Curb flowers and shrubs are a very large group of ornamental plants, which includes perennial, annual, short and tall.
What characteristics should curb flowers have?
When creating a flower bed you need to pay attention not only to the beauty and unusual flowers, but also to practicality. But in order to combine all these qualities, you must adhere to several simple rules:
Flowers should not grow in different directions. Plants should be unpretentious in the care, resistant to aggressive environmental conditions. The color of the border should be in harmony with the overall composition of the flowerbed.
Based on these characteristics, perennial plants are the best option. They begin to bloom much earlier and longer, unlike single-year flowers. In the autumn, their stems partially or completely dry up, while the root "goes into hibernation." These plants tolerate frost well, and do not require abundant watering in summer.
Plant classification
There is a huge amount of ornamental flower beds, which are most often classified according to the following criteria.
Depending on height
As a rule, curb plants for growth can divided into these types:
- Tall (reach a height of 2 m or more)
- Half-high (their height varies from 1 m to 2 m)
- Sredneroslye (plants from half a meter to a meter)
- Low-growing flowers (height only 0.5 m and less)
- Dwarf (maximum height reaches only a quarter of a meter).
From undersized flowers you can plant: pansies, phlox, escholcium, purslane, marigold, daisy, forget-me-not, bell.
By plant type
Bed flower plants can also classified by type:
- Bulbous - a common property is the presence of a thickened underground root in the shape of a bulb, such as a tulip and narcissus.
- Ground cover - the main characteristic is the expansion of the roots in breadth, which creates the effect of natural carpet, such as periwinkle.
- Herbaceous undersized - these include flowers with a thin and soft stem, such as primrose.
- Shrubs - differ from grassy in the presence of a solid trunk and a large number of stems, for example curb rose.
Very popular of groundcover plants are: creeping thyme, alissum, saxifrage, young, rookey, clove.
List of the most popular colors with a description and photo
There are a lot of popular among gardeners of curb flowers, but we will consider those that most often found in our flowerbeds:
- Crocus is an early, undersized flower with a varied color of petals.
- Tulip - early bulbous unpretentious plant, which has a huge varietal variety.
- Curb rose - refers to low-growing and medium-sized plants. Distinctive features are abundant flowering and leaf shape. The height of the bush is not more than half a meter.
- Small periwinkle - known to most gardeners as unpretentious undersized perennial. It has long stems that can interfere with the growth of other flowers, which requires frequent thinning.
- Norway-leaved lavender - reminiscent of shrubs up to 50 cm in height, the leaves of this perennial attract with a grayish tinge and purple flowers.
- Iberis is evergreen - the height of such a perennial reaches 30 cm, in summer it is covered with white flowers, it is sun-loving and prefers moist soil.
- Astra Alpine - perennial, grows a bush up to 40 cm tall, blooms with white or blue flowers.
Did you know? Crocus inflorescences make a very famous spice - saffron. One gram of it is enough to make several Kazan pilaf cuisines fragrant.
Did you know? Astra is an ancient plant. When opening the royal tomb of 2000 years old in the Crimea, they saw an image of an aster in it. The ancient Greeks considered the aster amulet.
Basic rules for creating curb compositions
A good border must be formed from several types of flowers. In the spring, bulbous perennial flowers such as crocus, hyacinth, narcissus bloom first, so they should be planted as close as possible to the path.
In the middle, a line of grass flowers blooming in summer is planted. Shrubs up to half a meter — curb rose, aster, and lavender complete the curb composition so that they do not obstruct the view of the flowerbed.
Important! Flowers should be harmoniously combined with each other, they can be kept in the same colors or with a combination of contrasts.
How to care for flowers
Border flowers and shrubs, like all crops, require compulsory care, which consists of regular watering, periodic feeding, treatment of diseases and the fight against parasites. Several times a month it is necessary to loosen the soil and its fertilizer, to do mulching during drought.
A frequent problem of perennials in flowerbeds with limited space is their stable growth, which creates the need for regular pruning of branches. In most cases, they multiply by the root method and, in order for the flowerbed not to be clogged, they should be planted in time.
Important! It is necessary to plant flowers in such a way that their branches, leaves or stems do not interfere with free movement along the path.
Beautiful border composition depends on the colors and proper care for them. The main condition is that cultures should be combined in color and in harmony with each other. Only with the observance of these rules, your garden or garden bed will be pleasing to the eye.
