Spring Flower Garden

A welcome burst of post-winter flower garden ideas comes courtesy of early-season flowers. When designing a flowerbed, plant in waves of color. These pink and yellow tulips provide early blooms in the spring.

Not all plants in a flower garden need be in the ground—here, the pretty blooms of Endless Summer hydrangeas fill a row of containers. As a bonus, the containers can be moved to add color to other sections of the garden.

A short row of boxwood, planted in the middle of a flowerbed, offers visual relief. If your bed is large, paths will make maintenance easier and enable visitors to wander through. In lighter tones, pastel hues—pink, yellow, lavender—blend well in this composition.

Charming Curves

Undulating borders contain beautiful blooms in this flower garden. Here, the flowerbed's curving edges repeat alongside the lawn. Plants in similar hues—lavender, light purple, and fuchsia—offer a soothing palette. Access to, around, and through the garden is via round paving stones. Use geometry to contrast or complement.

Hardscape structures—such as this garden's tall birdhouse—add whimsy to function. Mulch is essential; it keeps the weeds down and conserves moisture.

Rule of Three

Blooms add brightness to this flower garden idea. In place of a more formal material, gravel paths meander through the casual plantings. Meadow rue, planted at regular intervals along the back of the bed, provides vertical interest. A large decorative urn provides a segue between planted and paved areas.

Remember the rule of three: Group three of each plant to create visual consistency. Here, black-eyed Susans offer a cheery base for other plantings. Low-growing catmint gently transitions between the path and the flowerbed.

Room to Relax

Here, a spot for relaxing and dozing or enjoying an afternoon glass of lemonade is surrounded by a lush bed of blooms. Prolific, sun-loving flowers surround a table and chairs that blend seamlessly into the landscape in this welcoming flower garden idea. If trees and shrubs aren't used to define a back border, use another hardscape structure, such as this purple trellis.

Planting one flower in various colors can make an impact, like these charming masses of pink, yellow, and white daylilies. Densely planted flowerbeds help to keep down weeds and conserve moisture; decrease the recommended spacing by half for growth that fills in quickly.

Around the Bend

Pretty plants become a boundary for a walkway, where a comfortable garden bench under a pergola is a scenic, relaxing spot in this garden. When choosing plants for a flowerbed, include vivid hues—the yellow of black-eyed Susan, for example—to attract butterflies and birds. Annuals, such as lavender and fuchsia petunias, fill bare spots in a perennial garden.

A dramatic tree gives height to a bed planted mostly in flowers. This Japanese maple, for instance, offers both color and seasonal foliage.

Pergola and Perennials

A pretty bed of perennials takes center stage in this flower garden idea, while delicate spring pansies fill in until they come to full bloom in summer. Gravel fills the space between the paving stones and offers a soft edge to the lush flowerbed.

A boxwood border divides the bed from the wired pergola structure. The purple salvia adds vertical growth. A dappled willow's variegated foliage provides a color counterpoint to the deeper shades at the front of the bed.

Side View

Gorgeous blooms fill a narrow stretch of this yard, where a paved walkway provides a geometric contrast to the more casual flower garden idea. Moveable containers planted with succulents and blooms complement the colors featured in the garden.

A climbing rose rambles up a wall to supply height and color, and a small tuteur adds an unexpected element. Ivy climbs over the door and window awnings, where its green complements the home's neutral wall.

Stately Sculpture

Consider plants for their sculptural value. Evergreen pines trimmed in a triangular shape offer a dramatic focal point in this beautiful flowerbed. Annuals, perennials, and bulbs give the garden vivid color and interesting shapes. Here, statuesque gladiolas neatly contrast with the more relaxed foliage and surrounding blooms.

Large swaths of color offer a soothing, restrained scene, but plants need not bloom in similar colors to work. Here, for example, the white gladiolas contrast with the red dahlias. If you're content with minimalism, large groupings of similar flowers offer a fuss-free landscape solution.

Flower Flourish

A dramatic front yard flowerbed provides a constant stream of color. Use a planted edge to transition from lawn to flowering space seamlessly—here, a miniature boxwood hedge offers an understated border. Repeating plants and colors, such as patches of Endless Summer hydrangeas, daylilies, and astilbe, maintain consistency.

Breaking up a large flowering area with hardscape elements, such as short stretches of white picket fence, is a flower garden idea that can provide welcome visual relief. Tall shrubs, loosely shaped into mounds, offer a backdrop to the waves of color. A trellis reaching beside and over the front door provides an easy, inexpensive way to train a climbing vine.

Winsome Appeal

Nestled next to a small pond, this garden's spots to rest and enjoy the blooms are essential. Here, a stone bench provides views of the plants and the water feature, while a gazebo, nearly hidden by shrubs, supplies an interesting hardscape element in this easygoing landscape.

If yours is large enough, a delightful flower garden idea is a pathway edged in rocks, which can diverge in two directions. The foliage and flowers of coreopsis, phlox, coneflower, and feather reed grass offer pretty blooms and attract birds and butterflies.