Ditch the boring beds! 5 easy ideas for a flower garden with secrets to nonstop blooms in your garden. Read on for easy blooms, year-round!
If you want to grow a garden that is full of color and flowers all season long, you’ve come to the right place.
With over 25 years of gardening experience, I’ve discovered some easy-care and low-maintenance strategies that have worked wonders for me. So, let’s dive in and create a 4 season garden that’s bursting with color and life!
Here are some ideas for a planning and creating a flower garden that’s always in bloom.
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5 Tips for Creating an Everblooming Garden
The concept of an everblooming garden—a garden that is designed to have flowers in bloom throughout the year. Imagine a space that constantly displays a kaleidoscope of colors and fills the air with delightful fragrances.
With a little planning and the right plant selection, you can transform your garden into an everblooming paradise.
Granted we won’t see flowers in the dark days of winter, but there are lots of easy ways to keep the color going so you have a 4 season garden with lots of texture and interest.
Let’s dive in and learn how to create this magical space with these easy ideas for a flower garden that’s always in bloom!
Choose a Variety of Plants
To achieve an everblooming garden, it’s essential to select a diverse range of plants that bloom at different times of the year.
Consider incorporating annuals, perennials, spring flowering bulbs, and shrubs that have staggered flowering periods.
This way, you’ll have a continuous succession of blooms throughout the seasons.
Plan for Year-Round Interest
In addition to flowers, it’s crucial to think beyond blooms and incorporate plants that provide year-round interest. Choose foliage plants with different textures and colors to add depth and visual appeal to your garden during non-flowering periods.
Some easy ideas for a flower garden that’s always in bloom and full of color, think outside of the flowers. Evergreen shrubs, ornamental grasses, and plants with vibrant foliage can ensure your garden remains attractive even when there are fewer blooms.
Pay Attention to Bloom Cycles
Understanding the bloom cycles of different plants is key to maintaining a continuous display of flowers. Some plants, such as roses or certain varieties of hydrangeas, have repeat blooming cycles throughout the season.
Others may have shorter but intense bloom periods. By strategically combining plants with overlapping bloom times, you can ensure there is always something in bloom in your garden.
Consider Climate and Microclimates
The climate of your region plays a significant role in determining the plants that thrive in your garden. You’ll need to know your hardiness zone, so you know what to plant when.
Research which flowers are well-suited to your specific climate zone and ensure they have the appropriate growing conditions. Additionally, consider the microclimates within your garden—areas that may have slightly different temperatures or sun exposure.
Utilize these microclimates to create optimal conditions for different plant species, extending their blooming period.
Implement Succession Planting
Succession planting involves sowing or planting new flowers throughout the season to replace those that have finished blooming. As one set of flowers begins to fade, new ones will take their place, ensuring a continuous cycle of blooms.
This technique is commonly used with annual flowers, but it can also be applied to certain perennials or bulbs.
By staggering your planting times, you can maintain a vibrant garden throughout the year.
Provide Adequate Care
To keep your everblooming garden flourishing, proper care is essential. Regular watering, mulching, fertilizing, and pruning are key tasks that will help your plants thrive and continue to produce blooms.
Deadheading spent flowers—removing the faded blossoms—encourages plants to produce new blooms and prolongs the flowering period.
Remember, an everblooming garden requires ongoing attention and maintenance, but the rewards are well worth the effort.
The constant display of colorful blooms will bring joy and beauty to your outdoor space year-round.
5 Easy Ideas for a Flower Garden That’s Always in Bloom
Before we chat about flower garden design, it’s important to understand that I live in New Jersey, gardening zone 6a, which has now changed to 6b. What grows well for me here may or may not grow well for you where you live. So whenever I mention certain plants that I grow in my garden, keep that in mind.
After a long, wet, and cold winter here, the arrival of spring is like a breath of fresh air. It’s a thrill to see the garden peek through the ground in the early days of spring.
And it’s even better when it’s blooming, am I right?
I spent several years honing my flower gardens so something is always blooming and changing. And I’m sharing my design secrets with you today.
With my new gardens here at our new-to-us home, I started a few new garden beds designed to bloom from spring through fall like my former home’s gardens. (To see what my flower gardens looked like at my former home, CLICK HERE.)
In addition to planting annuals, perennials, and spring flowering bulbs, I also started several plants from seed inside my sunroom and via the winter sowing method. (To learn how to grow a cut flower garden, CLICK HERE.)
After a year here, the gardens are coming along and the beds are blooming all season long. Here’s what you need to know to design an everblooming garden that works for you.
Choose the Location
To execute everblooming garden ideas for a flower garden, it’s important to site your garden in the right location based on what you want to grow.
And if you already have a garden ready to go? You will need to understand the light conditions you have so you know what kind of plants will do well there.
While there are lots of shade-tolerant plants that bloom, a majority of flowering plants, particularly if you want to grow a cut flower garden or cottage garden, need sun.
That’s not to say you can’t get a lot of colors in a shade garden because you can. But you’ll be playing more with foliage and texture to get that colorful look. If your property has a lot of shade, consider cutting some branches back to bring in more sunlight.
If you need some tips for starting a new garden, check out these posts.
- Tips to start a new garden.
- Read more here to learn how to start a garden the easy way.
- And check out this post about raised garden beds.
Soil Quality Matters
One of the smartest things you can do before growing any garden is to test your soil. Understanding your soil will help you know what it needs and how plants will grow.
For plants to flower and bloom throughout their season, they’ll need to be planted in soil that offers them the right growing conditions.
Is the pH too acidic or alkaline? Is it well-draining soil or full of clay? Does the soil have too much nitrogen which promotes lush foliage and less blooms?
Soil test kits are widely available at nurseries and big box stores. But it’s best to reach out to your local cooperative extension because the test kits are better and they can help you interpret the results.
That said, in addition to testing the soil, it’s important to add organic matter to keep the soil healthy. So adding compost, leaf mold, and mulch will help improve the health of your soil.
When Flowers Bloom
After your garden is ready, it’s time to plant flowers that will grow at different times throughout the growing season. So you’ll want to do some research and consider when flowers generally bloom. Because you’ll have your spring, summer, and fall blooms. And lots of flowers in between.
Look at your local nursery and gardens to get ideas for a flower garden that continually blooms. Stop by monthly to see what’s blooming and when.
If you decide to grow short-lived flowers like bearded iris and peonies, you can plant different varieties to extend their bloom time.
Annual flowers are a great option to get season-long color while perennials, shrubs, and bulbs go through their bloom cycles.
Length of Bloom Time
To keep the garden blooming from spring through fall, I consider the length and timing of bloom while mixing in some evergreen shrubs and trees so I have year-round interest, color, and texture.
When I design a garden, I prefer low-maintenance plants that will give me more bang for my buck. Some flowers will bloom for several weeks, while others will last much less.
Consider how long plants bloom so there is some overlap in the flowers. But even with this consideration, there will still be lulls in the borders.
So it’s important to plant spring and fall annuals to provide color throughout the growing season.
Protecting Plants from From Deer Damage and Other Critters
If you want to keep your garden blooming spring through fall and keep the evergreen foliage year round, it’s important to keep it safe from deer, rabbits, groundhogs, and the like. New Jersey is known for having herds of deer in suburban and more rural areas. And they will decimate the garden overnight.
Because I live in New Jersey, I design gardens with deer-resistant plantings and spray the high-risk plants. While I typically lean towards deer-resistant plantings, I do plant some things that require a little more protection.
Here are my 7 best secrets to keep deer from eating your garden plants. And for a deer-resistant plant list, read this post.
In addition to the deer resistance list, I spray high-risk plants with two different deer repellents. One repellent is systemic and it not only protects plants from deer damage, but from other critters too. The other repellent is a little less stinky, and doesn’t clog as easily, but is a topical application only.
I swear by this stuff because I use it all the time and it works for me. While the bottle has application directions, I am more aggressive with the spray schedule for higher-risk plants.
I start spraying them when they emerge from the ground, then again about one to two weeks later, depending on the growth.
And then I spray every three to four weeks after. This method has worked for me for years and if you try it, I hope it works for you too.
You can also try this method for using deer repellents too.
10 Plants That Stay in Bloom All Spring
There are lots of great options for blooms in spring. From early-season shrubs, perennials, annuals, and bulbs to late-season flowers, you can find an array of different plants that will provide that season-long color.
Here are some of my favorite easy-care flowers that bloom in spring.
- Hellebores
- Daffodils
- Forsythia
- Tulips
- Hyacinths
- Alliums
- Dicentra
- Pansies
- Sweet Alyssum
- Spirea
10 Plants That Stay in Bloom All Summer
Although summers can be a scorcher, there are lots of flowers that do amazing in the heat and humidity. Here are some of my favorites that bloom in summer.
- Coneflowers
- Bee Balm
- Hydrangea
- Geraniums
- Petunias
- Coreopsis
- Nepeta
- Russian Sage
- Marigold
- Celosia
10 Plants That Stay in Bloom All Fall
There are lots of fall garden flowers to grow that are better options than chrysanthemums which are only bred to last a few weeks. Here are some of my favorites to grow that bloom in fall.
- Pansies
- Aster
- Marigold
- Rudbeckia
- Sedum autumn joy
- Joe Pye Weed
- Japanese Anemone
- Celosia
- Hydrangea
- Dahlia
Tour My New Gardens Through the Seasons
If you want to get more ideas for a 4 season flower garden that’s always in bloom, check out my new gardens throughout the season you can see them here:
- Early Spring Garden Tour 2023
- New Gardens Tour
- Early Spring Garden
- Early Summer Garden Tour
- Gardening for Summer Highs and Lows
- The Prettiest Fall Garden Ideas
But I also share weekly pics of the gardens in my Sunday updates.
Subscribe here so you don’t miss out on the gardening inspo!
More Ideas for a Flower Garden That’s Always in Bloom
Does your garden grow, bloom, and change from spring through fall? What are your favorite flowers to grow? I would love to know more in the comments below.
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Thank you so much for following along.
Enjoy a beautiful day! xo
My Former Cottage Garden Throughout the Seasons
(This tour is from my former garden and what it looked like through the seasons. If you’d like to see my current cottage garden by the porch, click here.)
Since we are talking about ideas for a flower garden that’s always in bloom, let’s look back at my former front yard cottage garden because that bed was designed to grow, change, and bloom all season long.
Wait until you see how pretty it looked throughout the growing season!
When we added a second story to our three-bedroom ranch home several years ago, this garden was non-existent.
I started it from very small plantings and through the years, some plants have thrived while others have failed.
I just let the garden do what it wanted to do. If a plant did really well, I let it do its thing. If a plant didn’t do much or didn’t have the impact I was looking for, it was relocated or died out.
Note to all the self-prescribed black thumbers out there
Not all plants do well – even to the best of gardeners. When plants don’t thrive, it just wasn’t meant to be.
Some plants are fussier than others and sometimes the conditions in our yards or homes are not conducive for certain plants.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve purchased plants that died out in the first two months after planting or received plants from fellow gardeners that grew in abundance in their yards but did not survive in mine. It happens, so go easier on yourself.
There are less fussy, easier care plant options out there that will give you greater success.
My Front Yard Cottage Garden in Spring
In early spring, the flowering crabapple tree, viburnum, purple creeping phlox, tulips, and daffodils start to bloom.
Here you see some red tulips and yellow daffodils.
I wish I could tell you the varieties but they were planted so long ago and well before I started documenting the gardens.
Since tulips are highly susceptible to deer damage, I spray them weekly during their growth until the petals begin to drop.
It might seem a little excessive, but no deer have damaged my tulips.
So it’s a very effective method of protecting susceptible plants.
Other perennials are starting to emerge and grow quickly.
The flowering plum tree is a show-stopper every spring and smells heavenly!
Sadly, it only blooms for a few days but when it does…wow!
Early spring about a week and a half later: The daffodils are done and the tulip blooms are stunning as they begin to drop.
The yellow winter pansies bounced back and are picking up some hints of yellow in the garden (I spray these as well).
Purple allium Globemaster is just starting to bloom as the rest of the perennials are beginning to fill in.
As the allium varieties fade out and die back, the catmint, midnight salvia, and siberian iris start to take over.
I love this time in the garden with the brilliant hues of blues and purples, don’t you?
As we move through spring, the perennials start to come in and bloom more.
The last of the alliums are still blooming, the red knock-out roses, midnight salvia, catmint, bearded iris, siberian iris, and bright orange poppies are in full bloom.
The garden is heavily scented now. There are patches of lambs ear that add a soft white texture to the garden.
We are also starting to see butterflies, hummingbirds, and bumblebees.
Allium is a beautiful deer-resistant bulb from the onion family. When planted en masse in a border, the results are stunning.
I love the color combination of nepeta (catmint) and these oriental poppies.
Both plants are highly deer resistant.
The Front Yard Cottage Garden in Summer
As we head into summer, the roses echinacea, beebalm, butterfly weed, balloon flower, and daylilies bring a bright, fresh color pallet.
Butterflies and hummingbirds are very attracted to this garden and visit often.
As summer progresses, the garden starts to look a little untidy.
The catmint’s color is fading, the orange butterfly weed, bee balm, white balloon flower, white and purple echinacea, and pink phlox continue to kick up the summer color.
I like to cut back the catmint and a few other perennials that are fading to encourage a second bloom.
Late summer in the border continues to bring many butterflies, hummingbirds, and bumblebees to the garden.
If you want to see more pollinators in your garden, check out these posts for more ideas for a flower garden.
- To learn how to grow a butterfly garden, CLICK HERE.
- HERE’s a great easy-care plant list that butterflies love.
- And if you want to learn more about how to grow a garden that attracts hummingbirds? CLICK HERE.
- For 9 gorgeous plants that attract hummingbirds, CLICK HERE.
On a side note, people get concerned about the bees, but bees are beneficial and friendly.
Yellowjackets are not bees – so don’t confuse them with honey bees.
In current bloom are black-eyed Susans, tall phlox, and a few echinacea varieties.
The Front Border Garden in Fall
As the summer blooms fade, I start cutting them back and adding some fall-colored annuals to keep the color going through the rest of the growing season.
My fall favorite, pee gee hydrangea tree is starting to bloom and the sedum ‘autumn joy,’ which is super easy to grow and propagate, is starting to change color.
Final Thoughts
What do you think of the gardens? I hope you enjoyed touring my favorite garden.
I spent a lot of time planning, planting, and growing this garden to bloom from early spring through fall.
2019 Weekly Garden Tour
To get a closer look and get more ideas for a flower garden in the growing season, I documented and photographed the beds in 2019. It’s amazing how much the gardens changed since then, but here’s the tour if you’d like to check it out.
- 1st Week – Bulbs and Early Spring Perennials
- 2nd Week – Cool Season Vegetables and Spring Flowers
- 3rd Week – Growth, Change and Everblooming Design
- 4th Week – Growth and Transition in the Spring Garden
- 5th Week – Container Gardens and Outdoor Living Spaces
- 6th Week – Adding Color with Annuals
- 7th Week – The Importance of a Tidy Border
- 8th Week – How to Create a Hummingbird Garden
- 9th Week – Spring to Summer Transition
- 10th Week – Summer Perennials, Pest and Disease Control
- 11th Week – Summer Gardening and Patriotic Decor
- 12th Week – Caring for Gardens While On Vacation
- 13th Week – How to Create a Butterfly Garden
- 14th Week – Midsummer Flowers
- 15th Week – Summer to Fall Transition in the Garden
