Flower Bed Ideas for Zone 7

White Shade Garden

• Plant an all-white shade garden. White gardens, especially if placed in a semishady to shady location, brighten up the gardening space. White gardens are also sometimes called moonlight gardens because they seem to glow by the light of the moon. For USDA zone 7 gardens, plants like snowball viburnum form a good backdrop for your white garden. White hostas, lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis), shasta daisy, white-flowered astilbe (Astilbe x arendsii "Bridal Veil"), white bleeding heart and (Dicentra spectabilis "Alba"), are good for shadier white gardens. There are many partly white hostas, which will fill the space. Generally, seek a balanced green-and-white hosta for robustness such as "Kiwi Polar Bear," "Liberty" or "Hi Ho Silver." Add a few ferns for some texture for your shade gardens as well.

Patriotic Garden

• Red, white and blue gardens are a sure hit during the summer. Both red and white colored flowers are good for gardens that you view from a distance as your eyes pick out those colors in a green landscape easily. White and either red or blue hydrangea can be used as background plants. Add bold colored plants like salvia, which is available as red or white annuals and blue perennials. Petunias too are perfect for a red, white and blue garden, being available in both red-and-white, and blue-and-white stripped versions. Edge the front of the red, white and blue garden with a line of red begonias, followed by a line of petunias, and then salvias to build height towards the rear. All these plants are at home in a USDA zone 7 garden.

Perennial Zone 7 Garden

• Sun loving perennials which grow well in USDA zone 7 include black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), tickseed (Coreopsis lancelolata) and asters like Aster chilensis. Grouped together they provide a long season of flowering. Plant them in groups of three to improve their dramatic effect and plant taller plants behind the shorter plants. In addition, both tall sedums, like Autumn Joy, and the shorter sedums, such as Dragon's Blood and Angelina, do well in USDA zone 7.

Herbs with Flowers

• Most herbs will thrive in USDA zone 7 gardens and many have attractive flowers. Some are annuals, like basil, with its white flowers; chamomile, which has white flowers with yellow centers; and borage, with its vivid blue flowers. Many more are perennial, such as lavender with its purple blooms or perennial geraniums, which have blue to purple blossoms. Bee balms have both red and white-flowered varieties. Chives make a good edging plant and have blue or white, puffball flowers. You may have to choose between flavor and color, as once herbs bloom they become bitter.