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Flower Bed IdeasNext, what areas of your backyard needs a new flower bed? Do you need some color near your patio? Maybe a border along the walk leading to your front door? The place you want to put your flower bed will affect the idea you ultimately choose. Another consideration you need to think about… do you want the kind of flowers you can cut frequently for indoor bouquets? Or do you prefer to let them decorate your yard? Cutting flowers can be worked in with other flowers, or your entire flower bed can be made of cutting flowers. Finally, what colors do you want to add to your yard? Do you like a profusion of rainbow colors? How about a moonlight garden of white flowers, or a garden that incorporates colors that are close on the color wheel, like blue, lavender and purple? Now that you have some basic decisions out of the way, let's look at some plant choices and how to use them in your flower bed ideas. Plants for Flower BedsDaylilies are a wonderful choice. They are easy to grow and come in several colors. Daylilies look wonderful in front of a vertical vine like clematis, or in a mixed planting with Rudbeckia, which is a yellow daisy with a dark center. They both like similar growing conditions, and look smashing together.If you choose a daylily that is, for example, dark pink with a yellow center, planting them next to bright yellow coreopsis will highlight the yellow centers of the daylilies, bringing the entire color scheme together. If your ideal flower bed idea would be to attract butterflies or hummingbirds, you might be inclined to plant bee balm (Monarda spp.), butterfly bush and astilbe. They all come a variety of soft colors that work well together, and the three plants offer a variety of heights. Hummingbirds like trumpet vines, honeysuckle and any other plants with a tube-like trumpet shape. Cut Flower Bed IdeasIf you prefer to have fresh flowers in the house all season, you'll want to choose plants that offer great choices for cut bouquets. Daylilies, liatris, pinks, monarda and agastache make a terrific bouquet.A few broad hosta leaves provide a good foliage base. Baby's breath and caryopteris can make a beautiful blue and white bouquet… even the caryopteris alone is stunning, and it lasts for weeks in a vase. Another stunning combination for late in the season mixes blooming sedum with the seedpods from the daylilies. This creates an unusual bouquet that will get a second look from everyone. Fancy grasses can also add an airy element to your bouquets, and hosta leaves can fill empty pockets with several vibrant shades of green and blue. Another great combination for fall combines coreopsis or heliopsis with fuzzy seed heads of ornamental grasses. If you are allergic to grass pollen, you may want to skip the grasses. Early spring provides some gorgeous bouquets with iris in many colors. Iris is a good choice for a flower bed, because there are so many varieties, ranging from the large bearded iris to the elegant Japanese and Siberian iris varieties. Lupines come in so many colors, you can make a beautiful rainbow display using this flower by itself. For an unusual bouquet, a combination of poker plant, hosta leaves, honeysuckle and lysimachia will be a floral display your family and friends won't soon forget. Hellebores make a lovely old-fashioned bouquet. As you can see from this list, there are many flowers you could choose to put into a cut flower garden that would combine nicely to make bouquets for the house all season long. If your flower bed ideas include a shady garden, ferns, bleeding heart, trillium and violets can make a magical fairy retreat. This is especially nice planted beneath airy trees like birch or maybe near a stand of bamboo. These plants will begin to naturalize after a year or so, and will eventually look like they grew there of their own accord, creating a forest wonderland. Other flower bed ideas may include a container grouping on your patio, installing an island garden in the center of your lawn, or maybe a mixture of flowers and vegetables. |
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