| Creating a lush flower garden from scratch takes | | | | different locations. Repetition of key plant groups or |
| time - many perennial plants need a couple of years | | | | a key color creates harmony and coherence. Add |
| to grow to showy sizes. So don't worry if it takes | | | | contrasts in texture and form - for example, bigger |
| several seasons to get your flower garden looking | | | | leaves next to fine ones, or spiky flowers next to |
| the way you'd want it to. That's perfectly normal. | | | | rounded and mounded ones. |
| This is a good time of year to take stock of your | | | | - Have you screened eyesores? Treat the space |
| garden design. Ask yourself the following questions - | | | | around your house as a garden, not a yard. Your |
| the answers should give you some ideas on which | | | | backdrop should complement your plants. Make |
| projects to do this spring: | | | | storage sheds or garage walls into garden features |
| - Are the flower beds too narrow? A narrow bed | | | | (vine-covered trellises can hide ugly ones). Be sure to |
| isn't wide enough to show off layers of plants. If you | | | | screen utilitarian necessities like the compost pile, |
| have a skinny bed that can't be widened, between a | | | | air-conditioning units, heat pumps, and so on with |
| hedge and a walkway, for instance, fill it with | | | | attractive fences or evergreen shrubs. |
| low-growing ground cover plants of one or two kinds. | | | | - Do the garden and house complement each other? |
| - Are the planting areas all over the place? Look at | | | | Look out the windows to make sure the picture is |
| the entire yard, not just the individual planting beds. | | | | pleasing from inside the house too. |
| Try to link beds, rather than having one here and | | | | - Do you have a focal point? You could be asking |
| another over there. | | | | plants to do all the work. Perhaps the missing |
| - Have you crammed in too many types of plants? | | | | element is what garden designers call a "focal point." |
| You'll get more impact from perennials if you put | | | | Try adding a bird bath, a sundial, an arbor, or a trellis. |
| three of one type in a clump, rather than three | | | | And of course no garden is complete without an |
| different plants or three of the same plant in | | | | inviting bench, or two. |