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Plan a beautiful perennial flower garden! Flowers not only add beauty to our lives and our landscapes but also lift our spirits and improve our well-being. Here are five of our favorite flower garden layouts, designed by Almanac readers, plus a gorgeous video of our perennial flower bed.
Why Flowers?
We all love flowers. Flowers are friendly. With a 99 -ent seed pack and one hour, think how much joy you can bring to your life, your neighborhood, and the planet!
As well as their ornamental value, flower gardens can be used to help improve pollination of fruit and vegetable crops. By choosing simple flowers such as calendula, marigolds and zinnias and a few overwintering biennials to provide early nectar sources, you can attract beneficial insects which will help control pests naturally.
Flower borders are often designed with taller plants at the back, small edging plants at the front and mid-sized flowers filling out the area in between. It’s worth considering when each plant will bloom to produce color throughout the season.
If you’re interested in creating a perennial flower bed or what is sometimes called a herbaceous border, enjoy this video by one of our Almanac garden planners!
Also, here are five complementary flower garden layouts designed by Almanac readers to help give you ideas and inspiration!
Five Free Flower Garden Plans
1. Flower Garden Layout (Farm)
“We have created 3 new beds out by the pond, specifically for Spring and Summer flowers grown organically from seed. Our aim: to produce gorgeous bouquets that are so healthy you can eat them with both your eyes and your mouth!” —Woodstock Flower Farm
Garden Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Garden Size: 34’ 11” x 25’ 0”
Garden Type: Small farm
Garden Layout: Raised Beds
Sun or Shade: Sunny
Garden Soil Type: Good soil
See plant list and more details about this garden here.
2. Flower Garden Layout (Farm)
“This is the flower design and it will be the first time we have grown flowers so we started on the small side with 2400 sq ft plot. We are planting flowers that are recommended for our area that do well when direct seeded. Some of the flowers shown do not represent the look of the actual flower since the planner did not have some of them. We will be selling bouquets market and will have a pick-u-own with better pricing. We will have: Zinnia Benary’s Giant Series, Oklahoma Formula, and Persian Carpet Cosmos Sensation Mix and Sea Shells Celosia Cramers Series and Chief Mix Sunflower Sunrich and Sunbright Series Amaranthus Opopeo Basil Aromatto Larkspur Sublime Series
Garden Location: Rushville, IL
Garden Size: 41’ 11” x 59’ 11”
Garden Layout: Traditional rows
Sun or Shade: Sunny
Garden Soil Type: Good soil
See plant list and more details about this garden here.
3. Flower Garden Layout: Traditional Rows
Garden Location: Outside Cincinnati
Garden Size: 28’ 11” x 19’ 11”
Garden Type: Backyard garden
Garden Layout: Traditional rows
Sun or Shade: Sunny
Garden Soil Type: Heavy, clay soil See full plant list!
4. Flower Garden Layout
Garden Location: Sterling, VA
Garden Size: 3’ 5” x 25’ 0”
Garden Type: Front garden, border layout
Sun or Shade: Sunny
Garden Soil Type: Good soil
See plant list and more details about this garden here.
5. Flower Garden Layout
Garden Location: Ohio
Garden Size: 19’ 11” x 29’ 11”
Garden Type: Backyard
Sun or Shade: Sunny
Garden Soil Type: Heavy/Clay soil
See plant list and more details about this garden here.
Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann