Everything Your Flowerbeds Need to Shine

Here come those May flowers we were promised! They’re truly one of the beautiful joys of Spring. Many homeowners who don’t spend a lot of time thinking about their landscaping for most of the year still take a moment to savor the view or, you know, stop and smell them. So with the Spring focus on flowers in Lakeway and beyond, Southern Love thought we dedicate today’s blog to breaking down everything your flower beds need this season in terms of health and aesthetic. Because while we all know we love flowers, we don’t all know how to care for them. The Right Soil Beautiful flowers begin with healthy soil. But healthy soil for one flower won’t necessarily be for another. That’s why garden and hardware stores have such wide varieties of fertilizer. When Southern Love sets up your flower beds, we’ll begin by ensuring your soil is thick, dark, and nutrient-rich for the specific plants you want to grow. Mulch Technically, you can have a flower garden without mulch, but it’s not easy, and it won’t be as pretty. As discussed in a recent blog, mulch serves so many functions in your landscape; it would be foolish not to include it in your garden. Mulch aids in water retention, weed prevention, pest reduction, and insulation. The right texture and color mulch also creates that perfect backdrop for your flowers, enhancing them and helping them stand out. Retaining Walls Retaining walls are not a garden necessity, but they are one way to frame a garden and feature it in a way that stands out. Adding a retaining wall creates vertical space in your garden. The right hardscaping can stun on its own before even adding the flowers. In addition, your retaining wall is an excellent way to build a container. You can fill that container with soil designed for your flowers. Then you don’t have to worry about what’s already there before planting. Aesthetic Balance Of course, the primary appeal of flower beds is aesthetic, so all of the choices you make will be to create the effect of beauty. That means creating a balance of harmony and contrast. Landscape designers primarily work with three factors in garden design: height, color, and texture. Size and color will be more familiar to the average person than texture. You’ll want flowers and plants of varying heights to create a stair effect that goes up and down, surprising and delighting. Color–wise we’ll strike a balance between contrasting and harmonizing colors. Colors of the same hue go well together, but similarly, opposite shades like black and white are also striking. And, of course, you’ll want to account for whatever colors are your personal favorites. Finally, the texture is the visual feel rather than the literal one. Spiky grasses have a different texture than soft petals. Round rocks have their own. All these textures combine to create an exciting picture. Annuals and Perrennials While you can have any combination of annuals and perennials you choose, one popular way to design a garden is with hardy perennials that return every year to anchor it. Then you can fill in the rest of the garden with seasonal annuals. It gives you the perfect combination of stability and variability. Stone and Inorganic Material Everyone and their lawn gnome can tell you that flower beds are made up of more than flowers. The inorganic touches can be natural, like stones, or whimsical, like the gnomes mentioned above. Objects are one way that we make our gardens our own. Ornamental Grasses and Other Plants Finally, flowers aren’t the only plants that grow at our best. We create gorgeous contrasts with the addition of other flora. In our area, we’re lucky to have a climate that supports a wide variety of plants, from evergreen grasses to cacti and succulents. Even if your garden is comprised primarily of annuals that live short but vibrant lives, your other plants can round out your gardens so that you have something pleasing to view all year! Let Southern Love Design, Install, and Maintain Your Flower Beds This Spring! Above all else, your garden beds are there to make you happy, so don’t worry about breaking the rules if you know what you want! What we’ve set out are some guidelines to help you along. Southern Love will be happy to work on your landscape design using these guidelines or tear up the book to create the garden of your dreams!