We love good garden inspiration. And we love flowers. Put ’em together, and you have fantastic flower beds, ready to make you run to the nursery or pull out those catalogs! So salivate over these photos, take some tips from design pros, and start designing that next flower bed. In this flower garden above,  from ‘HGTV‘, you can see that while the plants themselves seem a cottage garden jumble, this is actually a more formal garden design. Why? The hard lines of the hardscaping and the repeating pants within the bed are your clues. Just remember this if you have a garden you want to add a little “properness” too!

Need some spring flower bed inspiration? These two inspriational photos are full of tulips. This first one used a complimentary color scheme of blue and yellow, for a more calming and minimal feel.

 

For a little more energy, use warmer colors mixed with some perennials. The plants will fill in as the tulips fade to cover and distract from the browning foliage.

 

Have shrubbery or evergreen foundation plantings that are just boring? Add bright and happy colors in front of the shrub bed to create some fantastic energy! Keep the texture of the flower bed in contrast to the foliage. For instance, in this photo, the daylilies have strappy, coarse foliage and are contrasted nicely with fine textured, small flowers. This keeps things interesting!

 

This traditional style flower bed from ‘Houzz’ shows us that when using a lot of bright color, a pop of white will keep things grounded! Green will accomplish the same thing.

 

This informal flower bed from ‘BHG‘ is a great example of using layers in your plantings… You see more greenery and height in the back, working forward to shorter and brighter flowers. This is great design approach. I love the curved shape of this garden, it gives it a casual feel.

 

Now a couple from Pinterest… If anyone knows the source of these photos, please let us know!

This first Pinterest pick is a great example of using a color theme, and it’s my fav! Blues and pinks are a romantic and still colorful choice… If you want to tone it down, add white or grey!

 

Another amazing example of that color scheme, but this “River” of grape hyacinths from Pinterest is a show stopper! It wouldn’t be the same without the pink and white tulips. They visually slow you down, and add a little punch, but don’t take away from the mass of blue!

 

Ok, leaving the most fantastic for last… This is Chrissie D’Esopo’s garden, courtesy the ‘Connecticut Horticultural Society‘, photo by Steve Silk. She opened her home up for a garden tour for charity, and it is AMAZING. Have you ever seen such a colorful and uplifting garden? Nothing more to say about this, but WOW!

So are you running for the car, complete with gardening gloves so you can load up as soon as you get to the nursery? I’d like to tell you to slow down, take your time and think this through… but I’m already out the door. :)