JumpyTheFrog Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I want to get started in flower gardening. I have planted flowers at random and would like to do something that looks better. What are some good websites and books that have flower garden plans? I don't have enough experience to be able to imagine what would look good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Look up Rosalind Creasy's books. They may not be what you want, but you won't regret the time you spend drooling over them. :D Start with the Edible Flower Garden! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Based upon recommendations here, I bought Five Plant Gardens. It lays out the perennial gardens for you and only uses five types of plants. With the help of this book, I was able to plant salt-hardy flower beds at the sides of my driveway where DH likes to pile the snow. I got the ebook. http://www.amazon.com/Five-Plant-Gardens-Perennial-Garden-Plants/dp/1612120040 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Thanks for starting this thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 THanks - I just ordered the FIve Plant Gardens from the library! Myra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaillardia Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 In a rush, but for now I will recommend that you start with small shrubs or flowering or fruiting small trees as your base, then add perennials, ferns, and bulbs and fill in with annuals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 What a fun way to spend a cold January day--thinking about flower gardening. I love the varied forums at gardenweb.com. Lots of information there. It might not apply to you and your location, but it's fun to learn. I grow more fond of perennials every year--it such fun to plant something that blooms for years to come. I highly value antique roses, daylilies, and salvias. I plant daffodils in the fall--and usually get blooms for two or three years from them. I fill large pots with good potting soil and colorful annuals. Those I change out seasonally. Right now I have some pots with winter pansies, kale, and ornamental cabbage in the back (warmer) porch. Just planted tulip bulbs in some pots--they are annuals here. Sometime in April probably, I'll switch out the winter stuff for summer transplants. If zinnas and sunflowers will grow in your area, indulge in seeds. Those are fun to grow. Head on over to an independent garden center one morning. Chat with a knowledgeable person there about easy care flowers for your area. Take some photos of the areas where you want flowers. they can give you advice. Go while it's cold and no one is shopping there so they have time to chat with you. Remember two things-- gardening is an art. Some years are better or easier than others. Keep trying, you'll get results. Keeping a garden journal is a fun way to gauge progress. it takes time to build and grow. Plan on a improving (or creating) one or two beds this year. Next year you can add another area... I love gardening...seeds, plants, sunlight, water, and love. It's all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggie96 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Better Home and Gardens website www.bhg.com has many gardening plans. They have a schematic with a list of plants and alternatives. I use them for inspiration and a "base idea". Then, I make changes to include my favorites, size of planting area, hardy-for-my-zone, etc. They have come in handy when shopping for plants, also because I carry along a print out and can make substitutions on the fly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpyTheFrog Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 One side of the house is shady and hilly, which makes it annoying to mow. Are hostas easy to grow and would they allow me to not have to mow or weed whack that side anymore? We have a riding mower but it's hard to get this one area with it. If I can get some ground cover growing there instead of grass we can sell the small electric mower. (Take my advice, don't buy a lawn mower with a cord!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 One side of the house is shady and hilly, which makes it annoying to mow. Are hostas easy to grow and would they allow me to not have to mow or weed whack that side anymore? We have a riding mower but it's hard to get this one area with it. If I can get some ground cover growing there instead of grass we can sell the small electric mower. (Take my advice, don't buy a lawn mower with a cord!) I LOVE our little electric mower. It weighs nothing, always starts easily, and we never do anything to maintain it. It's wonderful. The only thing we use it for is the front yard and the hardest thing is winding the extension cord when I'm done. It's a slope, and we don't have enough sunlight to grow grass. At this point I'm encouraging the moss. We have some periwinkle. That's a nice ground cover that stays in it's place. I'm gradually adding flower beds. the clover and weeds pass for grass if we keep it mowed, but I'd like the front to eventually be one, pretty, low-maintenance perennial garden. Hostas do really well here, and someone on this board told me about "handful of hostas." You can order a lot of them for a pretty low price. I haven't gotten around to that section yet. I just googled that phrase and it sent me to burgess seeds. (Sorry, having copy/paste issues today.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I LOVE our little electric mower. It weighs nothing, always starts easily, and we never do anything to maintain it. It's wonderful. The only thing we use it for is the front yard and the hardest thing is winding the extension cord when I'm done. It's a slope, and we don't have enough sunlight to grow grass. At this point I'm encouraging the moss. We have some periwinkle. That's a nice ground cover that stays in it's place. I'm gradually adding flower beds. the clover and weeds pass for grass if we keep it mowed, but I'd like the front to eventually be one, pretty, low-maintenance perennial garden. Hostas do really well here, and someone on this board told me about "handful of hostas." You can order a lot of them for a pretty low price. I haven't gotten around to that section yet. I just googled that phrase and it sent me to burgess seeds. (Sorry, having copy/paste issues today.) I love your ideas for a front yard garden. I found a couple of books at Half Priced Books specifically on front yard gardens. You might look through a few for inspiration. For me, hostas go away in the winter leaving the ground bare and uninteresting. I like small evergreen shrubs, mondo grass, or purple wintercreeper enonymus (Yipes, I know that probably isn't spelled correctly!) as ground covers. Also think outside the plant box--nice stepping stones, pretty garden art, and a thick layer of mulch make an area pretty and easy care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Look through seed catalogs and gardening magazines. Perhaps start small. I started my love of gardening when I lived in an apartment and had a container garden on my balcony. You can be very artistic with containers, yet it is not so overwhelming as a whole yard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendy not in HI Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I had a lovely perennial garden at our last home (we moved this summer.)(it's been a while since we lived in HI - I should chance my name on here) I found the small nursery in town to be a wealth of knowledge. They offered classes on basics and information about growing native plants that would do well in a difficult climate (south dakota). I went on a couple of "garden tours" to see what others did. Then I got to work preparing my garden beds - I dug up grass, added compost, then laid wet newspapers between plants and covered the paper with more compost. The first year I just walked around the garden store and bought things that I liked and made my minions, er kids help plant. And I filled in around the perennials with some pretty annuals. That fall I planted a ton of bulbs. The next year I watched to see what did well, and added a few more perennials and some annuals. I also prepared for a nice shade garden and planted hostas and bleeding hearts. That year the perennials went crazy, so I was able to divide grasses and lilies and daisies and fill in around other beds. Last winter was really hard on the garden and I lost two of my roses - the roses that had been in for a couple of years did fine, but the ones I had planted that summer died. But most every thing else did okay. I was able to split more plants and fill in all over the place. Perennial gardening is so fun! And after the first year is was mostly free!! We are in a rental, now, so I won't do more than plant a few annuals and move some hostas. I miss my garden! So, anyway, my advice is to go check out some local small nurseries for advice and ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomsintheGarden Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 One side of the house is shady and hilly, which makes it annoying to mow. Are hostas easy to grow and would they allow me to not have to mow or weed whack that side anymore? We have a riding mower but it's hard to get this one area with it. If I can get some ground cover growing there instead of grass we can sell the small electric mower. (Take my advice, don't buy a lawn mower with a cord!) I love hostas, but I don't think they make good ground covers because they don't spread, and they die back to their roots in the winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Use google to find out what the native flowering plants are for your region, to start. You may have more success with native plants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I read this in a gardening book: Admire large gardens; plant small ones. Seems like sound advice for the beginner :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 A mystery solved... The books mentioned in this thread were the ones I forgot to look for at the library today! I knew I was forgetting something!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Edited.....Somehow I posted with no content. Not sur how. We moved into a home without a garden fall of 2013. That fall dh prepared basic beds for me and we planted an assortment of colourful bulbs to enjoy in the spring. Mainly daffodils, anemones, and iris. In the spring I added glads and dahlias. I have gone to a number of garden club type sales because they are a great place to pick up plants that do well in my area and have added a pretty wide range of plants from those. Since the plants are members extras they know exactly where that perennial was thriving. A few nursery buys for more mature shrubbery mainly. Our yard is sunny with parts being brutally sunny. I have been moving things around accordingly. The bulbs have given me a good base for colour year around. I planted many more this fall and was also able to split forget me nots and foxgloves. At other houses the kids and I have ordered seed packets for perennial flowering plants. Things were somewhat hit or miss. What grew wasn't necessarily what I dreamed of but in two years I had colourful borders that were perennial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Has anyone started annuals from seed? I like the idea of filling in colorful borders for pennies AND starting things in the winter when it's dark and depressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Has anyone started annuals from seed? I like the idea of filling in colorful borders for pennies AND starting things in the winter when it's dark and depressing. I used to know someone who started snapdragons in windowsills this time of the year and had a fabulous yard. The seeds are microscopic ;) and need careful watering which was hard when I tried it with todlers. I have done larger seed annuals a number of times. Marigolds and zinnias are easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I used to know someone who started snapdragons in windowsills this time of the year and had a fabulous yard. The seeds are microscopic ;) and need careful watering which was hard when I tried it with todlers. I have done larger seed annuals a number of times. Marigolds and zinnias are easy. 'Easy' is encouraging. 'Easy' is my gardening competency level. I'll definitely look into this more :-) Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 'Easy' is encouraging. 'Easy' is my gardening competency level. I'll definitely look into this more :-) Thanks. I would wait to start them until about six weeks before you can plant them in the garden. I have planted the marigolds and zinnias directly in the garden and moved the plants later. just depends how quickly you want flowers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomsintheGarden Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Woo hoo! I can actually post - a weird cookie problem was making my text disappear. I have started many types of flowers from seed. Some are far easier than others. Some take longer than others. The easiest to start early indoors are cosmos, zinnias, and marigolds. They should be started 4 weeks before the last frost. Snapdragons take about 10 weeks and will tolerate a bit of frost (half-hardy annuals) - they take longer to get big enough to plant out because they start out so small. You can also start the above flowers and many, many other kinds outdoors in a well-prepared seed bed. You'll have to keep toddlers and pets out of the bed, which is not easy sometimes. Other gardening advice: Watch out for gardening forums - they can be fun but I've seen a lot of inaccurate or just plain bad advice on them. Sort of like the blind leading the blind. Some of my favorite flower gardening resources: Margaret Roach's gardening blog, A Way to Garden, at awaytogarden.com. Just love her! Park Seed Catalog at www.parkseed.com. I get a lot of gardening catalogs, and Park Seed is wonderful for flowers, especially if you live in the south. They have good planting info. The book, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, by Tracy DiSabato-Aust. This is THE book for perennial ornamental plants. Magazines you can get from your library: Fine Gardening and Organic Gardening, also look for regional gardening magazines. Your local extension office. Your local full-service nursery. Choose one that's not a major chain, and with a full parking lot. Check your local library for design books, especially ones on permaculture. Many permaculture enthusiasts combine edibles and ornamentals. I favor books with lots of pictures. The one I'm reading now is a DK book called Gardening Step by Step. Have fun! GardenMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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