Bright flower beds and parterres on the plot are not only a way to decorate the plot, they also perfectly distract attention from some problematic areas. Here you will learn what creative ideas there are and how to make flower beds with your own hands in a country house. This is not an easy task, of course,but it does not require special knowledge.
Types and Features
First of all, we will find out what is the difference between parterres and flower beds. Parterres have clear borders and shapes: circle, oval, square. Most often, it is separated from the rest of the site and raised above it. This type of landscape design is most often seen in parks, on the streets.
This is mainly characterized by the time of flowering:
Regular. In them, all the plants begin to bloom almost simultaneously. On this basis, there are spring, summer, and autumn options.
Irregular – the flowering time is chosen so that the flowering of different plants lasts from spring to autumn.
Spring flowerbed — all the colors at one time. You can also see that it is raised, that is, the flowers are planted slightly higher than the soil on the rest of the plot.
According to the type of plants planted, there are annuals, perennials, and there are mixed ones. In some flower beds, only one type of plant is planted, so they are called monoclums.
It can also be raised, they are also called high, and it can also be built in the form of multi-tiered options. Their arrangement consists of several stages: first of all, a fence is built, then the soil is filled in the finished form and plants are planted.
Choosing a Place
When the yard is spacious, it’s just great. Find the most viewed place and break the flower garden there. If the entire territory is already developed, and you want to plant flowers, then you can find a place by using creativity and compactness, as well as, build structures directly on the existing elements of the yard. This is suitable if you have a site near the house concreted or lined with slabs, stone, etc. At the wall of the house, you can make an excellent raised or even multi-tiered flower bed. In this case, you do not need to break the coating. A brick or stone fence is built directly on the path. It is advisable to put them on cement mortal, and then cover the inside with a waterproofing impregnation (bituminous mastic), so that water does not flow on the path when watering.
A flowerbed in two tiers against the wall of the house. Water from the drain in heavy rain can erode the soil, so it is worth taking it further or to the side
Also, do not forget about the ideas of flower beds along the fences. This is a common way to decorate, for example, a long drive to the house. But this can also be done in different ways. Here, as well as near the lawn, a high flowerbed looks better.
A high flowerbed of planks. The construction will be inexpensive, and the view is solid.
You can make a flower bed in front of the gate. Street flower beds should be strong. Therefore, stone fences are usually used for their execution. If desired, you can make tiered flower beds. They are more difficult to build, but much more attractive than flat ones.
Street multi-tiered (multi-level) flowerbed of complex shape.
Even if the yard is surrounded by walls on all sides, in any case, you can find a place for flowers: Hang them on the walls, place them in pots or build it in the form of a flowering wall, put a stand, etc. It is only important not to make a mistake with the style: it should coincide with the design of all buildings. Here are some ideas in the photo gallery:
This takes up very little space, and when the plants grow, it will look gorgeous.
Here is another option that is undemanding to the large size of free space. You can also move the flower shelves at any time.
Even the partitions can be used as platforms for the construction of flower beds.
How to Make a Decorative Fence
The most common fencing materials are brick, wild stone, and boulders. You can make a building out of bricks in a strict “ceremonial” manner. Boulders and wild stone are already more intimate, non-standard fences.
Since they have a decent weight, a foundation is often made under a brick or stone fence. This is used in the case of building four or more rows for fencing. If the structure is installed on a concreted area, then in this case you can do without a foundation at all, if you plan to build a flower bed on a lawn or soft soil, then it is desirable to do it.
Two rows of stone or brick have a small weight and can stand for decades without collapsing.
The first step is to remove the turf on the marked area. If you plan to make a high flowerbed, then a groove is dug along the perimeter, about 20 cm (8 inch) deep, and 5-10 cm (2-4 inch) wider than the planned fence. This ditch is filled with crushed stone, rammed, spilled with a liquid cement-sand solution. For 1 part of the M400 cement, take 4-5 parts of pure sand, mix and pour water to the state of sour cream. This semi-liquid solution spills crushed stone. When the concrete sets, you need to wait a few days and only then you can lay out a border for flower beds.
How to Make a Fence out of Brick or Stone
Flower beds made in a fence made of stone and brick are the most expensive in the device, but also the most durable. They will stand without problems for several decades.
Stones or bricks are placed on a cement-sand mortar, similar to the one used to pour crushed stone, but thicker. There should not be a lot of mortar between the bricks, only 5-8 mm (0.2-0.3 inch) is enough. If you put cobblestones or natural stone, it is easier to first put them “on dry” by choosing the size, and then move them using concrete.
Small joints of concrete between the stones are very invisible (they can be cleaned to a depth of 5-8 mm (0.2-0.3 inch) in the process, until the concrete is completely frozen).
If the flowerbed is located near the wall, the wall must be treated with waterproofing (bitumen mastic).
The fence is made of ceramic bricks of different colors and the paths are sprinkled with colored gravel.
It’s a cobblestone fence. The construction technique used is slightly different — a roller is formed from semi-dry concrete, and then small stones are stuck into it.
If you do not need to raise the plantings so much, and you only want to mark the boundaries of the area planted with flowers, then you can dig a trench, fill it with rubble, and insert a stone sawn on the plates into the rubble. Pour liquid cement-sand mortar around the installed fence elements. After two or three days, when the concrete sets, you can continue to work: fill in the fertile soil, but you can not load the curb or step on it for about a month: it takes so much time for it to gain strength.
According to the same principle, you can make a frame from sliced strips of slate or tiles. The flowerbed can be made of metal or asbestos slate.
Fences Made of Wood
As you know, wood materials are used in the process for faster and more economical installation of flower fences. But there is a small disadvantage associated with less durability. Flowerbeds made of wood can stand for only a few seasons. Then you will have to restore them or replace the structure with another one. For front yard flower beds, this is used very rarely, but in the backyard or garden it looks very original and stylish. Especially if it merges with the design style of buildings on the site.
This is done from planks, small-diameter roundwood (small logs), block house (planks that are convex on one side, similar to a log), and any other wooden remnants.
The log halves can also be folded to form a fence for a raised flower garden.
An interesting idea for a high flowerbed – a well is made of scraps of logs.
Wooden flower beds made of planks are built in a few hours.
How to make a Wooden Border?
Find a log of small diameter, cut it into chunks of different lengths and split them in half. They are placed on a flat surface with the convex side down, one next to the other. Next, take a flexible thick wire and use staples from a construction stapler or bent nails to attach the wire to the flat side of the pieces of wood. One wire is nailed at the bottom, the second at the top. It turns out a flexible border made of wood, which can be fenced in a flower garden of any shape.
So that the wood does not lose its attractiveness and does not rot, it is treated with protective impregnations. They can simultaneously give it color, or they can be colorless. Dig a shallow groove, slightly wider than your fence, insert a fence for a flower bed there and sprinkle with soil, also do not forget to tamp the soil well around the perimeter.
Fences made of Planks and Timber
The easiest way to fence a flower bed with boards. For support, we will need several bars — not very thick, but wide. Approximately 50*150 mm (2*6 inch) and the edged board is 20 mm (0.8 inch) thick. Choose the width in such a way that several pieces of boards installed on the edge give you the necessary height.
The wood should also be impregnated with protective substances, and when it dries, you can start working. First, install the support bars. They can be sharpened on one side and carefully driven into the soil without damaging the upper surface (you can put an additional piece of board to hammer the main bar through it). You can also dig a hole, about 50 cm (1.6 ft) deep, install a bar in it, bury it and seal the soil around it. The bars are installed in increments of 1-1.5 meters (3.2-5 ft), depending on how wide the flower garden will be. The wider and higher it is, the more mass it will have to hold, so in this case, you will need to install more vertical bars.
Next, you can install the boards. They can be filled from the inside and then the support bars will be visible, and you can also do this from the outside. In the second option, only the wall of boards will be visible. The joints of the boards should be placed in the places where the bars are located.
Fences made of Plastic
There are many types of ready-made plastic fences. They have special legs that sink into the ground along the edge of the planted area.
You can also do it yourself from improvised materials, for example, from plastic bottles you will get a decent fence for a flower bed.
They are selected by size and color. This way the fence will look better. Then they cut off the necks at the same level and stick them in the ground. This is one attachment option for creating a low curb. The second one will be much higher. In this case, a wooden bar is taken and the lids are nailed to it at a certain distance, so that the bottles are placed close to each other. To make such a plastic fence more stable, closer to the bottoms and at the neck, it is pierced through with a wire. The finished section of the fence is installed and fixed on.
Here are some ideas that use glass materials and cement as a binder:
Fences made of Old Things
Whether you’ll be surprised or not, I don’t know, but flowers are planted even in old things.
Do you have an old stove? It can be adapted for a flower garden. For such purposes, absolutely any furniture is suitable, fill them with soil and you get a tiered flowerbed. Do you have an old bathtub or a broken car? These are very voluminous elements that diversify your yard.
The old chest of drawers turned into a tiered flowerbed.
It turns out that an old gas stove can become the basis for multi-level planting of flowers.
A slightly more complex solution — a flower bed-a pyramid of tires, suitable for planting strawberries and flowers; the difficulty mainly lies in choosing tires of different sizes.