The loveliness of flowering plants needs little embellishment by
description. Certainly every gardener seeks the beauty and color
that can be brought to his grounds by a variety of flowers. The
proper arrangement of flower beds in your garden and attentive
care to them can insure you a continuing bloom of lovely flowers
year after year.
For with planning, it is possible to maintain flowers in your
garden during the entire length of the growing season. Borders
and beds are planted with flowering annuals and perennials which
bloom at different periods during the year. By choosing
carefully initially, and by caring for the flowers thereafter,
the blooms will overlap each other, so that there will never be
a period when an old bloom disappears but that a new one will
start to show its color.
Preparing the soil for flower beds or borders requires greater
care than planting a lawn. For one thing, digging must be
deeper. It is not too much to dig the bed 2 feet deep, although
1 1/2 feet is suitable. It is, of course, possible to grow
flowers in a shallower bed than this, but the deeper you dig,
the better your production will be.
All heavy lumps should be broken up. It is a good idea to spread
some sand, cinders or ashes in the bottom soil to break it up.
Also, you might work manure, well-rotted compost, grass
clippings or peat moss into the bottom. Do not firm the bottom
soil down, but let it settle naturally.
Good loam should be used for the topsoil — e.g., well-rotted
manure, humus, peat moss, well-sifted leaf mold or heavy sand.
Wood ashes are fine for spring, and lime may be used for
loosening the soil. You might think about the character of your
soil and consider the particular fertilizer which contains the
elements your soil needs most. Should you use manure, be careful
not to let it touch the roots of plants.
Should you use manure, be careful not to let it touch the roots
of plants. The problems of color should be kept in mind when
planning flower borders and beds, so that while there is
sufficient contrast in texture and color of the flowers, there
is at the same time an attractive blending.
A plan for a bed of annuals, for example, might be designed to
stress zinnias, with contrast provided by such softer flowers as
chrysanthemum, scabiosa, nasturtium, cosmos and candytuft.
Siting of the flower bed is important. Ideally, it should be
close to the house, facing south or south west.
Any location that gets good sun, however, will produce well. The
border should be located away from trees or shrubs. These plants
absorb more than their share of moisture and nutrients from the
soil and, because of their strength, can overpower the more
delicate flowering plants.
A good background such as a stone wall or a fence adds to the
beauty of a flower bed or border, and evergreen shrubs make a
pleasing backdrop. Edgings need not be restricted, as they so
often are, to one color (e.g., the white of alyssum).
Coral bells, whose lovely foliage makes a handsome edge, are an
all-season flowering plant, and they provide unusual cut
flowers. Baby pansies, violas, portulaca, ageratum, dwarf double
nasturtium and dwarf marigolds are multi-colored flowers.
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