How to Design a Flower Bed

Featured Pro: Eric Stromer
Category: Home Improvement
Time: 2:33


ERIC STROMER: Hey, I’m Eric Stromer, and this is your GMC Trade Secret, brought to you by the GMC Sierra.

Now, if you’re planting a flower bed, there are a few things you should know before you start putting flowers in the ground. I’m going to show you how. Come on.

Now, this is where I’m going to place my flower, but I’m going to arrange it according to height to create a full dimensional pattern that’s more pleasing to the eye. And another practical reason for arranging it this way is that each plant will be visible and still get the sunlight it needs.

Plant flowers that require direct sunlight in the sunniest parts, and make sure that the plants that like shade are placed in a cool area. Now, keep in mind that planting sun-loving flowers too closely together can be a problem if they have to compete for sunlight.

To plant flower beds that will return year after year, you can select perennial flowers like these. And if you like a little variety and don’t mind the work of planting flowers each year, you can choose annuals. Now, for this flower bed, I’ve chosen perennials for the back rows and the middle rows, and I’m going to use annuals in the front row so you can have a little variety each year.

These tall foxgloves are a great back-row perennial option, because their height creates a back border for my flower garden and they require full sun, which they’ll be able to get here.

Now, these are nice because they have a little bit of height to them, so they’re visible, but they don’t block the foxgloves on the back row.

Here on the front row of my flower bed, I’m going to put my shortest flowers. Now, I’m using annuals to create a border along the front. And because these are annuals, I can change these out each year for something a little bit different.

Now, when designing the color palette of the garden, it’s recommended to use a lot of cool and warm colors intermingled with each other. Here you can see in the front cool colors, followed by some warm, and then back in the foxgloves a little bit cool there.

This flower bed looks great. Now, there’s a good distribution of warm and cool colors. And this cascading tier effect gives a dimensional look, and it’s going to give each of my flowers the sun they need to look great all season.

Visit your local nursery and find some flowers that would make a great flower bed in your garden.

I’m Eric Stromer, and this is your GMC Trade Secret.