If you’re thinking about adding some wow factor to your North Texas property, you might be thinking about how to choose flowers for landscaping. If you’ve ever just gone out and picked a variety of flowers that you liked (solely based on looks), chances are, they might not have performed as well as you’d hoped they would.
That’s because there is more involved in choosing flowers for your landscaping than just selecting whatever catches your eye.
In this article, we’ll dive into some of the considerations to keep in mind as you aim to pick the right plants for landscaping.
While it’s not exactly rocket science, there is more involved in choosing flowers for your landscaping than you might realize. Hopefully these tips will help set you up for success.
We have an expression in the landscaping industry that goes, “right plant, right place.” While it sounds simple enough, it’s actually critical to your plants’ success. And when this advice gets ignored, a plant can really struggle and start to look subpar.
That’s because the success of a landscape plant hinges on ensuring that its needs are being met. It needs to be able to receive what it needs in terms of access to sunlight and water…and even the soil conditions.
It is a critical factor when it comes to a successful landscape design. Unfortunately, even some “pros” install plants in places where they are never going to perform well. If you install a plant that needs sun in a shady area (or vice versa), it’s simply never going to look or perform its best.
Another really important consideration is the future growth and size of any landscape plant that you’re considering. While this might not be a big deal for some small flowers, anytime that you get into installing larger plants or shrubs, you really need to think about what they’re going to look like down the road.
It’s quite common for homeowners (and even some landscapers) to fail to consider the future growth of a plant. But if you choose a plant that is going to get too big for the area that it's planted, it’s either going to outgrow the space or take over the other plant material already installed there.
This ends up being a common reason why people have to replace a shrub. But if some forethought and planning was given to the installation, this problem could have been avoided.
Picking the right plants for landscaping also means considering the layout, spacing, and color scheme of the finished design. While it is generally people’s tendency to gravitate toward what looks best, you must pay attention to other details.
Having a few flowers “here or there” is ultimately not going to give you that wow factor that you’re looking for. In fact, planting flowers without a lot of thought given to the layout can start to look scattered and messy—like there was no rhyme or reason to where you put them.
This is why spacing is so critical. You want to make sure that flowers are clustered in large groups where they can make a nice impact.
Similarly, you want to make sure that the colors you choose work well together. It’s probably not going to look right if you have a wild array of all different colors. If you want it to look like a professionally designed installation, you want to consider color scheme.
Oftentimes, homeowners like the idea of color “blocks” meaning you might have one large grouping of a certain color (all the same) and then another large grouping of another color (also all the same). This is going to be a lot more impactful than a mix of all different colors with no plan.
We know that people often feel uncertain about choosing a color scheme but it’s an area where a professional can help.
At Grassperson, we have what we have come to call the “Grassperson Mix” for spring and fall flowers. This includes just the right mix of flowers that we have found not only look great together but perform well together, too.
Companion planting is an important factor to the success of your landscape. It means choosing plants that (when growing near each other) can benefit one another. This not only means considering which plants have similar growing conditions (such as moisture and sunlight needs), but also which plants might work well together.
You don’t want plants that are going to outcompete each other and actually start to cause harm. Instead, you want plants that are good companions.
In the spring/summer petunias and tulips make good pairs as do potato ivy and fountain grass.
In the fall, crotons and marigolds work well together as do pansies and violas.
Figuring out what works well together can feel a bit like a puzzle but this is another area where a pro can take the guesswork out of the equation.
While we love a plant bed that pops with color, another really great way to bring wow factor to your North Texas property is with container gardens.
These can be added to any area of your property that you wish to brighten up but perhaps don’t have a plant bed.
People love to add containers to front porches, patios, decks, and pool areas. They really brighten a space and add a lot of appeal in a relatively simple way. They aren’t a huge investment like a larger enhancement project but they still deliver plenty of wow factor.
But even with containers, it’s critical to choose landscape plants that will work well together both from a “looks” and functional point of view.
If all of this is starting to sound like a bit more work than you bargained for, you can let go of the worries and simply hand these tasks over to a pro.
The fact is, landscaping in North Texas is directly linked to the value of your home…as well as how much you enjoy your property on a day to day basis. The last thing that you want is to be unhappy with how things look simply because you didn’t pick the right plants for landscaping.
There’s more to it than people tend to realize but when you hand those tasks to a professional, they can ensure the optimal selection is made….and then can install it, too! That adds up to a professional-looking property that you can be proud of.
After all, if it's the “wow factor” that you’re after, you want to make sure that your property delivers!
At the end of the day, we understand that you simply want to know that your landscape is in good hands and will continue to perform well. By making the wise investment to work with a pro, you can sit back and relax knowing that you’re in good hands.
Ready to have a truly impressive Northern Texas yard? Get in touch with us so we can talk about some enhancements that might work best for your unique property.