Modern flower bed: ornamental grasses as a design elementThanks to their unobtrusive character, ornamental grasses leave the stage to contrasting flowering plants and magnificent perennials and really make the flower colours of their bed partners shine. For example, the lamp cleaner grass (Pennisetum) with its colour-changing stalks is an ideal sparring partner for ball thistle (Echinops ritro) and steppe sage (Salvia nemorosa) or delphinium (Delphinium) and summer daisies (Leucanthemum maximum).

If you are looking for a suitable back-up for a shade-loving flower bed, the light green striped, overhanging stalks of the Japanese silver-banded grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Albostriata’) are a good choice. On the other hand, graceful ornamental grasses such as trembling grasses (Briza) or woolly grass (Melinis) do particularly well in sunny perennial beds with perennial sunflowers (Helianthus) or dahlias.

When planning beds, keep in mind that ornamental grasses for sunny locations usually do not sprout until late spring and have reached a certain height in early summer at the earliest. Tip: Combine them with perennials that bloom only in mid or late summer. In spring, various bulbous flowers and spring perennials provide cheerful accents. You can find even more inspiration in our article “Grasses as a design element in the garden”.

Terraced garden beds

Especially in modern garden design, levels at different heights are a welcome design element. Raised or terraced garden beds offer exciting eye-catchers in flat plots and enable new perspectives in the garden. Whether wild rose bushes, grasses or Mediterranean herbs – you are completely free to choose plants. For modern gardens, plants with flowing structures (ornamental grasses, flowers with special blossoms) are a nice contrast to the austerity of form in the garden. If you don’t want to plant too lushly, you can use soloists to accentuate certain elements or deliberately break shapes.

Modern flower bed with drought-loving plants: gravel raised bed

A garden wall, a terraced rock garden or a gravel raised bed is ideal for hilly locations and particularly undemanding and drought-loving plants. The planting of these gravel and stone walls consists of purple flowering mountain leeks and lavender, combined with white cistus and yellow curry and St. John’s wort, which rarely need watering even in hot summers.

Round island beds as a design element in the lawn

Island beds are a welcome eye-catcher on large lawns. Long-flowering perennials, annual summer flowers and herbs are ideal for such colorfully arranged beds. When choosing plants, be sure to consider the nature of the location: Do the soil and light conditions match the desired planting? A lawn edging or bed edging makes it easier to mow the lawn and care for the bed later. Tip: Plant tall perennials in the center of the flower bed, and low-growing plants along the edge. For the planting in this example, scarlet fenugreek, poppy and yellow loosestrife set colorful accents in yellow and red.

Perennial bed with a long flowering period

Long-flowering perennials and shrubs are the ideal occupation for a modern flower bed. In addition to plants such as daylilies, catnip, coneflower or yarrow, stately hydrangeas that bloom extensively between June and September are also suitable. From white and pink to violet and blue, they come in many different flower colors and can grow into imposing shrubs (especially panicle hydrangeas). Important: Hydrangeas are very thirsty garden shrubs, which is why the soil should always be kept moist.

Flower beds as a frame for clear geometric shapes

Modern flower beds are dominated by geometric shapes, such as triangles, circles, rectangles, which are clearly delimited by bed borders. If that’s too boring for you, just turn the tables and use the flower bed to set the framework for a geometric shape in the garden. Here, lushly planted perennial beds in yellow and white focus on the circular space.

Modern bed design with roses

An imposing, fragrant rose bed is a welcome classic in the garden. With the help of perennials, ornamental grasses and summer flowers, you can charmingly enrich it. However, do not place the selected plants too close to the roses, as they can spread fungal diseases very quickly. Tip: Even if you don’t have a full sun location for a rose bed, you can plan a modern flower bed with roses. There are robust bedding and small shrub roses that also thrive in semi-shaded locations.

Sommerblumen als Idee für ein insektenfreundliches Blumenbeet

Einjährige Sommerblumen bieten von Jahr zu Jahr eine große Blütenvielfalt in knalligen Farben und abwechslungsreichen Formen. Ein Gartenbeet aus Sommerblumen ist nicht nur optisch ein echter Eyecatcher, sondern auch ein Paradies für Bienen und Schmetterlinge. Im Sommer erfreuen sie sich am Nektar der verschiedenen Bluten, im Herbst, wenn die Samenbildung beginnt, finden sie einen guten Unterschlupf in den verblühten Blütenständen. Insektenfreundliche, einjährige Sommerblumen sind beispielsweise Zinnien, Vanilleblumen, Schneeflockenblumen. Konigskerzen und Mehl-Salbei, sowie die weißen und blauen Sorten der Australischen Fächerblume und Männertreu. Wer mag, kann dazu noch Frühlingsblumen ins Staudenbeet setzen, um das Nahrungsangebot für Insekten noch weiter auszuweiten.

Year-round garden bed with spring and autumn flowers

Magnificent perennials all year round – with clever bed planning, this is quite possible. The easiest way to make the year-round blooming garden bed is to combine spring and autumn flowers that bloom at different times. While crocuses, tulips and hyacinths sprout in spring, summer flowering perennials such as cranesbill and delphinium are replaced by chrysanthemums, stonecrop and autumn crocuses in autumn. Combined with evergreen shrubs and shrubs, the bed remains an eye-catcher even in winter. Tip: Make sure that several plant species always bear flowers at the same time to avoid flowering gaps.

Flower bed idea for rockeries: insect-friendly gravel beds

A rock garden is an alpine garden with drought-tolerant mountain plants that is easy to maintain and at the same time contributes to biodiversity. Many flowering ground covers, perennials and Mediterranean herbs, as well as wildflowers and roses are suitable for this. The choice of flowering and evergreen plants for gravel beds is huge. There are also many plants and herbs that provide food and shelter for insects and small animals. A list of suitable insect and ornamental plants can be found in our article “How to create a stone bed correctly: step by step”.

Modern flower bed idea with low willow fence

If you are planning a perennial bed, you should definitely think about a border or border directly. This makes mowing the lawn easier and ensures that the bed retains its shape and does not grow too expansive. If you don’t like classic edging stones, steel, plastic sheets or metal rails, you will find the right border in young willow branches. The young shoots are still very flexible and can be braided into a low fence in no time at all.

Wild romance in the modern flower bed

More colour, floral opulence and a natural, wild-looking mood – that’s the trend in the garden right now. The flower beds, which seem to merge into each other, seem to be randomly laid out, reminding us of a rural garden in which everything is allowed to grow as it wants. Treat your flower bed to the full splendour of flowers in the wildest colour combinations and swap pastel and muted colours for daring and colourful. Nevertheless, the bold mix of colors looks romantic, as this colorful mix of flowers in strong orange and magenta tones, as well as bright pink proves.

Flower bed for shady locations

Whether in the front garden, in a dark corner or under a shady tree – flowering ground cover plants do particularly well in such locations. They are much easier to care for than lawns, look nicer and form an even carpet that does not allow weeds to emerge. Cranesbill (Geranium) and Funkia (Hosta) are a perfect team in light shade and cover the ground after a short time – the ideal planting if you want it to go fast and look neat.