How To Plant A Colorful Flower Garden

Colorful summer garden flowers are a great way to add life and beauty to your outdoor space this summer. There’s no need to spend hours stressing about what to plant when you can find all of the perfect plants at your local garden center.

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Ah, Summertime! It will soon be here and I can’t wait to feel the warm sun and work in my garden. There’s just something about a summer flower garden that brings so much joy, don’t you agree? There are several different ways you can have a colorful flower garden, even if you don’t have a lot of land.

Let’s start with the basic flower garden in a yard. If you are starting from scratch, you want to prepare the soil by tilling, weeding, and adding compost. Choose an area that gets plenty of sun, for the most colorful garden. There are more flowers that need a lot of sun than there are that need shade.

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Next, ask friends, and neighbors to share some of their established plants. It is so easy to separate perennials (flowers that grow back every year). Gardeners love sharing their bounty, and it is easy to thin out overgrown gardens in the spring or fall.

I know you’re excited to plant your flowers! Always get the names of what plants have been given and ask the gardener for basic care instructions. This includes information on growing environment, color, how tall they grow, etc.

Plant your tallest flowers as the backdrop. Leave space to grow, and space to plant some shorter annuals (plants that die after the growing season). Plant medium-sized flowers next, and short flowers in the front of your garden area.

Now it’s time to visit a garden center and buy annual flowers so that your summer flower garden can be colorful. The idea is, you buy (and get from others) some perennials every year and in just a few years, you will have an awesomely vibrant flower bed.

Speaking of color, think about whether you want to have a color scheme or not. If you are getting freebies, as I did, you can’t really choose colors. Everything I got from someone else was purple when I started! At first, I stayed with purples, pinks, and whites. After several years, I added yellows and reds. Now, I love the look of flowers of every color in my garden.

Buying an annual in cell packs are affordable. Hardy flowers like vinca, begonias, zinnias, marigolds, and snapdragons are a great place to start. Alyssum is another good choice for low-growing plants that smell sweet when planted near the front of your garden. This flower comes in white, pink, or purple.

Buy a few perennial flowers according to your budget, and make sure you really like them, as they will grow back and multiply every year. Some easy and hardy options are Echinacea or Purple Coneflower, Brown Eyed Susan, Phlox, Daisy, and Bee Balm. I like to choose flowers that are good for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The Purple Coneflower, Bee Balm, Phlox, and Alyssum are all attractants for our flying friends.

Now, if you don’t have a spot to dig a garden, but have room for pots, you can still make an attractive flower garden. The best part about planting flowers in containers is that they’re mobile and versatile – so wherever the sun shines brightest or your favorite color dominates at any given moment – it’s easy as pie!

If you’re willing to invest in a large pot, it’s possible to find one that won’t break the bank! Perennials will need larger and deeper pots. I always plant big pots with flowers because perennials do well together too but also have my own garden next door so they can grow their roots there as well. You could use window boxes if space is limited or if you want something more decorative for your kitchen windowsill while still getting some plants growing on them.

When you want to start flowers from seed, it is much more work but also less expensive. You can buy seeds for both annual and perennial flowers at the store or online- just read the back of a packet carefully before buying! Some plants will grow quickly enough that they’ll be okay when planted directly in your garden after the last frost date. But other varieties do best if started inside first- check with gardening experts about what sorts are right for your climate zone

To start seeds inside, you can buy the seed-growing kits that are made for this. They have a clear plastic cover and little soil plugs to ensure they grow properly in water first. You could also use yogurt cups with holes poked into them or eggshells as makeshift planters too!

You should start your sprouts indoors to make sure they are warm and moist, you can’t just use the soil from outside. If you wrap a plastic sheet loosely around your cups it will protect them until they have grown enough to be put in the dirt.

When your sprouts have grown about an inch high, thin to one seedling per container. If you let several seedlings grow in the same container together, they will be thin and weak. I hate killing little plants, but I have paid the price by losing all my seedlings this way!

If your seedlings seem too big at any point, you can carefully transplant them to a larger container. Once the weather is warmer, you can start putting them outside for a few hours a day in a shady spot. This is called, “hardening off.” If you just put all your tender baby plants outside in full sun all day long without hardening off, they will get sunburned and probably die.

Once your baby flower plants have been gradually introduced to sunshine (by increasing their time in sunnier spots daily), you are ready to transplant them to your garden. Make sure you water them every day until they are big and hardy. New plants are very thirsty!

Are you ready to start your colorful summer flower garden now? I have given you a lot of information, and I know you can do it! Don’t be afraid to try! A lot of successful gardening is trial and error, but it helps to be prepared by learning as much as you can beforehand. Flower gardening is a fun and satisfying hobby. Now, go plan your flower garden! 🙂