There are so many beautiful and colorful plant choices for floral beds. It’s no wonder that property owners can be overwhelmed when it comes to selecting a seasonal color program.
It’s not just a matter of selecting a group of pretty plants for your property. There are a few other things to consider before selecting bedding plants.
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Color Selection
Before you select which plants to include in your beds, you should decide on a color palate. Do you prefer cool colors - like blues, greens and white – or warm, vibrant colors such as red, orange and yellow? How will the color of the plants complement the color of your building or other structures on the property?
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Annuals or Perennials
Cost is a consideration when choosing annuals vs. perennials. While some annual flowers generally produce a brighter and more colorful bloom, they must be replanted each season.
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Sunlight and Watering Needs
Does the bed receive full or partial sun? Is it in a shaded area or under a tree? The amount of sunlight is an extremely important factor when selecting plants. Plants in the same bed should have similar sunlight and watering needs.
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Plant Size at Maturity
Another factor to consider is the size of the plant at maturity. Creeping plants, ornamental grasses and some shrubs can grow quickly and ruin the look of a floral bed.
Bed Renovation: Before and After
Take a look at a bed renovation that we recently completed for an office building in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Bed renovation BEFORE
As you can see in the BEFORE photo, there are too many plants for the size of this bed. Also the ornamental grass and shrubs have grown too tall at maturity and blocks the view of smaller flowering plants in the bed.
In the AFTER photo you can see why choosing the right plants is important. In this case, the perennials used don’t overwhelm each other. We used a carefully selected combination of plants in the bed renovation to ensure that all of the plants would not exceed 24 inches in height.
Bed renovation AFTER
The AFTER photo shows the installation of the plants, all of which will stay in the same height range and allow good visibility of the different types of plants. This gives the bed a much neater and well-manicured look.
