How do you plant a season of blooms?

[ladylily]

I am fairly new to gardening so I've been doing my homework before planning exactly what to plant. So far I know that I'd like a perennial garden and I've learned that it's possible to have blooms all season. What I don't understand is how you can fill a flower bed with spring bloomng plants and still have room for summer blooming and then fall blooming ones. Most plants are described as best planted in masses, so how do you do that for so many different plants? Can anyone help please??

[petalfuzz]

I think a trip to the library is in store for you! I read a great book this summer on perenniel gardening (sorry don't know the name), but it gives a detailed list of plants and garden plans for all-season blooms. Good luck!

[applestar]

How about early/mid/late flowering spring bulbs like snowdrops, crocuses, tulips, daffodils, grape hyacynths, etc. summer flowering low growing edging plants in the front and shrubs or vines on trellis in the back ground, and late summer/fall flowering phlox, rudbeckias, gaillardias, asters, and/or salvias, as well as self-seeding annuals like cosmos and four o'clocks in clumps in between?
(all depends on exposure and watering, of course, I'd say this is an example of a sunny garden)

Combinations with spring bulbs work better with shallower, fibrous rooted perennials I think. (My tulips herald the spring in my strawberry patch. ) You could probably bury some deep planted lily bulbs in there too (Though elsewhere in my garden, I'm losing all my lily bulbs to some kind of burrowing critter, maybe chipmuks. )

The key here, though is to have a well-prepared garden bed with LOTS of organic matter if you expect it to work so hard, and to replenish with good compost every year.

You know what, this isn't really what you asked, but I'm going to toss it in: This may be obvious, but my "ah! ha!" moment was when I decided to group plants in beds based on their basic care needs. I now have a bed each of "moist shade garden", "dry shade garden", "sunny meadow garden", "sunny bog garden" and "desert rock garden" of mixed annuals and perennials. I'm planning a "kitchen door-side herb and strawberry garden", "apple/pear/juneberry orchard" and a few others that are still under consideration

[coloradogardening]

May I recommend a book for you. It is the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials by Ellen Phillips & C. Colston Burrell published by Rodale's Book. I have used this book many times when designing new flower beds or changing the theme of an older one.

The book talks about how to design your beds, preparing the soil, different themes and a breakdown on each plant they talk about. It shows you how to design your flower beds so you will have a continual bloom of beauty throughout the growing period.

You can adjust the theme gardens to you liking or just go along with their ideas. Just stratically place some annuals and a variety of bulbs and you will be the envy of the neighborhood.

[Ross K]

Develop a soil medium rich in compost and those elemental substances that will continually break down throughout the growing season and supply the bloom-enhancing nutrients to compliment the flowering cycle of each specific plant in that garden area. Your local garden center stores will have information about early, mid-season and late bloomers that are appropriate for your location, elevation and climate zone. Feed the soil....and the plants will take over from there.

[rainbowgardener]

the trick of course is that a lot of the spring things die back and the fall ones are slower starters. In between the plants just sort of mingle and sort themselves out. But of course if you want this many different plants in a small bed, you can't really have masses of them. I have some small flower beds in my front yard, sort of 3'X3'X4' triangle-ish, they have crocus, snow drops, winter aconite, hyacinth, dwarf iris, pansies for early spring, basket of gold, tulips, daffodils for later spring, iris, then for summer perennial salvia, rudbeckia, day lilies, yarrow, tansy, marigolds, jerusalem artichoke, coreopsis, sundrops, (a lot of this stuff I have to keep pulling out to keep it from taking over... if I try as hard as I can to eliminate all the jerusalem artichoke, a tall sunflower, the part that still comes up is just enough), then mums and asters and fall crocus. I had goldenrod, since in the wild I love the goldenrod and asters together, but it was threatening to take over the whole yard not just the flower bed, so I pulled it all. I may try to find some dwarf hybrid that would be better behaved. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, right now its' still pretty bare.. Anyway this keeps something blooming from about now through November in my zone 6 location. You will note that these are all hardy, very easy care low maintenance plants.

[bali]

For a start.

Crocus
tulips

They will be the first ones.
You must let them live till the foilage turns brows.
I space mine so I can plant the spring flower between the foilage.

If you only want perennials
High on my list is Lilys......There are many different types that will bloom at different times.

That is a good start.don't try to be a huge success till you start with a small section. Each year add another type or 2. Lilys are tall.

[marmar]

Alium are wonderful to place hear and there. They grow really tall but narrow with the big purple ball of a flower on top. They bloom late spring and last untill mid summer. They are my favorite I stick the balb behind hostas and day lillies.Or under some other shallow bulbs. Also there are alot of flowers that bloom for a really long time. Yarrow, stone crop hydrangias, and hostas are pretty all year. russian sage is pretty all year too and all are easy to grow.

[bali]

These have to be planted in the fall don't they?

alliums?

[marmar]

yes they do but don't forget to get some. Globemaster are my favs. they are huge 10 inches across. They make a great statement.

[bali]

I think I have 2 ..........not 10 inches tho.
Show us a photo.

b

My av

[marmar]

That isnt an allium. I don't know how to post pics but you could google allium. Its a bulb related to the onion. The bulb even smells like an onion. They kinda look like a giant chive flower. They come in white most of the time purple and bluish and some are even burgandy.

[buddy110]

http://s234.photobucket.com/albums/ee28 ... res004.jpg

You mean like this? I have a little of everything in this bed except early bulbs. It starts blooming in May and doesn't stop until late September

[bali]

Thats cool..

I seent it before..
Somewhere.
Great if you can keepit weeded.

[buddy110]

Great if you can keepit weeded.

full time job