Different Designs of Flower Gardens

Monochromatic

• The use of a single color or various hues of the same color throughout a garden can create a striking visual scene. For instance, an all-white flower garden is often called a moon garden because of the intense impression the garden makes when viewed by moonlight. You can create a humming bird garden by using all red flowers. You can also grow a monochromatic garden using only flowers that complement the color of your home.

Cottage

• Cottage garden design focuses on flower beds that look natural in the landscape. Roses, hydrangeas and lilacs make excellent cottage garden flowers. Gardeners often mix annuals and perennials in this type of garden and incorporate design elements such as unpaved paths bordered by a single species of flower. The cottage style is informal and can include herbs grown for cooking or medicinal purposes. The emphasis is on the variety of flowers rather than the layout.

Annuals

• An annual flower garden makes use of the wide range of colorful annuals, plants that live for only one growing season, to produce a vivid spectacle of diverse hues during the height of the summer. Although you can grow annuals to complement other plants, they work best when grown by themselves. The best design for an annual garden is to plant them in groups of 3 to 5. Planting individual specimens randomly is not as visually effective.

Shade

• Shade gardens, which focus on flowering plants that do well in shady conditions, have several important design considerations. Flowers must not only grow well only in shady areas of the property but also must withstand poor air circulation, since trees often restrict air movement. Flowers with bright colors such as red and blue may not stand out in the shade. White or yellow flowers make better choices for these conditions. Since flowering plants do not blossom as abundantly in shade as in sunlight, the foliage of the plant takes on an added importance.