Happy May! Welcome to one of my FAVORITE months of the year! Spring doesn’t mean much in South Dakota, most of the time Spring is just a continuation of Winter with a few warm teaser days. Spring is simply too fickle to trust but once May rolls around you can actually let yourself hang onto the hope that gardening season is truly right around the corner!
I LOVE flowers, I go crazy with flowers! I love all of the colors, the varieties, the scents…all.of.it! I am giddy seeing greenhouses open up because it means it is time to get planning and planting!
After years of maintaining gardens at ground level all throughout our yard at our previous home, we made sure to put in raised beds at our new home. Weeds can pop up and take over quickly so at least with raised beds everything is a bit more confined and easier to control. Regardless of the setup you have, it’s fun to design garden spaces with all sorts of variety.
Here my tips for beautiful flower beds that pop all summer long!
Back
Put tall flowers in the back, or if you’re doing a round garden, put the taller plants in the middle. This is obvious as you wouldn’t want the taller plants in front to block out the rest of your display.
My favorite go-to tall flowers for my beds are phlox. These are low-maintenance show stoppers that bloom all summer long. Not to mention, they are perennials so they come back every year and thicken out every year, which is another added bonus. They start popping up early in the season, they have beautiful big blooms and they make such a lovely backdrop for your beds. They also come in gorgeous colors so it’s a win win all around. They grow up to 2-3 feet with some growing even taller. You may see some asiatic lilies in the mix as well, I transplanted some from our previous home. These lilies grow tall and produce beautiful flowers early in the season.
Another tall favorite of mine are Canna Lilies. These tropical beauties always pack a punch! I love the Tropicanna Black Lily. The dark leaves with bright red flowers pair so well with all of the other vibrant colors in my beds, creating a beautiful contrast. Also, the bulbs of these lilies can be dug up and stored during the cold months and replanted in the Spring. Most Canna varieties grow 3-5 feet tall.
Roses are another great tall option for backdrops. I love reserving an entire bed for my roses, nothing like a sea of just rose bushes, but they are a great option for a backdrop if you love roses yet want variety as well.
Middle
For fillers in the middle, I love a good salvia. They flower early and with proper care, they’ll go strong all season long. The downside of salvia though is that it takes over. It grows like a weed so if you don’t cut it back after it flowers it starts looking very messy, but if you continue to cut it back you will continue to enjoy fresh, new blooms. So, there is a bit of maintenance with salvia if you want it colorful and upright, but it is worth it because it adds such great texture and color to your garden.
Adding bright yellow and lime green flowers really makes everything pop! Calla lilies come in yellow and hold their ground quite nicely, they are a perfect perky addition to any garden.
With all shades of pinks and purples, throwing in some lime green creates a stunning contrast. Lime Time Coleus is my favorite for a pop of lime. It is nice and full and stays upright and vibrant all summer long!
Front
I love the fullness of sweet potato vines, the dark purple are lovely and the lime green are amazing, but they also tend to take over, so now I just leave them for my containers. I’ve used them before and they cascade beautifully but I like my supertunias to be the ones stealing the show in my beds.
I love a full, sweeping Supertunia for the front of my beds. Proven Winners Supertunias in Bubblegum, Bordeaux and Vista Paradise and Silverberry are my favorite. They have a lot of amazing colors but these are the four that have performed the best for me. They grow like weeds, don’t need to be dead headed (pruned) and provide beautiful show-stopping color all season long.
And there you have it, beautiful flower beds that are easy to plant and maintain, green thumb or no green thumb! Be sure to follow along on Instagram as I’ll be posting all sorts of gardening content all Summer long ☺️
https://www.instagram.com/belbublly/
Happy gardening!🌸🌺🌼🌷
