Flower beds come in all sizes and outlines; they can be shaped asymmetrically
to fit any corner or contour desired. Squared off symmetrical they have a rather formal appearance; curving meandering ones
are more natural and informal looking.
Earth
Wood and Flowers Landscaping would like to offer you some suggestions and details to consider when choosing a layout
that best suits your surrounding garden, your house style, and your personal preferences.
For example, the unique aspect of an entrance garden is that it will
be viewed very briefly.
This is an area people are likely to move through
quickly rather than linger in or sit and view for an extended period of time.
Therefore, it must be planted simply and for immediate impact. This is not the place for subtle combinations and
rare species; it's where a bold, eye-catching display is needed.
This
doesn't necessarily mean that it must be bright or garish; repeated or massed groups of white or pastel flowers can be effective,
too. Even an all foliage display can be dramatic when well chosen.
Ornamental
grasses, ferns, hostas, rosemary, stonecrops, bergenias, Japanese irises, wormwoods, and many others offer wonderful foliage
colors and textures to work with.
Plants with strong perfumes are also
more likely to be enjoyed in this situation where more subtle perfumes might go unnoticed.
Sometimes these strong perfumes, which can be overpowering adjacent to an outdoor sitting area where
they're constantly being inhaled, are ideal for short-term enjoyment.
In
contrast to entrance gardens a border flower bed is suitable for use in front of a fence,
hedge, side of a building, or row of flowering shrubs.
You do
not have to exclusively use perennials, it's perfectly acceptable to mix annuals with perennials and if the bed is large enough
to allow it, to even include trees and evergreens or flowering shrubs in the design.
Also in contrast to entrance gardens, flower bed plantings that will be enjoyed at leisure either while sitting among them or viewing them from inside, may be more low-key in their design.
They should invite the
eye to keep coming back for another look to perhaps discover additional aspects that weren't obvious at first.
Here, of course, the plantings will be more interesting if there are contrasts of
flowers, foliage textures, and colors.
Another flower bed design is
an island bed.
Plantings that are
centrally placed and viewed from all sides require a somewhat different design approach.
In order to be effective from every direction, it's necessary to lay them out so that the tallest plants
are located in the middle of the bed rather than at the rear.
It is
therefore necessary to have many more plants of low and intermediate heights in these plantings than tall ones.
With flower beds the possibilities are endless and only limited to your imagination.
They can remain basically unchanged for years or completely changed every year, the
choice is yours.
