MENUChoosing bedding plants for your garden is like choosing paints for an artist’s palette. The one big difference, however, is that the plants are alive.Bedding plants can be annuals or perennials or a combination of the two. You might even include some small shrubs in your beds. In addition to selecting plants for their color, you have to select them for their hardiness and the growing conditions they like. After all, the garden’s main purpose is to provide color, brightness and pleasure, rather than hours of maintenance.Some people have a natural affinity for colors. They can select just the right combinations. Others have difficulty coordinating colors. A color wheel might help. Many garden stores have them, or a staff member can help. Paint stores also have color wheels.I went to the Internet and Googled “Color coordinating flowers” and got 10,800,000 results. The first one was The Oregonian newspapers’ oregonlive.com site and its garden tips page. A color wheel was the first thing up. Other sites were by gardening magazines like Better Homes & Gardens and Fine Gardening.While it’s possible to randomly plant bedding plants and let flowers pop up whenever nature tells the plants that it’s time, most gardeners prefer a bloom sequence. This means planting so you have an ongoing sea of color. When the first blossoms fade, the next plants flower and continue the color until the next group is ready to take their place.After you’ve decided on the color mix of plants that you want in your beds, you then have to research such important concerns as their hardiness in our zone 5-6 climate and their susceptibility to insects and diseases.As you can see, planting beautiful, colorful garden beds takes a bit more research than painting your house where color is the only consideration. If you want the garden of your dreams without taking the time to do all the necessary research, turn it over to our professionals. Our designers know how to coordinate colors and how to create bloom sequences. They also know plants that are hardy and pest resistant, and those that aren’t.Design is the first step. Installation is the second, and we have landscape crews who install beautiful planting beds every day.You can make one call and then sit back and enjoy your garden.
