Melinda’s Garden Moments is heard Mon.-Fri. at 7:45 and 10:45 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. on WHAV.
Get out the catalogs, colored pencils, graph and tracing paper and start planning your new flower garden.
Start by drawing the basic outline of the garden on plain white or graph paper. Use tracing paper to start experimenting with plant selection and layout. Recycle your mistakes and start with a fresh piece of tracing paper. This method eliminates the need to recreate the base map every time you change your mind.
Once you have the basic design, check out the seasonal interest. Use one sheet of tracing paper to color in the spring blooming flowers. Use another one for summer, one for fall and one for winter. Evaluate the seasonal interest of your garden design and make changes as needed.
Or make it even more visual by cutting out pictures of the flowers from catalogs or printing them off the internet.
It’s much easier to change things up on paper than once the plants are in the ground.
A bit more information: Once you decide on a plan, make needed adjustments as you purchase plants and place them in the ground. Garden designs are meant to be fluid from the beginning throughout the life of the garden. For more help on designing your garden, check out my How to Grow Anything: Your Best Landscape in 6 Easy Lessons DVD set.
For more gardening tips, how-to videos, podcasts and more, visit www.melindamyers.com.