How to choose?
With nurseries bursting with pretty flowers and garden plants, shrubs, and trees, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Knowing the best garden plants can be a huge help in narrowing down your plant wish list and help give your garden a better focus and layout. Below are some things you may want to consider when planning out your next garden bed.
Pretty Flowers and Garden Plants: Focus on Color
Do you want to be able to cut flowers to use in a bouquet? Do you want color year round? Knowing what you want from your flowers will help you narrow down which plants you should choose from. By planting flowering perennials in rows based on when they flower will ensure year round color and blooms. Cone flowers, black-eyed susans, and hydrangeas are wonderful for vases. Crepe myrtles and azaleas add bright whites, reds, and pinks to southeast gardens and require very little care once established.
Food:
Including attractive herbs alongside what you pick in your garden is a wonderful way to grow edibles without planting/tending to a full Victory Garden. Rosemary, lavender, sage, chives, and thyme are all perennials that look lovely and add flavor to any meal. Fresh cut herbs also make wonderful gifts to share with neighbors and friends.
Texture:
Flowers are lovely, but texture will keep your garden beautiful and interesting to look at year round. Grasses, such as pink muhly grass, offer a wide range of textures and colors throughout the year.
Bees: Bees are so important but also in danger! Choosing native plants for your garden is a huge help to these yellow pollinators. Lantanas, cone flowers, and zinnias are wonderful choices to attract bees.
Long-term plans: If you are buying perennials, be sure to do your research about how large they may grow. You may need to scale back your plans to accommodate the size of your plants once they mature.
Pretty Flowers and Garden Plants: Inspiration is everywhere!
Take a drive around your city and take note what is in your favorite gardens. Imitation is, after all, the greatest form of flattery. (But also a handy way of knowing what grows best in your area and how an established plant may look.) Decided what matters most to you in your garden and then start digging!
