Almost every hobby gardener dreams of a beautiful garden with harmoniously designed flower beds and successful perennial borders. Since beautiful beds are usually not a coincidence, but the result of good planning, everyone can create their own plant oasis in the garden. All you need is a good plan for the plants and their correct design, as well as a little patience. What are the most important steps, how can you combine perennials and flowers correctly, as well as many beautiful bed design ideas and helpful tips can be found in the article!
Create a plan
Regardless of whether you are planning a new bed or want to replant an existing one, a planting plan can certainly be of benefit to you. So that the bed integrates harmoniously into the overall picture, you should adapt the bed design to the overall concept of the garden. Traditional beds in the cottage garden or country house garden differ significantly from those in the modern garden, which is why the garden style plays a big role. The bed design ideas are numerous and should always be carefully thought out.
In the traditional cottage garden, beds predominate, which the residents benefit from. This primarily refers to garden beds for fruit and vegetables that are grown for personal consumption. Herb gardens are another popular idea for these gardens. Of course, you can also find colorful flower beds in the cottage garden, which are considered visual highlights in the outdoor area.
In modern bed design ideas, however, fruit and vegetable cultivation plays a much smaller role. Modern gardens are characterized by a clean design with clear shapes and flowers and perennials predominate in the bed planting.
After you have determined the design of the bed, you can start with the planting plan. You can use various gardening books, magazines and of course our photo series as inspiration. First, roughly draw the outline of the bed on a piece of paper. Then draw the different groups of plants using colored pencils. Use the same color on the same flowers and perennials to get an idea of your own bed.
Tips for the location
If you have already drawn up the planting plan, you can start implementing it. The most important prerequisite for a successful flower bed is the quality of the soil. To ensure blooming flower beds, the soil should be prepared first. Weeds and large stones do not belong in the bed and you should definitely remove them before planting. The soil should be finely crumbly and contain lots of nutrients. This way you can ensure a long blooming period for your flowers.
You must note that the moisture of the soil is equally important in choosing plants. The bed design ideas for dry places in the garden differ significantly from those for wet ones, because every plant has different requirements. Therefore, it is recommended to test the soil in advance in order to choose the best plants for the respective location.
Another particularly important role is played by the exact location for the bed design. The selection of plants depends on this, as does the entire garden design. Depending on the location of the garden, you can place the bed in a sunny, partially shaded or shady location. There are different types of plants that suit every location. Here are some examples:
Sunny location:If you have chosen a location for the bed that is exposed to the sun all day, then light-hungry plants such as roses, lavender and coneflowers are best suited.
Partially shaded location:A place with a few hours of shade per day is usually called partially shaded. These are mainly the places on the wall, on the house wall, or around a tree. The bed design ideas for such a location include plants such as anemones, astilbe and monkshood.
Shady location:If you are looking for plants that like the shade, then Waldsteinia, Hosta and Bleeding Heart are the right choice for you. These perennials will bloom even in a location that is shaded all day.
Bed design with different types of plants
Most successful bed design ideas are an interplay of three different types of plants that create the overall composition of the bed. These are the leader, companion and filler plants and each type plays an important role in the bed.
Lead plants
Every flower border needs the so-called leading perennials, which can grow to over 1.5 meters high and thus form the highest points in the bed. They are planned and planted first because they are crucial to the overall look of the flower bed. Since the leading plants are usually large perennials, they dominate with their shape and colors. Therefore, you should be careful when planting leader perennials in beds so that the other plant types are not lost in the entire composition. Because of their height, these plants can also serve as a temporary privacy screen in the garden, i.e. only when they are in bloom.
Here are a few typical examples of key plants in the flower bed: bush mallows, feather poppies, phlox, foxgloves, asters, goat's beards, ornamental grasses and much more.
Companion plants
Companion plants are all medium-high to low perennials and flowers that form the center of the flower bed. They are considered companions to the larger leading perennials and should therefore be coordinated with them in terms of color, shape and location in the bed. In terms of numbers, companion plants are usually the largest group of plants in the flower border.
The bed design ideas for companion plants are numerous and depend largely on the selection of leading perennials. Beautiful flowers and perennials that belong to this group include: sage, coneflowers, daisies, sedum, girl's eyes and yarrow.
Filler plants
This group of plants is perfect for filling the gaps between leader and companion plants in the flower bed. With the help of these flowers, the bed gets a finished look because every free space is planted. The group mainly includes very low perennials and ground cover, i.e. the lowest level in the flower bed. These small flowers are planted in abundance and usually form the foreground of your flower bed. As with the other plant types, the filler plants should be coordinated with the rest of the bed planting and especially with the companion plants. Shapes and colors should match each other and create a harmonious overall picture.
The variety of ground cover plants is huge. Some of the typical examples are: catnip, fairy flowers, bergenias, gypsophila, etc.
Combine plants correctly
And how can you actually combine the different plants in the flower bed? This is where color theory with the so-called color wheel can come to the rescue. It can help find the right color combinations for the flowers and perennials in the flower bed. Whether you have decided on contrasts in the planting or on the same color scheme, you can use the color wheel to create a successful play of colors.
Using color theory, you can color-coordinate the design and create beautiful visual highlights in the flower border. There are usually a few color combinations you can achieve with familiar perennials and plants. The yellow yarrow, for example, can be perfectly combined with the blue flowers of the African lily. Tone-on-tone combinations are also popular when it comes to bed design ideas. A nice example of this are yellow roses, which harmonize perfectly with the yellow-green Frauenmatel. Contrasts are also often an option when planting beds, such as a dark blood beech hedge and foxgloves and fireweed or plants with very dark, almost black tones combined with white flowers.
To make your flower bed radiate warmth, you can choose plants in bold colors such as red, orange and yellow. However, this combination is unsuitable for small gardens because it makes the garden space appear smaller. To make the small garden appear larger, it is best to use shades of purple and blue.
Tips for beautiful beds all year round
To ensure that the flower bed looks beautiful all year round, you should also consider planting beds for winter and autumn. With year-round perennials, the bed looks beautiful at all times. Purple bells and begonias are wintergreen perennials that create a colorful border design even in winter. However, since most flowers cannot survive the frost, trees such as boxwood and holly are recommended for this time of year.
If you are impatient for a flowering bed, you can choose early bloomers for spring. With bulb flowers like tulips, the desired results are achieved very early and you can welcome spring with a blooming flower bed. The great variety enables the design of so-called themed beds, which are a real pleasure for the real hobby gardener.
For those who don't have enough time for garden care, bed design ideas with easy-care, permanent bloomers are suitable. They usually have a long flowering period anddo not require time-consuming care. Examples of such perennials include phlox and maiden's eye. However, if you enjoy gardening, you can choose plants with a short flowering period and redesign the bed regularly.
If you want to realize your beautiful bed design ideas, then all you need to do is choose the right time to plant them. For perennials, the perfect planting times are either from March to mid-May, or from late August to October. You should definitely avoid planting beds too early or too late, because the perennials usually cannot survive the frost.
If you are looking for modern bed design ideas, you can also use stones and gravel. The so-called stone beds have a modern effect in the garden and are perfect for magnificent ornamental grasses. You can use gravel and bark mulch to create beautiful beds in a modern style that go well with green perennials and hedges.
Design island beds
Island beds can be created in different shapes - whether regular rectangular, circular or playfully shaped. The outline should be determined to match the style of the garden. Edging helps to clearly define the shape and makes mowing the lawn easier. You can choose between edging stones and metal rails, which are embedded in the ground and are virtually invisible. Synthetic sheets are another option, but they only keep the lawn under control to a limited extent because they are not higher than ground level.
Long-flowering perennials such as coneflower, sheep's gravel, catnip, daylily and others are particularly suitable for planting island beds. Otherwise, you can design a bed differently every year and only use annual summer flowers. Herb beds are another particularly practical option. Rosamrin, mint and chives will certainly come in handy for cooking fans.
Round shape
Perhaps the most common shape for an island bed is the circle, although it is not a must. This allows you to achieve beautiful contrasts. For example, a round island bed on a curved lawn looks more natural than strict circular and square shapes. If a circular island bed is placed in the middle of a lawn, the garden appears larger - the circle attracts attention and distracts from boundaries.
Square or rectangular shape
A garden design with a plant island in a special shape makes the garden attractive. An island bed can be created in the lawn or on a gravel area. Measure out an oval, rectangular or free shape at the desired location, mark it and remove a few centimeters of top layer. Then loosen the soil deeply, fertilize as desired or fill it with another compost and install the selected plants. An exposed variant has a cutting effect, while a precise shape conveys a harmonious impression.
Bed strips at the entrance to the house
Narrow, lushly planted strips are often seen when there is a lack of space and in urban areas. They are a decorative solution and are perfect for planting next to the terrace, in front of the house wall or along the garden path. Weather-sensitive plants find their optimal location in such places. Designed perpendicular to the line of sight, the planting strips visually shorten the property. With their curved shape, they loosen up the overall design.
Planting under trees – underplanting
The dense tree crown lets in little light and keeps out precipitation. This makes the soil relatively dry and the underplanting always has to compete for water, nutrients and space. In addition, shallow-rooted trees are very difficult to underplant. These include: spruce, birch, hazelnut, magnolia and Norway maple. Deep-rooted trees such as pine, mountain ash and fruit trees such as apples, cherries and plums are less problematic to plant under. The underplanting of heartroots such as yew, field maple and linden is also possible. Plants that thrive in the shade are suitable for planting under the tree. Forest perennials that have little requirement for soil moisture thrive here: small periwinkle (Vinca minor), ivy, fairy flower (Epimedium), forest aster (Aster divaricatus), Balkan cranesbill (Geranium macrorrhizum), brown cranesbill (G. phaeum ), golden strawberry (Waldsteinia geoides).
