The intricacies of landscape design can leave gardeners wondering about what flowers go well together as is evident in the article, Basic Principles of Landscape Design,
by the University of Florida. Experts in landscape design look for
plants with compatible height, texture, width, color and shape. Those
same experts are often aided by landscape design software that shows
options available within the USDA planting zone. Using the computer
software, they can reposition the plant images to achieve the ultimate
flower garden layout before buying the first plant. Many gardeners,
especially first time gardeners, do not have that luxury to figure out
what plants work well together. You can take the guesswork out of
grouping garden flowers by limiting your selection to a single plant
variety.
Ornamental grass
Short ornamental grass,
like variegated liriope, is a favorite of mine because it requires no
care. Once the root system is established, which may be as early as the
second year in the soil, rainfall alone can keep it going. Liriope (Liriope muscari),
also called lilyturf, grows less than 2 feet tall and spreads 1 to 2
feet. Added bonus-lilyturf sends up spears of purple, blue or white
blooms in late summer. Other short ornamental grass options, which are
cold hardy to USDA planting zone 4, include Indian rice grass (Achnatherum hymenoides), sand love grass (Eragrostis trichodes) or autumn moorgrass (Sesleria autumnalis).
Bulbs or Tubers
Daffodils (Narcissus), crocus (Crocus) and tulips (Tulipa)
are popular bulb-based plants that shoot up in early to late spring.
With blooms suitable for flower arrangements, these easy-to-grow flowers
return year after year to add color to your landscape design. Other
bulb options include the highly scented hyacinth (Hyacinthus hybrids) and lilies (Lilium). Bulbs are typically spherical in shape while tubers are fat, underground stems. Iris (Iris hybrids) is an example of a tuber. Other tubers that bloom in the summer include canna (Cannaceae) and dahlia (Dahlia variabilis).
Annual flowers
Planting annuals is a wonderful way to not only try different flower
varieties, but to try different colors to see what you like best. Over
the years, I have planted impatiens (Impatiens walleriana), marigolds (Tagetes spp.), petunia (Petunia x hybrida), pansy (Viola x wittrockiana) or sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima).
Each of these annual flowers offers a unique color to the garden
landscape but I really like impatiens the best. They grow quickly,
creating a carpet of color. With any of the referenced annual flowers,
choose a single color or plant groupings, each of a different color but
still of the same variety. For impatiens, I planted a large grouping of
lavender impatiens along side coral impatiens. The colors did not look
as good together as I expected so the following year, I selected
different colors though one color would have looked fine. The annual
flowers listed are common varieties available from local garden centers
at planting time, which may be late spring.
Perennial flowers
My landscape design includes areas of just perennial flowers on one variety. I am fond of chrysanthemums (Dendranthema spp. and hybrids) that provide outstanding color in the fall. For shade, choose astilbe (Astilbe x arendsii)
to create a sea of waving plumes in pink, white, red or purple. I
planted three astilbe plants years ago and this self-seeding perennial
flower has provided dozens of new plants in the flower garden. Scabiosa (Scabiosa columbaria),
also called pincushion, blooms from late spring into early fall,
providing a constant source for cuttings for floral arrangements.
Tip
Ornamental grass, bulbs, tubers and perennial flowers return year
after year. As these plants mature, their base expands. This maturation
allows splitting of the underground portion of the plant every three to
five years. As a cost saving measure, set out a few plants with a plan
to divide them in a few years to increase the area of your ornamental
grass garden or flower garden.
