flower bed you have created!  I can’t wait to show you how to build your bed and then show you how to plant it!  Stay tuned for the next two blog posts so you can complete your flower bed!

Designing English Country Garden Beds

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