Planting flowers brings texture, color, aromas, food and enjoyment to the garden and landscape. By incorporating different flowers and elements, you can create themed beds. Flowerbeds look appealing in nearly any landscape or garden. Many flowers grow with ease as long as they receive plenty of sun---six hours or more a day---and at least an inch of rain or water each week.
Enliven your kitchen and flower bed with edible flowers. They look lovely both in the garden and added to meals. You can eat several types of flowers, among them pansies, calendula, nasturtium, dianthus, chamomile, rose petals and violets. Plant the flowers in existing beds and vegetable gardens, or create a bed just for edible flowers. Uses include colorful salad toppings, muffins, cake decorations and in teas. Flowers generally require full sun and fertile soil. By trimming the flowers for culinary use, you also encourage more blooms to form. Careful identification ensures that you only eat safe flowers. Avoid consuming any flowers treated with chemicals.
A flower garden planted for the senses delights the eyes, perfumes the air and has a range of textures.
Bright, bold flowers draw attention to the garden. Choose colors you enjoy. Use annuals to create variety. Flowers like zinnias grow easily from seed. For scent, select roses, lavender, lemon balm and mints. Most varieties have some aroma and attractive blooms. Old-fashioned and Knock Out roses have strong scents. Hydcote and English lavender make suitable choices. Mints come in many varieties. For a distinct scent and flavor, plant chocolate mint. Flowers that have touchable foliage or petals include lamb's ear and dianthus. The fuzzy leaves of lamb's ear practically call out "touch me." Dianthus have soft petals and also provide some scent.
If you desire a profusion of continuous blooms in a vast array of color and texture, consider planting a cottage garden. The controlled chaos of a cottage garden includes perennials, annuals, vines and shrubs. You can plant just about any flower in the cottage garden that strikes your fancy. Some mainstays include hollyhocks, roses, clematis, peonies and butterfly bush. Scattered amongst them, annuals such as zinnias and herbs like sage add color and texture. You can even add some flowering fruits and vegetables, such as cantaloupe and runner beans. Plant the flowers close together and in and informal design. Paths look best curved in a cottage garden.