Bedding Plants - Selection and Preparation
Bedding plants offer many choices of colorful flowers such as Annuals and Perennials and complete any Florida landscape. They add beauty and value to your home when done the right way. They offer a rewarding feeling that is pleasurable for everyone of all ages. It is fun and relaxing to work in your garden, getting outside and closer to nature.
Florida has three climate zones, the North, the Central, and south or Southern regions. This makes the state open to many different varieties giving versatility and flexibility. You will find choices for your area all year long no matter what the season at your local nursery and garden center.
Annuals and Perennials
Bedding plants are Annuals and Perennials. There is a difference between the two so you can make a choice for yourself. Annuals are most widely use because of the many varieties during the seasons during the year. There are many choices and types that grow in the spring, summer, fall, and winter with lots of color.
Annuals are grown from seed producing flowers and eventually die at the end of each growing season. they need to be replaced with new ones at the end of their growing cycle.
Perennials bloom once during a season and last up to one or two months, depending upon the type. They will live for three years or more. When they become extra tall they can be divided to create separate plants.
Choosing a Location
Bedding plants are used as an accent and not as a dominate feature in the landscape. Place them in front of the home harmonizing with the total setting. Colors should blend with each other and with the house. It is not recommended to have large islands in front with bedding plants. They are used as borders along Shrubs and Fences.
Use them as small flower beds standing alone. Place them as edging along side walks and driveways. They are good under porches, decks, and along patios. Even if you don’t have area’s such as listed above, plant them in Pots, Tubs, Planters, or Hanging Baskets. no matter what situation, you can have colorful flowers to add beauty to your home.
Selecting and Purchasing Bedding Plants
As in all plants, light requirements need to be considered. They will require either Full Sun, Partial Shade, or Full Shade, depending on the type. Read the Tags or Labels found on the plant or pot for this information when shopping for them at your local nursery or garden center. Healthy plants are important when purchasing them which can depend on the grower. Choose a seller that carries good quality plants.
Here are some tips that will be helpful when purchasing bedding plants. Buy plants that are Not in full bloom. Look for plants that that have New Buds nice and thick. Pick ones that are young with dark green foliage. Choose ones that are Not tall and sparse with stems looking spindly. Look for stress such as, under-watering, wilting, or over-watering. Also look for damage such as broken stems which may occur from improper handling or shipping.
Grouping Colors and Types
Limit your choices for each area to a few kinds and colors. In bedding areas, plant one or two types of flowers to create a theme. Plant the same types and colors grouping together forming a separation. Mixing them together can become distracting and confusing for the naked eye to see.
Always place flowering plants according to their mature height. Plant smaller growing plants in-front of taller ones. The Tag or Label will tell you their eventual height.
Water conditions are important when planting them together. Most bedding plants need well-drained soil and do bad in wet conditions. Some can survive in wet and shady locations but most can’t. Impatients are generally used in this type of situation. Once again, read the Tags and Labels for information pertaining to each bedding plant you are choosing.
Site Preparation
Before planting your areas, they should be prepared at least a week prior to planting. It is better to get your locations ready first and then purchase plants when it is time to plant them. Do Not let them sit around for for sometime waiting to be installed. I know it is hard because of availability and they do sell quickly at at your local nursery or garden center so it is best to have your spot ready to go.
Here’s how to prepare your site.
First remove all weeds and grass using a shovel and rake to clean out the area. Do Not use a Weed and Grass Killer for it can be harmful to your new plants. Beds should be spaded or tilled at least six inches deep turning over the soil. Do to the sandy soil in Florida, Mix in ground organic material so the plants will receive the proper nutrients needed to be healthy.
Use “Organic Peat” or “Compost” to increase nutrients and for water-holding capability. I recommend to mix 1-part “Organic Peat” to 2-Parts Top Soil.
Conclusion
Flowering plants go great in a Florida landscape adding lots of color creating an eye appealing home garden. Whether placed in beds, borders, edging or pots and hanging baskets, you can have a choice fulfilling your needs.
Now, lets get outside, enjoy nature and as always…
Keep on Growing!
Kurt Kmetz
Welcome back gardening and landscaping friend... Thank's for visiting!
Making a Florida Garden
The first thing in garden making is the selection of a spot. Without a choice, it means simply doing the best one can with conditions. With space limited it resolves itself into no garden, or a box garden. Surely a box garden is better than nothing at all.
But we will now suppose that it is possible to really choose just the right site for the garden. What shall be chosen? The greatest determining factor is the sun. No one would have a north corner, unless it were absolutely forced upon him; because, while north corners do for ferns, certain wild flowers, and begonias, they are of little use as spots for a general garden.
If possible, choose the ideal spot a southern exposure. Here the sun lies warm all day long. When the garden is thus located the rows of vegetables and flowers should run north and south. Thus placed, the plants receive the sun’s rays all the morning on the eastern side, and all the afternoon on the western side. One ought not to have any lopsided plants with such an arrangement.
Suppose the garden faces southeast. In this case the western sun is out of the problem. In order to get the best distribution of sunlight run the rows northwest and southeast.
The idea is to get the most sunlight as evenly distributed as possible for the longest period of time. From the lopsided growth of window plants it is easy enough to see the effect on plants of poorly distributed light. So if you use a little diagram remembering that you wish the sun to shine part of the day on one side of the plants and part on the other, you can juggle out any situation. The southern exposure gives the ideal case because the sun gives half time nearly to each side. A northern exposure may mean an almost entire cut-off from sunlight; while northeastern and southwestern places always get uneven distribution of sun’s rays, no matter how carefully this is planned.
The garden, if possible, should be planned out on paper. The plan is a great help when the real planting time comes. It saves time and unnecessary buying of seed.
New garden spots are likely to be found in two conditions: they are covered either with turf or with rubbish. In large garden areas the ground is ploughed and the sod turned under; but in small gardens remove the sod. How to take off the sod in the best manner is the next question. Stake and line off the garden spot. The line gives an accurate and straight course to follow. Cut the edges with the spade all along the line. If the area is a small one, say four feet by eighteen or twenty, this is an easy matter. Such a narrow strip may be marked off like a checkerboard, the sod cut through with the spade, and easily removed. This could be done in two long strips cut lengthwise of the strip. When the turf is cut through, roll it right up like a roll of carpet.
But suppose the garden plot is large. Then divide this up into strips a foot wide and take off the sod as before. What shall be done with the sod? Do not throw it away for it is full of richness, although not quite in available form. So pack the sod grass side down one square on another. Leave it to rot and to weather. When rotted it makes a fine fertilizer. Such a pile of rotting vegetable matter is called a compost pile. All through the summer add any old green vegetable matter to this. In the fall put the autumn leaves on. A fine lot of goodness is being fixed for another season.
Even when the garden is large enough to plough, I would pick out the largest pieces of sod rather than have them turned under. Go over the ploughed space, pick out the pieces of sod, shake them well and pack them up in a compost heap.
Mere spading of the ground is not sufficient. The soil is still left in lumps. Always as one spades one should break up the big lumps. But even so the ground is in no shape for planting. Ground must be very fine indeed to plant in, because seeds can get very close indeed to fine particles of soil. But the large lumps leave large spaces which no tiny root hair can penetrate. A seed is left stranded in a perfect waste when planted in chunks of soil. A baby surrounded with great pieces of beefsteak would starve. A seed among large lumps of soil is in a similar situation. The spade never can do this work of pulverizing soil. But the rake can. That’s the value of the rake. It is a great lump breaker, but will not do for large lumps. If the soil still has large lumps in it take the hoe.
Many people handle the hoe awkwardly. The chief work of this implement is to rid the soil of weeds and stir up the top surface. It is used in summer to form that mulch of dust so valuable in retaining moisture in the soil. I often see people as if they were going to chop into atoms everything around. Hoeing should never be such vigorous exercise as that. Spading is vigorous, hard work, but not hoeing and raking.
After lumps are broken use the rake to make the bed fine and smooth. Now the great piece of work is done.
