Flower Landscape Ideas
So far, my pictures have shown examples of beds with plants blooming during a certain season: spring, summer or fall. But it won’t always be “prime time” for a particular flower border. In fact, when we think in terms of four-season interest in the landscape (365 days of visual interest), the period in which this or that perennial is blooming will represent the exception, not the rule.
So the question of how to handle the in-between periods arises. When the plants of a flower bed are not enjoying…MORE their blooming season, will that flower bed still look good? There are some simple things you can do to ensure that this question will be answered with a resounding “Yes!”
The key is to plan a flower border with just as much of an eye to intelligent selection of foliage as of flowers. In fact, some plants are grown primarily as foliage plants, because, despite offering little in the way of a flowering display, the beauty of their leaves brings much value to the table.
- The form of a plant
Take the planting in the picture above, for example. It does contain plants that will bloom, but those blooms are only in the bud stage right now. That’s no excuse, however, for such a flower border to be lacking in visual interest. What redeems this flower border in the pre-blooming period? Its foliage.
For one thing, the foliage color is outstanding. I love the combination of the ‘Purple Fountain’ beech tree in the background and the golden type of creeping jenny ground cover in the foreground. But it goes beyond just the color of the foliage. This flower border exhibits a pleasing variation in texture, as well. For example, while the creeping jenny has leaves with a fine texture, the texture of the foliage of the hosta plants just behind them is considerably coarser.
