Landscaping Ideas: Where To Plant Flowers

Looking for landscaping ideas, or wondering where to plant flowers in your yard? Planting flowering bulbs and perennials in your yard is an easy way to add long-lasting beauty to your yard. In this guide, we’ll cover where to plant flowers and provide easy ideas for your next garden.

From foundation planting, to garden beds and containers, to cleverly planting flowers among your lawn or groundcovers, read on for seven ideas for where to plant flowers in your yard.

Foundation Planting

Thoughtful foundation planting starts with strong structure. Start by planting evergreen shrubs and small ornamental trees to frame the house, soften corners, and anchor entrances. Next, layer flowering shrubs in front for extra seasonal colour. Then, add bulbs, low perennials, and groundcovers along the edges for eye-catching colour, texture, and year-round interest that complements your home’s architecture.

Planting Flowers Beneath Trees and Shrubs

Spring flowering bulbs can be planted under deciduous shrubs or small trees in the landscape. Early blooming bulbs receive plenty of light because they start growing long before deciduous trees and shrubs start to develop leaves. Avoid planting spring bulbs under evergreen shrubs, as they will not have enough light to grow and bloom.

Some spring-blooming bulbs that perform well under trees and shrubs include: grape hyacinths, crocus, winter aconites, snowdrops, bluebells and early maturing daffodils.

When planting bulbs with flowering shrubs, such as forsythia and lilacs, carefully select bulbs to match blooming dates with the bloom of the shrub for a beautiful color complement. Spring-blooming bulbs can also be used in combination with smaller flowering trees like Crabapple, Bradford Pear or Redbud.

This landscaping ideas is especially easy to do planting bulbs beneath existing woody plants.

Easy-to-Plant Flower Borders

Planting a border of low growing bulbs such as grape hyacinths, hyacinths or miniature daffodils around the edge of a vegetable garden or flower bed is an easy way to add interest and color to your yard. A border of bulbs planted along the edge of your lawn or walkway is another easy way to add a splash of colour your yard.

When using flowers in your landscape in this way, repeating the same variety and colour along the border will create a unified look.

Get more ideas for garden borders: Garden Border Design Ideas

Perennial Beds & Rock Gardens

Spring-flowering bulbs can be planted into a perennial garden bed to expand its bloom time and enhance the area with spring colour. In rock gardens, this works well when you tuck small bulbs into crevices where perennials and groundcovers will later hide the foliage.

The bulbs, such as tulips, crocus, and daffodils, are planted in fall, and will bloom during March, April and May before perennials start to flower. The dying foliage of the bulbs will be hidden when the perennials start to come in. When planning borders, it is essential to take into consideration the heights and spacing needed by different plants for a visually pleasing effect.

Learn more: How to Choose Plants by Size and Height

Interplanting Flower Bulbs & Ground Covers

Some bulbs can be planted with low growing ground covers like ajuga, violets, and creeping phlox. Just be sure to keep in mind the height relationship between the ground cover and bulb flower. As a general rule, the ground cover should be no more than half the height of the bulb flower. This is especially useful when you are using bulbs in your garden to naturalize and create a woodland effect.

Planting Bulbs Into Your Lawn

The edge of your yard is a great place to develop a new flower bed. These beds are often composed of small shrubs and perennials. One or two groupings of spring bulbs of one colour located in the flower bed will provide a point of focus during the spring months.

You can also plant bulbs directly into your lawn. Growing these bulbs in your landscape this way creates a naturalized meadow effect. Great bulbs for this area are naturalizing daffodils, snowdrops and crocus. These are the first blooms to appear after a long dreary winter—and they are typically done blooming in time or your lawn to grow in. You can plant these under trees and shrubs or scatter them freely into your lawn.

Learn More: Best Bulbs For Naturalizing

Planting Flowers in Containers

Both spring- and summer-flowering bulbs can be planted in portable containers. Containers can be moved around and used in different areas of the landscape. They can add color all season long to areas such as a patio or a deck. Container gardening gives gardeners a lot of freedom and chance for new planting ideas. This is an excellent option for using bulbs in your garden when space is limited.

When relocating a container in the landscape, be sure to pay attention to the light requirements of the plants in the container. and be sure the container has drainage holes. For spring-blooming bulbs, the container can be moved to a location out of sight after blooms have passed, while the foliage matures.

Planting Flowers on Steep Slopes

Steep slopes in the landscape are difficult to mow and maintain. An excellent solution is grow daffodil bulbs on these steep slopes to add early spring colour to the landscape.

Another effective option is to use daylilies, which have a fibrous root system to help stabilize the slope. Daylily foliage provides attractive groundcover, and the blooms add colour to the area. By using daylilies, you eliminate the problem of trying to mow that area of the landscape. Combining daylilies and bulbs is a practical example of landscaping with bulbs on problem sites.

Whether you are filling foundation beds, tucking bulbs under trees, or brightening containers, landscaping with flowers offers endless possibilities. By using bulbs and perennials in your garden thoughtfully, you can create layers of colour from late winter through summer with just a few well-planned plantings.

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