Flower beds are an integral part of any personal plot. Planted flowers testify to the taste of the owners and can show it to neighbors or caring guests. Surrounded by bright flower beds, you feel truly happy, because there is an opportunity not to hear the city noise and enjoy your holiday in the country.
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Flower garden plan
Before proceeding directly to planting seedlings, you need to study the characteristics of the earth, the illumination of the place, take into account the conditions that are necessary for this or that plant, and also know at what time each bloom. In this case, flowering will begin in the earliest spring and end in late autumn. When drawing up a plan for a flower garden, mark the most lighted and shaded places. It is necessary decide on the size of the flower bed, the location of seedlings, the range of colors, timing and time of flowering.
Benefits of flowers blooming all summer
If you prefer to enjoy nature in the country during all months, except for the winter months, then flowers blooming all summer long, capable of delighting with their splendor both in June and in October, is what you need. Perennials, unlike annuals, which give beauty for a longer time, please the eye only for about a month. Plants blooming at different times, united by one artistic idea, will bring a fantastic result - flower beds will begin to change texture and colors throughout the summer. All summer long at the dacha in the garden you will be in the company of an ever-changing landscape.
If you want the plants in the flowerbed to bloom without interruption, choose those that match each other in color and prefer the same care. Flowers that are afraid of direct sunlight will not grow together with those that prefer them. Do not forget about the flowering time, which will affect the brightness of the flower bed.
Perennial or annual?
Labor costs of amateur gardeners are reduced at times when the choice is made in favor of perennials. No annual disembarkation required, the flowers are adapted to any climatic conditions. Therefore, you can see neat and effective flower beds or stripes along the garden paths. If the flowers will like the place chosen at the summer cottage, then you will admire their color for more than one year. Perennials have the ability to get better and more luxuriant each time, so the site will be transformed. In addition, you will save well on seedlings. However, having planted once, you constantly need to take care of them, perennials are also picky about the soil.
Violent flowering will appear only in the case of a high adaptive ability to the surrounding world. Some specimens require special care, which is expressed in the storage of bulbs in specially designated places with the required level of temperature and humidity.
Annuals are characterized by thermophilicitythat prevents them from surviving the cold winter conditions. But do not rush to abandon them.Those who know a lot about annual flowers admire their bright beauty, which pushes them to the annual labor of planting fragrant petunias, purslane, marigolds. Another plus is that annuals allow you to change the design every year - this year the flower bed is buried in cornflowers and dope, next year you can admire calendula and balsam.
Perennials: classification
Perennial flowers are unpretentious and retain their best decorative qualities for a long time. Their it is customary to subdivide into two types:
- Remaining in the ground for the winter.
- Requiring removal from the soil for overwintering in warmer storage conditions. Such flowers do not tolerate temperature fluctuations. Therefore, when choosing perennial flowers, you should pay special attention to this.
Perennials that are able to adapt well to cold weather include astilbe, primroses, fuchsias, peonies, lilies of the valley, asters, phlox and others.
The second group consists of spectacular dahlias, gladioli, montbreces, cannes.
Perennial flowers that bloom all summer can be divided by height, which contributes to the creation of great compositions:
Low-growing ones are used for garden paths and as a border of flower beds. They use mountain gerbil, saxifrage, bearded iris, carnation. Also, this group of flowers differs in love of the sun. For example, in the shade, the monotonous loosestrife, the periwinkle grow well, the sun is preferred by the field shrub, alpine crusher other.- Medium-sized perennial flowers that enjoy special attention of summer residents are represented by the names: turkish carnation, peony, paniculate phlox. This group of flowers is versatile as it goes well with short and tall ones. Their height is no more than 80 cm.
- Tall, perennials blooming all summer, represented by asters, dahlias and other plants, perfectly harmonize and complement flower beds with low and medium-sized specimens. The most popular and loved by many amateur gardeners is the stock-rose, which has bright flowers and juicy leaves.
All these groups of flowers are perfectly combined in the created flower bed composition. The main thing is to take into account the flowering period of each perennial, then you can enjoy a luxurious flower garden all summer. Tall plants in the center of the flower bed look good. Around them, an ornament is formed of medium-sized and undersized representatives of perennials. When planting seedlings, please note that some flowers are very fond of the sun... Therefore, if you are looking at the flower garden from the north side, prepare for the fact that the buds will be facing away from you most of the time. Lupines, zinnias, irises are especially sensitive to the sun.
Annuals: groups
Compared to perennials, annuals are more labor intensive. In the spring, you can prepare seedlings, and then transfer them to the ground or sow directly into it. Of the pluses - they do not need to be prepared for frost, as they do with perennials, there are unpretentious varieties. Annual flowers can become a decoration of any garden or vegetable garden, because they have a bright aroma and a "long-lasting" flowering period. From mid-summer until the very frost in the garden, you can admire zinnia, calendula and others. Poppies, begonias, cornflowers, alissums bloom early.
According to the already established tradition, annual flowers in the garden or vegetable garden are grown without seedlings from seeds. Some representatives are ready to bloom after 13 weeks. Earlier flowering can be achieved by using seedlings.
Before making this or that choice of an annual, you should study well the composition of the soil future garden, the level of illumination, humidity, the availability of the possibility of regular watering, think over a color scheme. For example, morning glory does not like drafts, sand should be part of the soil for purslane, choose sunny places for asters, and a delicate bell will not tolerate high humidity.
Spectacular compositions will be obtained in the case of planting plants correctly selected for the timing of flowering.The aesthetic appearance of the flower beds will last for 4-6 months, in fact, two seasons.
Annual flowers can also be divided into groups by height:
The smallest are dwarf phlox, escholzia, undersized marigold. This group includes lobelia and purslane. They are in perfect harmony with both annuals and perennials exceeding their size. Perfect for decorating garden paths and alpine slides.- They reach medium-sized plants with the names: snapdragon, nasturtium, dahlia. There are annuals that can form a bush. For example, many people love petunia, others - castor oil plant, which can grow like a tree. This group includes curly specimens.
- Annuals reach high sizes: delphinium, spectacular sunflower, morning glory liana. The beauty of the annual stock rose can often be observed in the garden. Such flowers are fragrant all summer, which their perennial brethren cannot do.
Weaving annuals are excellent decorate fences and arches, and the falling bushes will give a piece of comfort to the terrace or balcony in the country.
Although annual flowers are unpretentious, they still need care. They love attention and in return give beauty to those gardeners who really do them. They are planted with a small seed from which a wonderful flower grows. Help them live a short life in complete comfort, then they will take care of you too - they will saturate your life with colors, because you can admire them all summer.
