30 Flower Bed Ideas for 2019

Home > Knowledge Center > 30 Flower Bed Ideas for 2019

Instantly add color and visual interest to your landscaping with these flower bed ideas that are sure to inspire you.

1. Mailbox Flower Bed

Creating a flower bed around your mailbox is a quick, inexpensive way to spruce up a boring pole and immediately increase your home’s curb appeal. Choose blooms that complement your existing landscaping and the architecture of your home for a cohesive look.

2. Monochromatic Flower Bed

For a crisp, clean splash of color in your yard, create a flower bed with blooms that are all the same color. For example, you could plant a variety of plants that all have white flowers or that all have red flowers.

3. Dichromatic Flower Bed

If you like the uniform look of a manicured garden, a dichromatic flower bed might be right for you. Pick two contrasting or complementing colors to create this look. You can either randomly plant the bed for a more blended look, or you can plant your flowers in single-color rows to create the most contrast. If you only have space for a single row, you can create a design where every other plant is the same color. For example, plant one plant with white flowers, then a plant with blue flowers, then a plant with white flowers, followed by a plant with blue flowers.

4. Ombre Flower Bed

Ombre is a gradual blending of hues starting with the lightest hue and ending with the darkest. This gradual color change, when used in flower beds, can lead guests along ever-brightening pathways or create a focal point at the darkest hue with lighter hues gradually fading out around it. An example of this would be to plant a flower bed with only pink-flowering plants. At one end of the bed, you would start with a pale pink and work your way to a vibrant fuchsia at the other end of the flower bed or border.

5. Wheelbarrow Flower Bed

Would any list of flower bed ideas be complete without a wheelbarrow flower bed? Not only is this a great way to repurpose a rusted or broken wheelbarrow, but there is just something so simple and right about planting flowers in old wheelbarrows. If you do not happen to have an old wheelbarrow on hand, you should have no trouble finding one through online classified ads or at a local thrift store or flea market.

6. Shade Garden Flower Bed

Gardeners often think it is not possible to have beautiful flower beds in areas that rarely see the sun. However, you really can have a lovely garden under trees or in shady spots along fences and buildings. The key is choosing plants that can thrive in shade, such as ferns or hostas.

7. Walkway Border Flower Beds

This traditional use of flower beds to line walkways has maintained is popularity for a reason. Plant borders control traffic as they guide your guests to entryways or outdoor living areas while simultaneously increasing the overall visual appeal of your landscaping. Choose carefully when selecting plants for walkway borders, since this will be a big part of the first impression guests have of your home.

8. Tree Base Flower Beds

Flower beds surrounding the base of tree trunks help make the tree a focal point in your landscaping and are a great way to cover bare patches where other plants will not grow. When creating a flower bed around the base of a tree, avoid piling soil or mulch against the tree, since this will hold too much moisture against the trunk. Make sure the trunk has plenty of space to breathe and that you do not choose deep-rooted plants that will compete with the tree for water and nutrients. Shallow-rooted annuals are a better choice for tree base flower beds.

9. Island Flower Beds

Island flower beds provide a perfect opportunity to add a pop of color in your landscaping design. If you have a natural grass lawn, reducing the lawn size by adding an island flower bed can help you save water. If you are installing a large artificial grass lawn, an island flower bed can break up the space and add even more visual interest. Since these beds will be seen from all sides, it is best to plant the tallest plants in the center and the shortest plants around the edge.

10. Herb Garden

Not all flower bed ideas have to have ornamental plants; herb gardens are colorful additions to any landscape and happen to also serve a functional purpose. Medicinal and culinary herbs come in a beautiful variety of greens with blooms in a range of colors, including white, purple, lavender, orange, blue and pink. If you have limited space, an herb garden offers the perfect balance between beauty and function for small space gardens.

11. Rose Garden

If your flower bed is away from walkways and areas where children or pets play, you might consider a colorful, fragrant rose garden. This will provide you with beautiful blooms to view from your outdoor living areas and to cut for floral arrangements.

12. Window Box Flower Beds

There is no reason that your flower beds need only be on the ground. Why not increase your planting space by adding window boxes to your home’s façade? Window boxes add a bit of whimsy and lots of color, making them an easy choice to enhance curb appeal and give your home character.

13. Vertical Flower Beds

Another way to easily increase your gardening space is to install vertical flower beds. This might include succulents for an easy-care, low-water option, herbs and lettuces for a functional garden, or flowering plants for vibrant color within a narrow footprint.

14. Vintage Suitcase Flower Bed

Vintage suitcases may not serve a functional purpose anymore, but they are definitely on trend as accent pieces in interior design. You can bring this look to your outdoor living areas by transforming one or more vintage suitcases into small flower beds.

15. Butterfly Garden or Bee Garden Flower Bed

You can have a flower bed that is both fashionable and functional by creating a butterfly garden or bee garden to attract pollinators to your yard. This helps support local bee and butterfly populations, while you get the benefit of increased pollination for your vegetable garden and fruit trees.

16. Cutting Garden

Some flower bed ideas are really no-brainers. Choosing flowering plants with blooms that are appropriate for floral arrangements allows you to beautify both the exterior and interior of your home. Be sure to plant both showy blooms and fillers, such as dahlias, sunflowers or roses along with snapdragons, feverfew and feather ferns.

17. Native Flower Beds

Planting your flower bed with only native plants provides a beautiful addition to your landscape that is low maintenance and low water. Native plants are naturally drought tolerant, proven to thrive in your area and can add vibrant colors without the water needs of other ornamentals.

18. Climbing Flower Beds

If you have a fence or porch that is drab or unsightly, consider filling your flower bed with climbers that will wrap themselves around porch railings, climb fences or fill in those empty spaces beneath raised decks. You may need to employ trellises to train your plants, particularly if you are hoping to cover a fence or wall with a surface to which vines might not be able to attach.

19. Wildflower Borders and Flower Beds

For a natural, rustic look that adds color and texture to your landscaping, consider filling your flower bed with low-maintenance wildflowers. Choose native plants for drought tolerance. You should have no trouble finding a wildflower seed mix at a local nursery that you can simply sprinkle in your flower bed to get your wildflower garden started.

20. Edible Flower Beds

Herb gardens are not your only option for attractive, edible landscaping. You can also fill in flower beds with lettuces or plant edible flowers, such as nasturtium, pansies or lavender.

21. Flower Beds (Literally)

Old bed frames have found their way into plenty of cottage gardens, as well as the yards of gardeners who appreciate the rustic look or whimsical nature of this repurposed landscaping feature. Old iron bed frames seem to be the most popular, but wood frames complete with headboards are also a solid choice. If you have a bed with a solid base, you can plant it as a raised garden bed. If you have a bed with a slat base, you can place a piece of plywood over the slats to create a flower bed. If there is no usable base on your bed frame, consider removing the legs to place the frame directly on the ground.

22. Sunken Container Garden

Rather than planting your plants directly in the ground, this option calls for digging holes in which you will place potted plants. This gives you the look of a conventional flower bed with the convenience of being able to quickly and easily change the look by simply rearranging your pots. This also allows you to easily change out dead or sick plants to keep your flower bed looking vibrant and healthy.

23. Moonlight Garden Flower Bed

If you often entertain at night or work long days and cannot enjoy your outdoor living areas until after the sun goes down, consider planting a moonlight garden meant to be enjoyed at night. It is all about plant selection with this one, since a moonlight garden relies on plants that shimmer and glow in the moonlight. Choose plants with silvery or gray foliage and white or light flowers that will reflect the light of the moon. Of course, this flower bed will also be beautiful during the day, but it will take on a completely different look after sunset, which makes it particularly enticing at night.

24. Artificial Grass Border

Synthetic turf is a low-maintenance, water-saving option for lawns that have the look and feel of natural grass but that are consistently vibrant and green any time of the year. You can add even more vibrant color and enhance the natural look of your lawn by adding colorful flower beds as a border around the artificial grass.

25. Rock Garden Flower Beds

Rock gardens offer a natural look, help conserve water and can be designed to complement any architectural style. Once you place your rocks, plant flowering plants between and around them to add color and soften the look of your rock garden.

26. Retaining Wall Flower Beds

There are two ways you can make a retaining wall flower bed work for you. The first use is to enhance the visual appeal of an existing retaining wall that can be made more attractive by planting colorful flowers or trailing plants that will soften the look of a stark wall. The second way to make this work for you is to use pavers or stones to create a retaining wall for a raised flower bed. Adding levels to your landscaping increases visual interest by bringing height and depth to the design.

27. Mounded Flower Beds

Another way to add height and increase visual interest is to create mounded flower beds. Like the above-mentioned retaining wall flower beds, these higher beds can be used to improve privacy for outdoor living areas, to act as a border between different sections of your yard or between your yard and your neighbor’s yard, or can block an unsightly view.

28. Patterned Flower Beds

Express your creativity and give your yard a truly unique look with patterned flower beds. You might choose a simple checkerboard or chevron pattern, a swirling wave, stripes or, if you are really ambitious, you can go for even more intricate design. Patterned flower beds require a lot of upkeep to maintain the pattern and replace plants to keep the colors cohesive. So, you will need to be an avid gardener or at least have some extra time on your hands to keep this flower bed idea well maintained and looking amazing.

29. Boat Flower Beds

Using old boats as flower beds is particularly fun in beach towns and at lake houses, but they can be used in any garden where you want to achieve a rustic or whimsical look. Boats are even easier to transform into flower beds than the above-mentioned bed frames, since they sit on the ground and usually have a solid bottom.

30. Log Flower Beds

If you are handy, you may be able to make this flower bed idea yourself but, if not, it is best to leave this one to a professional. The difficult part is hollowing out the log to create a space for the soil. Once you have your log hollowed out, you can fill it with soil and compost, plant your flowers and start enjoying this unique addition to your outdoor living area. If your log is long enough, consider leaving enough space for seating on each side of the flower bed to make your log function as both a planter and a bench.