Your best bet is to start small your first year, and don’t worry about making mistakes. As time goes on, you can adjust your garden, digging up what didn’t work on year and embracing what did well. You’ll find a garden style and plants that make you happy, and the discovery of what exactly that is can be an unexpected pleasure. For more tips on perfecting your own flower garden, start with the advice below. Choosing the right location is another key to a successful flower garden. Most flowers thrive in full to partial sun, so it’s important to choose a spot that boasts ample light to help boost your blooms. Additionally, you’ll want to select a spot that’s out of the way from other activities in your yard—there’s nothing worse than your hard-won blooms getting trampled during a backyard BBQ. If this is your first garden, it’s probably best to start small. Taking on a large garden plot can quickly become overwhelming, and it may even turn you off from the idea altogether. Likewise, if space is an issue, consider starting a container garden instead. This is a workable option, even if you live in an apartment or condo where breaking ground is not an option. Thankfully, some annuals are self-sowing, or what professional gardeners like to call “volunteers.” Most of the time, these blooms will seed themselves (sometimes with a little help from the wind or nearby birds) and produce beautiful plants year after year. Then, there are biennial flowers, such as foxglove and black-eyed Susans. These plants have two growing seasons in their life cycle, one year focused on leaves and food production and the next focused on flowers and seeds. After this time, they will seed out so that the process can start all over again. Choosing the right plants for your garden and keeping them growing year after year is what makes perennial gardening such an enjoyable journey for the gardener. Their care includes dividing them to produce larger crops, and knowing when to cut them back after their growing season ends. With careful attention, perennials will be a mainstay in your flower beds. The key to a successful rose garden lies in choosing varieties that will flourish in your area and giving them plenty of sunshine. Additionally, a few maintenance tips will help you along the way. Knowing how and when to prune your roses will keep your plants healthy, happy, and producing bountiful blooms. You’ll also want to prepare them for winter properly by cutting back the plant and, in some instances, sheltering it from harsh weather conditions. Ornamental grasses can function as a backdrop for your flowers, serve as a decorative privacy barrier for your backyard, and can even bring color to the garden throughout the year. Using them extends your garden into the fall when many kinds of grasses will peak—and some even can bring you joy well into the winter. You can also attract birds and butterflies with the right shrub selection (like hydrangea or dogwood), which will in turn help pollinate and seed your flower selections, improving the overall health of your garden. Groundcovers are another amazing resource—they can carpet or edge a garden as well as lead you along a path. Ultimately, it’s very easy to combine any or all of these elements to create a mixed garden that holds your interest all year long.
