Planning A Flower Garden
Author: Kirsten Hawkins

If you're planning to start a flower garden, you might be a
little stumped when it comes to choosing flowers. Although
there's no such thing as a bad choice of flowers, there are
some choices that can take your garden from okay to simply
magnificent. Consider these simple tips when you're trying to
choose which beautiful blooms you want for your garden.

First of all, how much light do you have? If your garden is
located in an area that gets direct sunlight for part of the
time, and shade for the rest of the time, your flower choices
are almost infinite. The majority of flowers in the world are
best adapted to these half-and-half lighting conditions. If
your garden area is very sunny, on the other hand, consider
planting flowers that not only enjoy sunlight, but can stand up
to direct heat. A few good strong sunlight flowers are
sunflowers (of course) and daylilies. On the other hand, if
your area is more on the shady side, go for lower-light flowers
such as irises, tiger lilies, or honeysuckle. These plants are
more tolerant of the cooler temperature in the shade, and their
photosynthesis process is adapted to smaller amounts of
sunlight.

What about soil? If you're planting in a rocky area, you may
have some trouble getting many plants to take root. The ideal
dirt for flowers, of course, is black, fine dirt without much
rubble. If you live in an area where the ground has a sand
consistency, look into planting local flowers- those will be
the ones most adapted to growing in sand, such as violets.

Now comes the fun part. Once you get an idea of what types of
flowers you're able to grow, it's time to think about what
types you'd like to grow. Try drawing out your garden on a
sheet of paper, based on the various heights the plants are
expected to reach. Try framing sunflowers with ground covering
plants that will flourish in the shade of the taller plants
around them. Pay attention to the colors of the blossoms and
arrange them in a pleasing manner. Use your imagination here-
feel free to plan a garden with a strict outline, featuring
only blue and yellow flowers; or let your brain and your garden
run wild, with bursts of random color everywhere. It's up to
you.

Keep in mind that the first year of a flower garden is only the
beginning. If you truly want to enjoy your garden to the utmost,
try to plant perennials that will return next season. That will
give the plants a year to mature and gain strength, and with a
little luck, you'll be surprised each year with a flourishing
flower garden that gets stronger and brighter as time goes by.


About The Author: Kirsten Hawkins is a food and nutrition
expert specializing the Mexican, Chinese, and Italian food.
Visithttp://www.food-and-nutrition.com/ for more information on
cooking delicious and healthy meals.