Online Flower Bed Landscaping Ideas
- Flower beds create patterns of color in the yard.flower bed image by adisa from Fotolia.com
A flower bed adds a touch of color and fragance to any part of the yard. With the right planning, flower-bed installation can cost very little. Estimate the cost of the flower bed by figuring in ground cover, soil, fertilizer, flowering plants and seeds. Planning the design is easy using photos, how-to articles, tips and landscaping tools found online. - Gather background information on flower gardening from websites and how-to articles. One idea for your flower bed is to landscape with the goal of year-round blooms. In choosing flowering plants, consider how the combination of plants complements other landscape features in the yard. Another design consideration is whether the bed will include flowers from every growing season (i.e., spring, summer and fall).
Locate websites offering online descriptions of flower-bed landscaping ideas that include the names of the flowers you want to use in your design. Follow up with research to ensure at least one type of flower blooms in each season. - Select designs that eliminate long-term maintenance tasks. For example, one no-hassle design allows flowers to fill in the space in the bed over time. This approach requires planning how much space the mature flowers will take up. Once the bed is packed with flowers, weeds will lack sunlight and be unable to grow in the bed.
Another idea offered by Better Homes and Gardens (BHG) is a flower bed plan that requires no digging. Begin with a bed of corrugated cardboard, add a layer of newspaper and a few inches of compost and install the flowering plants. This flower bed rises only slightly above the lawn surface. BHG recommends finishing the flower bed with a border, such as small, decorative bricks along the perimeter. - Online landscaping tools offer the user the ability to download a photo and test flower-bed landscaping ideas around the home. For example, Showoff offers free access to its Visualizer landscaping tool after the user provides simple registration information. The results that appear in the design tool include listings of local plant providers.
You can also download landscaping design software to your personal computer. CNET offers a link for a free, limited trial to 3D Landscape for Everyone. If you like the flower bed designs created by the software, you may elect to purchase the program.
