Growing A Garden Nursery Landscaping Guide
Growing A Garden With Annual And Perennial Flowers
By Suzzie T Franklin
Growing a garden full of fresh, lovely flowers is an enjoyable
experience if you don’t mind getting down and dirty. Sure, it’s
easy to go out and buy a potted plant or a bouquet for the table,
but you won’t get the same sense of wonderment, pride and joy
as you do from growing your own.
Garden guides will tell you that the first step to creating a
successful garden is to review your options and look at your space
and determine how much garden you can muster.
Decorating Your Front And Backyards With Gardens
Many homeowners will go with a front yard display to improve
the look of the house, while more zealous gardeners will spread
the joy into their backyards too. If you live in a condo, townhouse
or apartment, you can still experiment with patio and windowsill
gardens.
Those with little gardening experience will often opt to transplant
annuals that have already been grown at a nursery. This is a quick-fix
garden for the front yard if you’re hurrying to catch up with
the neighbors. You may also try container gardening from seed
as an experiment.
Garden Containers Close Together
Once the containers fill with blooms, you can bring them out
to the front yard. Some people garden rather extensively with
containers and place them all next to one another, so you see
a full garden, rather than the individual pots. Petunias, marigolds,
begonias, geraniums, impatiens, pansies, petunias and salvia are
popular varieties.
A good place to start is at www.backyardgardener.com/annual/index.html,
where you can learn which annuals will endure in cold weather,
endure in heat, grow in poor soil, have a short bloom season,
can be sown in the fall and are best for your soil type.
Short Blooms With Perennial Flowers
If you’re up for growing a garden that is a bit more challenging,
then you can try perennial flower gardening. Perennials will last
up to five blooming seasons, although their blooms are generally
more short-lived than annuals.
It’s important, then, to plant a variety of different flowers
and select flowers that bloom in different seasons. In the spring,
try pasque flower, crocus, daffodils, Virginia bluebells, creeping
phlox, iris reticulata and lungwort.
Trial And Error Gardening
For late spring/early summer blooms, try peonies, bleeding hearts,
columbine, Siberian iris, German iris, dianthus, lamium, baptisia,
coreopsis, coral bells and salvia. For summer, try yarrow, purple
coneflower, black eyed Susan, daylilies, Indian blanket flower,
tall border phlox, penstemon, bee balm, boltonia and hosta. For
the fall, try toadlily, windflower, Japanese anemone, assorted
sedums and assorted asters.
Growing a garden successfully usually takes a little bit of trial
and error. Over the years, you’ll learn where to fill in the bald
spots, which plants can’t quite survive in your area and which
plants really flourish.
Look Out For Pests And Weeds
During the year, you’ll need to water your new plants daily (unless
it rains) and occasionally add more mulch or top soil nutrients.
Be sure to remain vigilant about weeds and pests that invade your
garden. Also keep an eye out for plants that seem to be choking
themselves: a trim at this point is always the best idea.
At the end of the season, conventional gardening advice says
that you must cover any perennials with 4-5 inches of mulch to
keep the roots protected during the frigid winter.
About the Author:
Suzzie T Franklin has written a number of articles on gardening, flowers and landscaping including
Cherry Blossom,
African Violets,
Plastic Flower Pot,
Bamboo Plants,
Wire Topiary Frames,
Planting Guide,
Flower Seeds,
Gardening Vegetable,
Bonsai Trees.
Keep a lookout for more of her articles on this website.
Little Known Gardening Facts....
What are some of the most common gardening tips given to new
gardeners?
Two of the most common gardening tips given
to new gardeners are to pay attention to the sun and to how much
you water. You would be amazed at how many gardens are ruined
because the gardener did not pay attention to either one.
Too much sun on some plants will kill them.
Some prefer shaded areas. Too much water can essentially drown
the plant. You have to know exactly how much sun and water to
give each of your plants. These two simple tips are instrumental
in having a successful vegetable or flower garden.
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