Flower gardens are a beautiful addition to any yard. Not only do the colourful blooms add visual interest but the plants attract a variety of wildlife, including birds, bees, and butterflies. Whether your flower garden is just a small plot or has taken over your entire yard, it’s sure to bring you joy.
Planting a Flower Garden
When you’re planning or expanding your flower garden, it’s important to pick the best plants for your growing conditions and your region’s ecosystem. Other than that, focus on having fun and creating a garden space that you love.
Cornell University has a terrific guide to help design your flower garden. The tips below are taken from their site but visit their page for more ideas and details.
Sunshine
Most flowering plants need full sun to flourish. They may tolerate shade or partial shade, but they will likely produce more blooms if they get at least 6 hours of direct sun daily. Read the plant information tags or seed packets to determine how much sun your flowers need. Then, scope out your yard to determine the best spots for your flowers.
Soil
Most plants prefer loose, well-drained soil. A low-lying area where standing water collects isn’t a good spot for a flower garden. But many other soil issues can be addressed. Heavy clay soils, for instance, can be worked and amended with organic matter like compost or manure to loosen them and improve drainage. An easy work-around for any trouble spots, though, is to install raised beds or use pots and planters.
Avoid Trees
Very few plants grow well under large trees. Trees cast shade and their large root systems greedily soak up the moisture and nutrients in the soil.
Choices
Pretty much everything else is up to you!
- Do you want to create something new every year from scratch with annuals or do you want to put in some perennials that you can count on to bloom in the years to come?
- Flower beds can be more visually interesting if there are a variety of plants with differing heights. Remember that different species or cultivars of the same plant may grow to very different heights. Take some time to figure which plants would complement each other best in terms of how tall they grow.
- Visual interest can also be created by choosing blooms of varying shades or contrasting colours.
- Create beds where the plants will flower from spring through to fall frosts. Use spring-flowering bulbs like tulips and daffodils to kick things off. Then also choose a variety of other flowers that will bloom throughout the season.
- Are there certain types of wildlife (honey bees, hummingbirds, particular butterfly species) that you want to attract to your garden? If so, do some research into the best plants for both your region and the critters you wish to attract.
- Remember that most plants transplant well. If you find that a certain flower isn’t performing well or if you decide that you no longer want to care for a certain plant (perhaps you’re tired of deadheading?), it’s perfectly okay to move your plants around. Do a little research beforehand, though, as some transplant better at certain times in the season.
Choosing Native Plants
It’s also important to consider whether the plants you choose for your flower garden are native to the area.
Native plants are those that have evolved within a region’s ecosystem. Because they’ve evolved in tandem with other plants and animals in the area, they have an important role in supporting biodiversity.
Non-native plants (also called “alien” or “exotic” plants) were introduced into an area, either on purpose or by accident. Daylilies, for example, were introduced to North America from eastern Asia in the 1600s as ornamental flowers. Because they are hardy, vigourous, and highly adaptable, they migrated into the wild. They now grow as wildflowers across North America, but they are not native to the continent. Other non-native plant species may have been introduced by accident when seeds were inadvertently carried into an area.
The Ontario Invasive Plant Council points out that invasive plants negatively impact an area’s biodiversity and habitats. In fact, invasive exotic plants can “permanently [alter] landscapes and ecosystem functions … costing economies millions of dollars each year.” Seeds from non-native plants are easily dispersed by wind, water, and wildlife. A single butterfly bush can produce three million seeds within just one season! In that way, even exotic plants confined to your backyard can affect an area’s entire ecosystem.
Choosing Plants for a Butterfly Garden
Butterflies are one of those sure signs of summer that we all love to see. Not only are they awe-inspiring and beautiful to look at but they have a vital role in our planet’s ecosystem. They are part of the natural food chain as prey to birds, bats, and other insects. More importantly, they are crucial pollinators. As the Centre for Biological Diversity points out, as human beings our own food sources are dependent on pollinators.
It’s easy to attract butterflies to your garden. You just need to establish the plants that butterflies and their larvae use as food sources. Adult butterflies will seek out two types of plants. They feed on nectar and are particularly drawn to phlox, asters, coneflowers, lilacs, and butterfly weed. Adult female butterflies also seek out different types of plants: those that are good food sources for larvae. Once they hatch from butterfly eggs, larvae don’t move around much. They need to be located right on their food source from the time they hatch. Different species of butterflies have different preferences for this food source. Monarchs, for example, seek out milkweed. Painted ladies prefer thistles, hollyhocks, and sunflowers.
By planting native plants to attract butterflies and support larvae, your garden becomes more vibrant and interesting to visit. But it also helps to support both your region’s fragile ecosystem and our own lives, since we depend on pollinators for the production of the fruits and vegetables we need to survive.
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