A round flower bed serves as a delightful focal point in any garden, immediately drawing the eye with its appealing circular form. When thoughtfully planted, a round bed comes alive with vibrant blooms, vivid textures, and artistic appeal. From layout to plant choices, creating a DIY round bed requires some special considerations but offers ample room for creativity. Read on as we share key guidelines and inspiring suggestions for crafting your own fabulous round flower bed.
Choosing the Ideal Spot
When selecting the location for your DIY round flower bed, think about sightlines and context. A circular bed makes a wonderful centerpiece on an open lawn, highlighted like a spotlight amid the green. Tuck a round bed into an unused corner where a rectangle would not fit, or use one to soften a straight edge along a wall or fence. Position your round bed where its symmetrical form can stand out.
Accenting Archways and Gates
Frame an archway or gate with a round flower bed extending on either side. The bed’s curved edges mirror the opening’s rounded top for a cohesive look. Low-growing annuals and perennials are ideal, allowing the structure to remain the main focal point.
Planning the Layout
Determine the approximate size and dimensions for your round bed based on the space available. Large round beds spanning six feet or more in diameter make dramatic statements, while a bed as small as three feet across can work nicely in a petite courtyard. Oval shapes are also an option if you have an oblong space to fill.
Tools for Precision
Accurately laying out a round or oval shape requires a few specialized tools. Garden hose, string, spray paint or flour can help create rounded edges. Or opt for a commercial garden bed border template. Take care at this stage for impressive results later.
Selecting Borders
Borders help contain the soil and plants in your round bed for a neat, defined edge. Natural stones like river rocks offer affordable and attractive options that blend with garden beds. Segmented masonry landscape borders make perfectly circular edges. For softer lines, hand-trimmed low boxwood hedges or wooly thyme create living borders.
Matching Materials to Your Garden
Choose border materials that coordinate well with the overall style of your yard. For example, use weathered brick with cottage gardens or sleek concrete in modern spaces. This small detail brings cohesion to your layout.
Adding a Striking Centerpiece
Every good round garden bed benefits from a centerpiece plant or structure serving as the focal point. Support an existing tree by surrounding the trunk with flowers, herbs and greenery. Or transplant a shapely shrub like lilac, hydrangea or boxwood as your center star. Strategically placed yard art also draws attention.
Choosing Complementary Plants
Select plants arrayed around your central tree or shrub that highlight its form and color rather than compete with it. For example, hostas and astilbes nicely frame the dark leaves and pale blooms of a hydrangea centerpiece without overwhelming it.
Arranging Creativity Planting Plans
Now for the fun part – choosing and positioning all the plants! Circular beds provide the perfect canvas for playing with color, texture and height in symmetrical or geometric patterns. Concentric rings of lavender, geraniums and verbena radiate with bold flair. Repeat wedges of golden creeping Jenny and green sweet alyssum like mini pizza slices.
Repeating Design Motifs
Maintain balance in your overall planting scheme. If using three types of plants, for example, incorporate groupings of each in at least three separate spots around the circle rather than randomly scattering them. The repetition creates striking visual rhythm.
Selecting the Best Plants
Not all plants thrive in the confined central space and internal soil conditions of a round raised bed. Compact perennials and herbs like lavender, sage, thyme and oregano grow well without spreading out of control. Low-growing annuals, including verbena, alyssum, petunias and violas also populate raised beds nicely.
Meeting Sunlight Needs
Pay attention to proper sunlight levels, selecting shade plants, full-sun specimens or flexible options depending on your location. This helps ensure healthy, vigorous growth within your round bed for stunning displays year after year.
Caring for Round Flower Beds
The artistic layouts and restricted spaces of round flower beds call for some specialized care. Place soil amendments and compost carefully to avoid smothering plant roots. Water and prune strategically within the bed’s confines. Weed conscientiously to keep patterns intact in these intricately designed spaces.
Facilitating Growth and Access
Where space allows, incorporate narrow paths of stone or mulch to facilitate tending, prevent excessive compaction of soil and reduce plant overcrowding. Low hedges, decorative fences and pavers can also guide access routes if beds abut lawn areas.
Preparing Beds for Colder Weather
As winter nears, prune back any overgrowth to keep mature dimensions intact. Cut down spend annuals and clear away wind-blown leaves and debris. Amend the soil with fresh compost or manure and extra mulch, taking care not to bury crown growth. A final thorough watering keeps plant roots nourished.
Incorporating Structural Elements
Add decorative stakes, obelisks and cages to support taller late-season perennials and any slender-stemmed plant structures prone to slumping from snow loads. Birdbaths or yard art elements can be removed or protected with breathable coverings.
Redesigning Established Round Beds Over Time
The constrained soil environment within raised round beds means nutrients deplete over a few years of intense planting. Flowering diminishes and plants decline. At this point, dig out and replace the entire soil mix before replanting. Or relocate the bed’s perimeter to an adjacent spot and start fresh.
Dividing Overgrown Plants
Aggressive perennials like Shasta daisies and purple coneflowers often outgrow round beds after a couple seasons. Rather than discarding them, dig up oversized clumps and divide them into smaller sections for replanting both within the round bed and elsewhere in flower gardens.
Need a bit more inspiration for your DIY round flower bed project? Consider incorporating water features, decorative lighting elements, pergolas and garden art structures to take your circular planting bed from ordinary to extraordinary. Want to create a theme? Research cottage garden, woodland garden and Mediterranean garden plant palettes and design styles. The options with round beds are gloriously unlimited!
