Beautiful plants, pleasing to the eye, are always a source of good mood and peace of mind. Creating landscape zest in the form of flower beds will add nobility to your site, will bring a variety of colors and shapes.
Flowerbed on a summer cottage
At present, it is customary to cover free summer space with a lawn on the model of landscape design in foreign countries. Beds with potatoes and other vegetables have long been left in the past. Now on the personal plots completely different plants - flowers and ornamental shrubs.
Plants for planting decor are called flowerbeds. The design of flower beds in the country can be designed in completely different ways, it all depends on your imagination and wishes. The boldest ideas can be realized even by a person who is facing a landing for the first time. All that is needed is obtaining the necessary information and following the instructions.
How to create a flower bed
To create a flowerbed design, first you need to decide on the place of the future flower garden. Choose a suitable plot of land, mark the perimeter of the flowerbed. Prepare the necessary tools:
- shovel;
- rake;
- garden gloves;
- hoe;
- garden shovel.
A pit 60 cm deep is being dug. Drainage falls asleep at the bottom, it can be crushed stone of the middle fraction. The rest of the space is filled with fertile soil. Soil should include fertilizers necessary for plant growth.
The design of the flowerbed looks complete if it has clear fencing. There are a lot of design options for the appearance of the flowerbed . Let's consider some of them.
Flowerbed Design
What should it be? Photos of the design of flower beds in the country are presented in this article.
In order to decide which option is right for you, you should go around the site and carefully study its specifics. In order for all elements of landscape design to be combined with each other, it is necessary to complete the design in one style. Many gardeners take photos of flower beds and flowerbed designs. If you cannot come up with an interesting option yourself, you can turn to the experience of knowledgeable people and try to recreate their idea on your site.
If the buildings on the site are made of wood, then for the design of flower beds in front of the house, you should choose wood. It can be cuts of thin trees, which are hardly arranged, imitating a fence. It is possible to use boards, only it is necessary to remember that in this case they need additional treatment with antiseptics.
Massive brick buildings or houses made of gas and foam concrete suggest the design of the site using stone, bricks and concrete. Fencing for beds made of monolithic concrete mass, which can be done with imitation of stone or tile, will look great.
At night, a flower bed with flowers will look much more spectacular if you hold the backlight. An LED strip is perfect, it consumes little energy and emits enough light. For street curb lighting, choose a tape with a moisture-proof silicone coating.
Materials for registration
Below in the article in the photo is the design of the flowerbed in the form of a teapot. You can pick up other interesting options.
The main thing is that for the design of flower beds it is not necessary to take specially purchased expensive materials. Some of the old and useless things will do.
Old rubber tires can be treated with acrylic facade paint and used to create flower beds. If you arrange them in the form of a multi-story structure, then a tier will appear in your flowerbed. If you cut the tires in a certain way, you can make funny animals and supplement your flower bed with them.
Whole works of art are made from plastic bottles. The perimeter of the flowerbed can be covered with plastic bottles half buried in the ground and painted outside. This is the easiest design option.
If the site has a large rotten stump, you can use it. To do this, clean the insides to create a container for the soil. Outside, the stump is treated with stain or varnish to give freshness.
Which plants to choose
The color scheme of plants in the flowerbed should look harmonious. Usually, several bright combining shades are chosen and the main composition is diluted with neutral white colors.
If you want your flowerbed always to look magnificent and bright, then it is necessary to pick up plants wisely. A well-lit area requires flowers that love to grow in the sun. Shade-tolerant species will die here. Plants should be planted on one flowerbed, the requirements for watering and feeding of which are the same or similar.
When decorating a flower bed, you need to know that perennial plants that have massive flowers and stems are planted from the edge if the flower bed is wall-mounted. On the round flower beds, their place is in the center. The most common perennials for flower beds:
- gelenium;
- geranium;
- cuff;
- rudbeckia;
- sage;
- astilba.
Your flowerbed should have at least three types of plants blooming at the same time. According to this principle, you need to select all the plants, then bright buds will delight the eye from the beginning of summer to late autumn.
How to care for a flower bed
The first thing you need to pay attention to is weeds. The flowerbed should look clean and clean, without extraneous unsightly plants. Despite the fact that the plants are on the street, they will need additional watering. Make sure that the land is not overdried, this is especially true during the period of active spring growth and on hot summer days.
Flowers, like all other plants, need to be fed. Organic and mineral fertilizers are very important for perennial plants, as in a few years the soil is greatly depleted. It is most convenient to use top dressing in the form of granular mixtures. Simply pour the base of the plant with granules, and the substances penetrate the soil with water.
To reduce the number of weeds growing between flowers, some gardeners resort to small tricks. The most common way is to line woven geotextiles in open soil. It does not let light and moisture in, but looks very aesthetically pleasing. On land covered with geotextiles, weeds have no chance of germination.
Plant nutrition in the flowerbed
If you observe that your flower bed has ceased to shine with lush flowers, and the leaves have a painful appearance, then the plants lack nutrients for normal development. Roots, along with moisture, take the necessary minerals from the soil layer, and over time, the earth is depleted. To enrich the soil with useful substances, fertilizers must be applied.
Fertilizers for plants are of two types: organic and mineral. Organic fertilizers consist of natural components: humus, bird droppings, peat. Manure is the most popular fertilizer for plants. It can only be used rotten. Fresh manure can spoil or destroy the plant, as it emits caustic gas and incorporates strong bonds of nitrogen and phosphorus. This type of fertilizer is applied every 2-3 years.
Mineral fertilizers are granules containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. There are complex fertilizers containing the entire set of substances necessary for plant growth. When applying such fertilizers, dosages must be observed so as not to harm the plants. The frequency of application is once a year.
Layering of plants in the flowerbed
Photos of the design of flower beds with their own hands are presented in large quantities in this material.
Each flower bed includes plants of different sizes. In order for the composition to look harmonious, it is necessary to observe tiering. Some flower beds are designed in the form of steps, on each of which different types of flowers are planted. This not only looks beautiful, but also does not allow larger plants to block the light for undersized species.
The multi-tiered design for a flower bed solves several problems at once:
- each plant receives the necessary share of light;
- Saves space on a personal plot;
- The multi-story flowerbed looks original.
To create a flowerbed design with your own hands in the form of tiers, use improvised materials. Wooden boxes or just boards will do. Great flowerbeds over several floors come from car tires. It will take a lot of time and money to build a concrete structure, but such a flowerbed in several floors will look very professional. For the harmony of appearance, concrete flower beds should be in the same style with paths and stairs on the site.
Hedge
If you decide to fence off the zones on the site, the best way is to plant plants, which, due to the dense arrangement of branches and a large number of leaves, form a continuous shape. For this reason, such landings are called hedges. Depending on the type of planted plants, such a fence can take the form of low borders, medium-height fences and high fences. Very often you can find photos of the design of flower beds, which depict houses in the style of minimalism with low bushes located on the site of the correct geometric shape. This is one of the types of hedges.
For the organization of low living borders, plants such as:
- garden jasmine;
- thuja western;
- holly magnolia;
- juniper.
If you plan a hedge up to 1-1.5 meters high, then it is worth taking a closer look at the following plants:
- low bloodberry;
- mock-up;
- quince is beautiful;
- Forsythia is ovoid.
High and dense fences can be obtained from plants of this group:
- lilac;
- yew berry;
- common bird cherry;
- Canadian irga.
Hedge Care
A neat symmetrical hedge is the result of ongoing pruning procedures. If you do not provide the plants in the hedge with proper care, then the surface will be heterogeneous, chaotic. In the photo of the design of the flowerbed in the form of a hedge, small hollows and empty places are visible, they are formed as a result of the appearance of wilted plants. If this happened, it is necessary to uproot the diseased plant and plant a healthy one in its place.
During the period of active flowering, cutting can not be done. Typically, pruning is done in early spring or late fall with a frequency of one year. To give the plant the desired shape using a secateurs. If the plant is young, then clippers will do. The cut should be above the matured kidney and beveled.
The beauty and benefits of hedges
If you choose the right hedge plant, then you can solve several problems at once. Some gardeners use raspberry and blackberry shrubs as a living fence. They plant it in several rows to achieve a dense and dense thicket. Thorny branches of these plants will not allow you to climb inside the fence and above it. Such a fence will protect against the entry of unwanted guests, and juicy berries will delight with a rich harvest.
Seedlings are planted in spring, the distance between the bushes should be 1-1.5 m. Over time, the bushes will grow rapidly, and the gap will be filled. Blackberries can reach a height of three meters. So that the branches do not fall to the ground and do not begin to take root where you do not need it, be sure to install supports and pull the rope or wire between them. You can even bind the branches themselves to them for a secure hold. To grow bushes and stimulate the development of lateral shoots in August, pinch the tops of the shoots. The design of the flowerbed in the form of a hedge of berry bushes will bring you a considerable harvest, if you follow all the rules of timely care.
The work to improve the hedge of blackberries and raspberries is not the easiest. Safety measures must be observed, otherwise open parts of the body may be injured. You can not run shrubs, these species can grow very quickly.
Flower beds in a multi-tiered area
If you are the owner of the site on a slope, do not rush to get upset. The world of landscape design offers a ton of ways to beat the situation to your advantage. Differences in height can be arranged in the form of platforms, and ladders and paths connecting different levels will transform your site and create a mysterious fairytale setting.
Think about the drainage system, for a slope site this is important, as water will accumulate at the lowest point of the site. You can organize a small pond under the slope, which will play the role of a drainage ditch.
The flower beds in the landscape design of the site with a slope can be located on the edge of each level, small bushes will fit perfectly along the location of the stairs. At the lowest level, only moisture-loving plants should be planted. If there is a pond, then the plants encircling it should have the function of purifying the water. If you want clear water in your pond, then you need to plant a swamp, an elodea and a hornwort along its edge.
The coastal territory can be decorated with flower beds with hygrophilous plants. If there is a terrace near the pond, flower beds with the following plants can decorate it:
- meadowsweet;
- swamp rose;
- kaluzhnitsa.
Conclusion
The design of a summer cottage is a very interesting and fascinating process. For professional gardeners, landscaping the area with flowering flower beds will not cause serious problems. If you are a beginner, then before the action you should stock up with the necessary information. Otherwise, the constructed flowerbeds will not long delight you with their blooming freshness.