Down and Dirty - Understanding Your Soil

 What is a Flower Garden?  Okay, so you are learning to grow several types of flowers, but how do you put them together to make a flower garden? What Is A Flower Garden? Don't be intimidated by the term "flower garden." Let's define the term as: any planting of flowers. This could be the small patch by your front door- or the border that runs the length of your property. It could be the group of flower pots on your balcony or acres of wandering paths. The important thing is: it's where you plant your flowers. Designing Your Flower Garden Many books have been written on landscape design, garden design, plant combinations, colors in the garden...it's enough to make a beginning gardener's head spin! If you're thinking that there must be a "right" way to design your flower garden and you don't know it, you are wrong! True, you're not going to design an award-winning flower garden with no experience-  but you weren't planning on inviting the garden society over for tea this week, were you? Regardless of your experience, you can (and will!) have a beautiful display of flowers if you follow these steps: Imagine Your Flower Garden
Close your eyes and imagine your dream garden in the spot you have chosen. What colors are the flowers? Is the general effect straight and orderly or soft and flowing? Intense or romantic? Write down the characteristics you've imagined. Choose Flowers That Fit Your Image
If you picture an orderly border, airy baby's breath won't fit in. Conversely, boxwood hedges are not the best choice for a soft, romantic feel. This also applies to color- reds and oranges will give an intense, vibrant feel to your garden, while pastels are soft and calming. Don't Choose Flowers You Don't Like!
It's easy to get so wrapped up in finding the perfect flower for a certain spot that you may overlook the fact that you just don't like it! Who cares if the pre-designed flower garden in the magazine uses daisies? If you don't like daisies (or you're allergic to them), don't use them! Borrow Some Ideas From Gardening Sources
Seed catalogs (and some seed packets), gardening magazines, flower gardening websites, and even flower shops can give you ideas. You can adapt pre-designed flower garden plans to suit your tastes and needs. You can see pictures of flowers and their foliage. You can also pick up ideas of flower combinations you'd like to try. You might even want to cut out pictures and descriptions of flowers and keep them in a "flower gardening journal" to give you ideas for later. Arranging Flowers In Your Garden
Put the tall flowers in the back, mid-sized plants in the middle, short-flowering plants in front...and then break this rule as you see fit. Contrary to what you may have heard, the world's not going to end if you put some tall plants in the front, especially if they have airy foliage. Or if you like the leaves so much you'd like to show them off. Or you want to be able to reach the flowers because they're fragrant. Or...well, you get the point. Don't Be Afraid To Change
This is the biggest mind trap that beginning gardeners fall into. What you do is not permanent. If you decide you don't like a plant where it is, you can move it. If the flower combination you thought would be great looks awful, you can change it. In fact, experienced gardeners know that a garden is never finished- you add and subtract flowers. All the time.
And the biggest rule of all- Please Yourself!
It's your garden! Do what you want. Experiment. You'll never know exactly how it will look until you do it- so put the books down, get off of the computer...and go get your hands dirty! :-) Shari Brown
Learning To Grow

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Shari Brown

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