Anyone who owns a garden and fills it with beautiful plants also wants to enjoy this splendor all year round. To achieve this, you just need to plan a little ahead and use plants that bloom in one of the four seasons. Here, we show a suitable planting plan for year-round floral splendor.
Everything has its time in the garden
There is no plant that blooms continuously throughout the entire year. However, some flowers, such as perennials, have longer blooming periods than others. Nevertheless, all species have a time frame in which they look their best. We take advantage of this by including some of each in our garden.
Spring
In spring, we want to ring in the season. This works best with flower bulbs. Among them are early bloomers. They are planted in the fall and develop roots over the winter so that they can bloom vigorously in the spring.
This is how we cover the entire spring:
- February to March: Crocuses, snowdrops & winter aconites.
- March to April: Daffodils.
- April to May: Tulips.
All-rounder flower bulb lasagna
With the flower bulb lasagna, we can fill almost half a year with magnificent blossoms. For this, we use lasagna or layered planting. Flower bulbs are planted in layers in a pot or directly into the ground based on their blooming time and shoot length. When the plants in the top layer have finished blooming, the bulbs from a layer below take over.
To ensure the plants do not hinder or crowd each other in their growth, you must create a planting plan. Those who plant correctly can enjoy the lasagna from January to May. Most lasagnas are stocked with three layers. Those with a bit more experience can even dare to try five.
Top layer |
Middle layer |
Bottom layer |
| Iris, snowdrops, dwarf irises & crocuses | Hyacinths & daffodils | Crown imperials & tulips |
How do I plant the lasagna?
- Use a large pot with holes in the bottom so that water can drain out. Alternatively, you can dig a large hole in a flower bed. Pour about 10 cm of soil onto a small layer of hydro-substrate. The first layer of flower bulbs can now be planted close together.
- Cover the first bulbs with another 5 cm of potting soil and plant the second layer of bulbs, again close together.
- The second layer of flower bulbs is covered again with 5 cm of soil and planted with the early bloomers. Afterward, you can fill the pot with soil up to the rim, press it down carefully, and water it.
Also read: Planting bulbous plants correctly
Summer
Continuous bloomers flower from summer into autumn or winter. Among them are perennials that grow robustly and provide us with blossoms for months. With them, we cover the following months:
- May to September: Yarrow
- May to October: Catnip
- May to November: Tickseed
- June to September: Valerian
Autumn
In autumn, we want to bring the magnificent autumn colors into our garden. The first thought goes to (fruit) trees and shrubs. With the exception of winter, they carry leaves all year round but show particularly beautiful tones and fruit decorations in autumn.
These include:
- Maple
- Spindle tree
- Sweetgum
- Staghorn sumac
- Virginia creeper
- Wild roses
- Rowan
- Viburnum
- Chinese lantern flower
- All fruit and wild fruit shrubs
Winter
When we think of winter, we don't necessarily think of floral splendor anymore. But even here, we find plants that shine between snow and ice. They bloom in these months:
- January to March: Christmas roses
- February to March: Cornelian cherry & witch hazel
- March to April: Flowering almond
- November to March: Winter viburnum
- December to April: Winter jasmine
Year-round plants
Evergreen plants and foliage perennials grow all year round and are always decorative. Although they usually do not show impressive blossoms, they are still a pretty decoration due to their shapes and patterns, with which you can enrich your garden.
Photo by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at
