Planning a New Landscape Bed Before a Single Plant Goes In

It is tempting to head to the nursery and buy whatever looks good. A better path is to spend a little time planning the bed first. A new landscape bed is easy to get wrong and expensive to redo. A few steps up front help you end up with something that fits your house, your yard and your free time.

Start by looking at the space

Before you pick a single plant, spend a day or two watching the spot. Note how much sun it gets in the morning and in the afternoon. Notice where water runs after a rain and where it collects. Check the soil: is it hard clay, loose, or rocky? These facts decide which plants will thrive and which will struggle.

Also look at what is already growing there. Some of it may be worth keeping, and some of it may need to come out. Don Whitehead described the existing Rogers house he moved into as full of scraggly, overgrown, old rosebushes and plants. Clearing or reworking overgrowth like that is a natural first step before a new design goes in.

If the plan involves digging, call 811 before any shovel goes in the ground so buried utility lines can be marked. It is a free, standard step in the United States, and it is easy to forget.

Make a mock-up

A mock-up lets you see the bed before it exists. You can lay a garden hose on the ground to trace the curve of the edge. Set nursery pots where plants will go. Stand back at the street, at the front door and at a window inside the house. Move things until it looks right from the places you actually see it.

This is how good crews work too. linda baker wrote that the crew showed a great mock-up before the work and then completed the flower bed in a single day, as promised. When you can see the plan first, there are no surprises.

Choose plants that fit

The right plant in the right place needs far less work. Look at the mature size on the tag, not the size in the pot. A small shrub that grows to six feet wide will swallow a bed built for something smaller. Group plants with similar sun and water needs together, and mix heights so the bed has layers: tall in the back or center, medium in the middle, low along the edge.

Pamela Satterfield noted that Joel made suggestions for plantings that suited the space and blended in with what was already there. That is worth looking for. Plants that match the style of the house and the plants around them look planned, not tacked on.

Think about all four seasons. A bed that is lovely in May and bare in January is only half done. Evergreens such as junipers or boxwoods give the bed structure in winter, while flowering shrubs and perennials add color in other seasons.

Stone and boulders come first

If the design includes boulders, stone walkways, edging or a small retaining wall, they go in before the plants. Heavy materials are hard to move once there are roots in the way, and the plants need to be placed around them.

Don Whitehead's yard is a good example. The crew built stone walkways and a terrazzo, and found large boulders that fit the look he wanted, with Spartan junipers standing in for Italian cypress. The hard pieces gave the garden its bones, and the plants were chosen to match.

Plan the upkeep from the start

A bed is a living thing, and it will need regular care. Before you plant, decide how you will handle the ongoing work.

• Decide on mulch or rock for the cover, and plan for how it will be topped up.
• Think about how the plants will be watered, especially in the first season.
• Plan for pruning. Shrubs that outgrow their spot need regular trimming.
• Set a routine for weeding while the weeds are small.

If maintaining it yourself doesn't appeal, factor in a maintenance visit. Edgardo Alaniz and Don Whitehead both started with a bigger project and then had the crew keep up the yard afterward.

Talking it through with a crew

Pureleaf Lawncare is a family owned landscaping and lawn care company, and landscape design and installation is one of its services. To talk about a new bed, call or text (479) 601-2057. You will send a text, chat on the phone, and receive a quote. The crew works in Lowell, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville and other Northwest Arkansas towns.