BEGINNING YOUR LANDSCAPING PROJECT WITH SPRING FLOWERS?

Consider a Layered Flower Garden You Can Begin in April & Enjoy All Year

You can say we are looking at the year through rose-colored glasses, but for one thing, we are gardeners here at Walnut Ridge, and secondly, it is just a fact that a landscaping boom was one colorfully positive thing that bloomed from the COVID pandemic and quarantine of 2020.

So, if you are like many new gardeners who are digging-in to a landscaping project that will provide diversity and change of color and fragrance for most of the year -- starting with flowering plants, shrubs and trees for Spring and Summer -- now is an ideal time to plan and begin a “Layered Garden”.

What is a Layered Flower Garden?

You probably know what it is before you know what to call it. A “Layered Flower Garden,” “Layered Landscaping”, or a “Layered Flower Bed” is what gives you what you likely want -- a variety of color and fragrance (and curb appeal, of course!) to enjoy your garden to the fullest extent, for as much of the year as possible. It can be a complex topic considering shade, sun and soil, but here are the basics if you are doing your own landscaping, and you want to begin now, in April.

• Tall to Short with Variety of Color, Fragrance, Seasonality of Bloom, and Texture
  Go from tall to short, with tall in the back, so at full-bloom, you have a full display of desired diversity in color, fragrance and texture. In the back and middle, think about varieties of greenery that offers plush ‘canvas’ for the colorful flowering plants in front.
  
  Keep in mind these four types of variety in a garden:
  
  Color
  Use white-flowering plants as contrast for colors, and think about complementary colors. For example, purple, blue and gold are great complements, whereas red, yellow and orange are another family of complements.
  
  Seasonal Blooming Sequence
  Plan your Spring and Fall planting of perennials and annuals to enjoy ever-changing color all year.
  
  Fragrance
  Like color, enjoy some variety of fragrance that changes through the seasons.
  
  Texture and Shape
  Variety of texture and shape provides more depth and feel, personality, in a garden.
  
  
• Back Row, Tall with Green for a Canvas
  For the back row, think about some tall greenery that stays green for most or all of the year, offering blooms in the spring and/or summer. Also, some taller perennials that may have long bloom times throughout the summer and Fall.
  - Boxwoods
  - Taxus Yews
  - Holly Bushes
  - Arborvitaes
  - Laurels
  
  
• Middle Row(s), Greens of Different Texture with Seasonal Variety of Flowering Plants
  In the middle, offer some flowering greens of different textures that offer variety of color and fragrance from Spring through Fall, and they can also serve as a canvas for the front row of blooms. Sequence your Perennials! … so you only plant once in the Spring and Fall, to enjoy these blooms every year.
  
  Some Perennials to plant: Peonies, Daylilies, Coneflower, Phlox, Lavender, Russian Sage, Knockout and Drift Roses, Azaleas, Wigelias, Spirea, Viburnum, Hydrangea, Lilac, Butterfly Bushes
  
  Leave room for Fall-planted Bulbs that bloom next spring: Tulips, Narcissus, Hyacinth
  
  Annuals for early Spring and Early Fall: Pansies, Ornamental Kale and Cabbage
  
  
• Front Row, Your Favorite Colors with Variety of Change from Spring Through Summer
  These can be a mixture of Annuals and Perennials, keeping in mind their size and blooming periods. If beginning in the Spring with bulbs for Summer-flowering plants, remember to leave room for the bulbs you plant in the Fall for next year’s Spring flowers.
  
  Perennials: Creeping Phlox, Coreopsis, Snow in the Summer, Myrtle Periwinkle, Dianthus, Ice Plants, Sedums
  
  Annuals: Impatients, Begonias, Geraniums, Petunias, Marigolds, Lantana, Canna Lily, Million Bells, Zinnias
  
  If you love gardening and the joy of planting, you can balance your Perennials and Annuals. But if you would rather plant once … you will need to plan your sequence of Perennials according to color, seasonality of bloom, and height, therefore requiring more research up front, to enjoy many years of an annual garden show.

Flowering Plants and Bulbs to Plant in April
for Blooms from Spring Through Fall

Right now, April across Kentuckiana, there is still time to plant perennials that bloom Summer through Fall. And of course, you have time to plant some annuals in current bloom that will continue to bloom through Spring and into Summer.

Here are some popular and reliable choices for flowering plants and bulbs to plant now, in the Kentuckiana planting zone of 5-6:

• Sun Annuals: Sunpatiens, Begonias, Geraniums, Petunias, Marigolds, Lantana, Canna Lily, Million Bells, Zinnias
• Shade Annuals: Impatients, Caladiums, Coleus, Fuschia, Green Leaf Wax Begonias, Rex Begonias, Boston Ferns, Polkadot Plants, Lobelia, Allyssum
• Perennials 12-18” or taller: Peonies, Daylilies, Coneflower, Phlox, Lavender, Russian Sage, Knockout and Drift Roses, Azaleas, Wigelias, Spirea, Viburnum, Hydrangea, Lilac, Butterfly Bushes
• Low-Growing Perennials, 12” or lower: Creeping Phlox, Coreopsis, Snow in the Summer, Myrtle Periwinkle, Dianthus, Ice Plants, Sedums.

Overwhelmed by the choices? People are thankfully as diverse as plants and flowers, and both have their needs. So you can make your landscaping project as simple or complex as you like. For either type of gardener, come by Walnut Ridge Nursery and Garden Center (or feel free to send your landscaper) to see what’s available and advisable to plant now. We have four generations of experience to help plan the garden of your dreams! Contact Us any time for advice or news of currently available plants, shrubs and trees.