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| Planting flowers in your garden lets you spend time in your yard, while also making it the perfect place to relax. Flowers bring color and beauty while adding texture and height variation throughout the garden. One key to arranging your flower garden is to pick the flower varieties that best suit your gardening needs. |
| 1) What Areas in Your Yard Get the Best Sunshine? |
| Understanding the sunshine levels or your various garden plots will help you pick the right plants to thrive in your yard. Evaluate your light spots based on whether it receives full light, partial light, or shade. Full light is commonly described as the light that directly hits a spot. Partial light refers to a spot that is bright but doesn't receive direct light, and a shady spot will receive almost no direct or bright light. |
| 2) Is Your Climate Particularly Dry or Humid? |
| While there are many flower varieties that can be gardened in almost any climate, it can sometimes be difficult to cultivate tropical or temperate flowers in dry climates without a lot of watering and irrigation. Aim for flowers that are drought tolerant, and you may want to expand your idea of flowering plants to include succulents and cacti. Those in more humid climates can use more tropical flowers in their gardens. |
| 3) How Much Time Do You Have to Care for Your Flowers? |
| Some flowers are considered more high maintenance than others. Many of the most iconic flowers require the highest maintenance, including lilies, roses, dahlias, and tulips. If you don't have the time to nurture these beauties, you might opt for lower maintenance flower varieties such as cone flowers, daylilies, and cosmos. |
| 4) Do You Have Children or Pets Around the Yard? |
| As a matter of safety, if you often have children or pets around the yard, it's recommended to look into your favorite plant varieties in case they're potentially toxic to eat. If you're worried about toxic flowers in your yard, you'll want to avoid planting hydrangea, azalea, wisteria, as well as a whole list of others. To keep your yard safe, opt for edible garden flowers such as marigolds, alliums, nasturtiums, pansies, honeysuckles, and daylilies. |
| 5) What Plants Are Native to Your Area? |
| There are many benefits to planting local varieties, as they can create environments for local ecosystems and wildlife. These are also plants that are already adapted to the environmental conditions of your yard and climate, making them quick growing and hardy. This means that they are lower maintenance than other varieties. |
| 6) Do You Have Size Requirements for Your Flowers’ Growth? |
| Different flowers grow in different shapes and sizes. Some make ground cover, staying low to the earth, while others grow in vines, bushes, or stalks. The size of the flowers that you need will depend on the space where you want to plant the flowers. Be sure to choose a variety that will grow healthily in your chosen garden plots. |
| 7) Should You Plant Annuals or Perennials? |
| Most gardeners will recommend that perennial flowers form the basis of your gardening. These are flowers that will grow back in the same place year after year. Perennials are preferred because they do not require you to plant your full flower garden every year. Then you can fill in the blank spaces with the annual flowers that you want and even switch it up each year. |
| 8) Do You Have a Color or Theme Preference? |
| Colors and flower themes can give you garden a different feel for when it comes time to relax and enjoy the outdoors. Cool colors, such as blues, purples, and greens, will give your garden a calming atmosphere. Warmer colors, such as reds and yellows, will add energy to your yard. Similarly, it can add a lot of fun to your garden to use thematic flower choices. |
| 9) Should You Buy Blooms or Buds? |
| When you go to purchase your transplant flowers, you will see some flowers have more buds on them than flowers. It's often better to purchase the plants with more buds. This is because plants with buds will continue to bloom longer in the season. |
| 10) Should You Plan a Blooming Plant for Every Season? |
Many gardeners want their yard to bloom all year round. It's very rare to have a flower variety that doesn't go dormant at some point. However, in your planning stage, you can pick a variety of perennials that will bloom throughout the year, from early spring to late fall, to give your yard flowering plants all year round.
Ultimately, picking flowers is a combination of knowing your personal preference, local climate, sun conditions, and the amount of time available to you for gardening. |