Perennial beds - the choice of lazy people or a reason to create a masterpiece

Flowers are a decoration of any garden, wherever it is and whatever size it is. Thanks to alternating color spots, even the most inconspicuous corner comes to life, only each flower garden requires careful and painstaking care.

The only way out of this situation is perennial flowers for flower beds, which should be successfully picked up once, and the problem of annual planting and digging will be forgotten for several years. Only planning such a flower garden will have to take into account several important rules.

Layout of a flower garden of perennials

First of all, you should choose a site for the future flower bed and decide on the shape of the flower garden. There are no special rules and restrictions, however, from any side, the flowerbed being built must look dignified.

As for the selection of perennial plants for a flower bed in the country, it is important to build on not only the preferred color scheme, but also on the type of parameters of the plants themselves:

• The center of the composition should be perennials with the largest and brightest flowers.
• They should be complemented by more modest flowering plants.
• Small and undersized perennials are used to fill gaps and edging.

When choosing, it is important to see not only flowers, but also leaves: their shape, color and size. Greens are no less decorative than flowering plants.

Tall plants are planted far away if the flowerbed is against the wall or fence... If the flower garden can be walked around, then the largest plants must be in the center of the composition. In such a structure, you can fit already existing plantings: trees, shrubs or garden structures, for example, an arch or a gazebo.

The best perennials for flower beds

These perennials are the most popular, unpretentious and spectacular at the same time, only on their basis you can create many options for original flower beds that will decorate the garden for several carefree years:

• Astilba - This is a unique plant that can be extremely decorative even in dense shade, and depending on the variety, they can be of different sizes and have different colors of fluffy panicles - flowers that work for a record long, up to ten weeks.
• Gelenium... Its flowering is abundant and long, from June to frost.
• Geranium is magnificent - is famous not only for its large flowers, but also for its decorative foliage, it grows in partial shade, under trees and in mixborders with other perennials, blooming from May to June, and then delighting the eyes with feathery reddish leaves.
• Catnip - unpretentious, resistant to any conditions and any light, but blooms especially magnificently in the sun.
• Oriental poppy - unique in the size of its gorgeous flowers. There are varieties that bloom in May - June and later in June - July.
• Cuff - one of the most hardy and unpretentious perennials for a flower bed with spectacular leaves.
• Sedum - is able to revive plantings at any time of the year, it is unpretentious and multiplies quickly.
• Rudbeckia - illuminates the garden with its flowers in late summer and autumn. The plant itself loves light and nutritious soil.
• Yarrow- his baskets of different shades adorn the flower beds from June to September.
• Hosta - one of the few shade-loving perennial flowers for a flower bed. In the photo is the host's flower it is classically combined with astilba.
• Sage - decorates the garden with inflorescences of all shades of purple, and a delicate aroma from June to autumn.
• Japanese anemone - this is the most beautiful perennial among the unpretentious. Delicate flowers of all kinds of colors are magnificent not only in perennial beds, but also in bouquets.

Perennial flower beds of our own design

When thinking about creating a flower bed from perennial plants, you should not particularly trust the beautiful photographs on bags with seeds. In order for the plants to please with a friendly and long flowering, the characteristics of the plants are much more important, which will be useful when planning a flower garden.

You should not chase the number of species, it is more important to choose plants by color and flowering time.

First, the size of the future planting is determined and, based on the surrounding landscape and personal preferences, specific perennial flowers for the flower bed are selected.

This takes into account:

• the timing of the flowering of each plant, so that at least three species constantly bloom on the flower bed;
• growing conditions and care;
• harmonious combination with other types, for example, in the size of flowers or color.

Further, the idea is transferred to the paper plan. It is better if it is graph paper, then the calculation of the number of plants will not be difficult.

A certain number of plants are planted per square meter, depending on the growth of this or that perennial:

• At a height of 1 to 2 meters, 2-5 plants are planted.
• At a height of 50 cm to 90 cm, 5-9 plants are required.
• At a height of 20 cm to 40 cm, 7-12 plants are required.
• Ground cover and undersized species are planted in the amount of 10-16 pieces.
• Bulbous plants, regardless of growth, are planted at the rate of 12-25 pieces.

It is better to plant perennials according to pre-applied markings.

In an effort to achieve a dense cover in a flower bed, do not plant perennials too heap. This will not allow the plant to grow and bloom in full force in the future.

Perennial flower bed for beginners

1. Phlox purple or raspberry color;
2. Astilbe with pink tassels, blooming lush throughout the summer;
3. Daylily with purple or lilac flower cups;
4. Heuchera with decorative frost-resistant leaves;
5. Geranium is magnificent, pleasing with both flowering and variegated foliage.

Only five species of common and very unpretentious perennials for flower beds, it turns out, can become the basis for a very attractive composition of long flowering.

Flower garden of perennials on the background of the lattice

In such a flower garden, not only a horizontal plane is used, but also a vertical one. This is a decorative lattice on which the constituents of the clematis planting background (15) and delicate lavatera (14). A little closer to the viewer, medicinal echination (13) and decorative balls of allium (7), tall Korean mint (12) and lofant.

In the center of the composition there is a cone-shaped boxwood (10), a silvery feathery wormwood (11) and a deep purple multicolor (8). On the sides, the flower bed is bordered by verbena (9), hybrid yarrow (6) and one of the types of Potentilla (5).

In this example, the shortest species turned out to be closest to the edge of the flower bed: geranium with azure flowers (3), sedum (4), thyme (1) and cuff (2).

It is not at all necessary to copy with maximum accuracy the schemes and photographs of flower beds with perennials that you liked and found on the net or in gardening magazines. Any of the plants can be easily replaced if you choose another one with similar flowering times and conditions for comfortable growth. In the same way, you can change the color scheme of the flower bed, reduce or increase its size, adjusting to your needs.

Healing flower bed of perennial plants

Perennials are good because they allow you to experiment from the heart and create unique flower beds, even from not the most ordinary plants. For example, why not make a flower garden of medicinal herbs in some derelict, but not devoid of the sun?

The diagram below shows how the plantings of each plant are located, and also gives an idea of ​​the color scheme.

When creating this flower garden, the following names of perennial flowers for the flower bed were used:

1. Echinacea, blooming together until mid-autumn,
2. Marigold,
3. Unpretentious tansy or toadflax,
4. Veronica medicinal,
5. Lavender or sage similar to it in parameters,
6. Badan, creating dense bright spots, or common oregano,
7. Sweet basil,
8. Plantain lanceolate,
9. Mullein, decorating the flower garden with powerful peduncles,
10. Pulmonaria,
11. Yarrow.

In a similar way, you can plan a flower bed of spicy-flavoring herbs, replacing tall and undersized perennial flowers for the flower bed, the photos and names of which are indicated in the source for no less attractive crops. In the background of such a gastronomic flower bed, you can plant juniper, catnip, lavender and lemon balm, place mint, sage, all kinds of onions and oregano closer in the path, and you can border the flower bed with thyme and cucumber grass.

Perennial plants require control over their reproduction, otherwise they will run wild over time, flowering will decrease, and the flower bed will lose its shape.

A flower bed of continuous flowering perennials

However, every gardener's dream is a flower bed that blooms from the moment the snow melts until the onset of winter. It is difficult to plan such a miracle, but if you take into account the sequence of flowering plants and ensure proper planting care, then the task will be quite within the power of many flower lovers.

Spring

1. Muscari or Pushkinia;
2. Pulsatilla meadow;
3. Arabis;
4. Creamy dwarf tulips;
5. Parrot or double yellow tulips;
6. Aquilegia;
7. Daffodils of delicate colors with a short crown;
8. Yellow large-colored daffodils;
9. Fringed yellow tulips in a flowerpot;
10. Eastern wintering;
11. Pastel colored multi-flowered rose with medium-sized flowers;
12. Lilacs of medium flowering time.

Summer

The dominant feature on a perennial flower bed in summer is a two-year-old stock-rose, but it can be replaced with a foxglove or delphinium a different shade.

Decorative plantings in the summer months are given by:

1. Multi-flowered rose;
2. Lilac;
3. Hare cabbage;
4. Eringium;
5. Lavender;
6. Blue cereal;
7. Kosmeya;
8. Tibetan lily;
9. Pyrethrum pink;
10. Mallow or foxglove;
11. Oregano ordinary;
12. Delphinium.

When planting, it is important to consider the competition among the planted plants.

Autumn

In autumn, the flowering of many perennials ends, however, the task of ensuring decorativeness is taken over by the foliage and cereals changing colors.

1. Small-flowered bush rose;
2. Hare cabbage or sedum;
3. Eringium;
4. Blue cereal or beetle;
5. Kosmeya;
6. Pyrethrum pink;
7. Siberian chrysanthemum;
8. Hubei anemone;
9. Black cohosh is simple.

Pre-winter

The decorativeness of the flower bed, right up to the snow itself, is preserved by naturally transformed into dried flowers, which finished their flowering in autumn, as well as:

1. Eastern wintering;
2. Sedum;
3. Giant erythematosus;
4. Moliniya.

Perennial care

Perennials cannot be called excessively whimsical, but they also have their own preferences and requirements for planting and care conditions:

• For perennials, loose, light, nutritious soils are preferred.
• If wild plants are planted on a flower bed, then it is important to create conditions for them that are as close to natural as possible.
• You can use mulch, sawdust and pine needles to retain moisture and create protection for plants for the winter.
• Watering and feeding even the most unpretentious perennials for a flower bed should be done with extreme caution to prevent waterlogging under the sockets.
• You should create a reliable protection of the flower garden from the wind.
• Marigolds and lavender planted along the edge of the flower bed will become natural protection against pests.

A careful approach to the selection of perennial plants and their care is the key to creating an exemplary flower garden, which for many years will be a true decoration of the site, and a source of pride for its creators.

Video - perennial flowers for the garden