Today was such a fun day spent planning a front yard cut flower garden in our very empty front flower beds. It’s so cold and dreary outside here in Texas but it’s so exciting to think that pretty soon we’ll have gorgeous Spring weather and flowers.
If you’ve been following along, you may recall we did a major overhaul to our front yard last year, removing a ton of stone and overgrown shrubs in massive front flower beds and replacing it all with a few shrubs and flowers and lots of mulch. It was a massive transformation! With a new baby at home, it took us longer than expected to finish the beds and we ended up having to plant pretty late in the season. Several plants died over the summer from the extreme heat and we’re still crossing our fingers and hoping some of the plants come back in the spring. Currently, the beds look pretty empty but I’m hoping with the spring we will have plenty of color and beauty with the project I’m sharing today.
My Front Yard Cut Flower Garden Plan
- Sun Tolerance Requirements: Full Sun
- Plot: 12 x 11ish
For each plant below, I based my placement and the size of the images based on the height of the plant and spacing requirements. Some of the plants might seem a little close together but with a cottage garden style, I really want them to be snug.
- Russian Sage Denim and Lace – Plant purchase
- Calendula Ivory Princess – I have a pack of free seeds left over from a Floret Flower delivery last year.
- Marigold Eskimo – Seeds from Lowes
- Light Pink Zinnia – Seeds from Lowes
- Mint – Will be cutting and growing cuttings from existing plant.
- Tall Deluxe Snapdragons – Seeds from Lowes
- Pre-existing Ligistrum Sunshine from last year’s overhaul
- Anemone Black and White bulbs from Floret Flower that I purchased and grew last year – Pretty much my favorite flower.
- Allysum Carpet of Snow – Seeds from Lowes
- Lambs Ear – Plant purchase
- Pre-existing purple rose
Changing My Gardening Habits this Year
In years past, I have just planted things and said a prayer, sometimes ignoring the need to plan for height and width, sun tolerance and the need to fertilize or amend the soil but I’m vowing to change this year! It’s way too much work to do it the wrong way the first time and have to keep replacing plants every year so I’m starting this spring off with true garden planning. If you’re looking to create a cut flower garden bed, I hope that you will find my planning helpful.
Please note: I do admit upfront that I am a complete novice gardener and not an expert so feel free to give me advice and correct me or ask questions and we’ll learn together!
Setting Up My Grid
To plan for my front flower bed garden, I used Adobe Illustrator to create a grid on a 12 x 11 art board, the length and width of my flower bed. I added lines at every inch of the art board, creating the grid. Using the assumption that every inch is one foot in my garden really helped me to visualize the spacing and count of different plants that I need. If you’re better with paper and pencil you can easily do this with a ruler and pencil and paper.
Other things I kept in mind in planning this bed were the need for full sun plants and flowers and the “look” I’m going for. I really wanted to stick with purples, pinks, yellows and whites. The final and most important thing to keep in mind is that I don’t want to spend a fortune, therefore, most of the flowers I chose I’m going to start from seeds in our solar shed.
A Cottage Style Garden
In planning my garden, I did some pinteresting (of course) so I’ve included a few examples of what I’m going for. It’s definitely more cottage style. Notice how in both of these examples, the flowers are planted in groupings, not just an individual flower here and there, which is a mistake I’ve made in the past. There’s also not a whole lot of space between them and you’ll see that in my plan.
Based on this visual, I not only have an idea of what my garden could look like but also about how many plants I’ll need. Since most of these flowers will be grown from seed, seed starting is up next.
Stay tuned!