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It is the flowers that can give charm to the garden plot. They can be planted in different places, from them you can form flower beds of the most unexpected shapes, select plants by color, shape, flowering time. And in order to spend not too much time on caring for flowers, you need to give preference to perennials. Perennial rabatka will wonderfully decorate the site if you place it along the fence, the wall of the house or the path. Once planted, plants will become more beautiful every year – this is a hallmark of perennial crops.
What is a discount
Rabatka is a long elongated flowerbed, its idea came to us from those distant times when beauty was verified by geometry. In a classic flowerbed, the width should be related to the length, like 1 and 3, the tallest plants should not exceed 2/3 of the width of a two-sided flower bed or 1 of the width of a one-sided. If all plants are the same height, then 1/3 of the latitude of the rabatka will be optimal.
But in reality, deviations from all these figures occur even in regular parks. It is generally believed that the width can be from 0,5 to 1,5 m, because it is inconvenient to care for plants in a wider bed. The length can be anything, but the designers recommend interrupting the pattern every 5 m and planting one or a group of plants that look good all season, but are not used in this flower bed, and after it again continue the given pattern. Another liberties of the new time – the discount is not necessarily rectangular, it may well repeat the bends of the path along which it stretches.
A few more numbers. Experts say that no more than 1 plants should grow on 18 square meter: 4 high, 9 low and 5 medium height. The number of rows of plants is also strictly regulated: from 3 – in a narrow flower bed, up to 5 – in a wide one. Elements should be repeated, whether they are stripes, squares or spots of a different shape.
Types and forms
The correct rectangular shape is violated so often that it is no longer considered mandatory. Most often, the rabatka is tied to something – a path, an alley, a wall or a building, the line of which it repeats. Based on the point of contemplation, discounts are one-sided or two-sided. Along the fences, buildings, sides of the site have a one-sided flower bed. Plants of different heights are appropriate here, which are planted as follows: the highest ones are located near the wall, and they go down to the path, such flower beds are often made multi-tiered.
Bilateral are located in the middle of the alley (section) or border the paths, they are viewed from two sides. They can be single-tier, when all plants of the same height are used, or two-tier – in this case, high flowers are placed in the middle, and low ones at the edges.
Rabatki can be symmetrical (ideal for a strict alley) or asymmetrical, in which the plants go down from one side to the opposite. The color of the rabatka also differ. Sometimes it looks very impressive when the entire flower bed is made in one color, but most often, especially long flower beds, are made up of several colors that emphasize each other. The most common combinations are purple with orange, red with white, blue with yellow. Colors have stripes or spots.
Video “Rabats – a living decoration”
This video presents a selection of different types of perennials for decorating garden plots.
We create a discount
Having become acquainted with the basic rules, when creating a discount on your site, you can follow them, or you can only push off from them. Fantasy is difficult to fit into a strict geometric framework, the variety of flowers and ornamental plants pushes for new discoveries. The organization of the rabatka must be well thought out – it must fit into the ensemble of the site, its idea is subject to the location and mood of the area.
Layout
For a flower bed, you need to choose a flat place, determine the size, points of contemplation, and then draw its diagram on paper. Coming up with a pattern, geometric shapes that it will consist of, a color palette, plant heights – all this is done at the planning stage. The area of each color spot should be determined as accurately as possible, the plants should not cover each other. First, the main accents are distributed on the scheme – soloist flowers will attract most of the eyes to themselves. Then the sizes and colors of the background plants are applied. The last on the plan are low-growing plants that cover the soil. Be sure to think about how to complete the border of the flower bed, it can be a stone curb, gravel fill, a small fence made of paving slabs or something else.
Color matching
Having decided on the appearance of the flower bed, you need to choose the plants so that they have the same requirements for soil and care. You can not plant sun-loving and shade-loving flowers next to each other, you cannot place moisture-loving plants and those that are afraid of waterlogging on the same bed. It is necessary to find crops that are suitable for the same soil composition, one irrigation regime and daylight hours. Then they will grow and will delight the owners with their healthy appearance and beautiful flowering.
It is very important to coordinate the flowering time so that the flower bed does not remain without flowers. Usually, on such complex flowerbeds, early-flowering bulbs are used, by the time they fade, it will be time for other perennials to bloom.
It is good when the flower bed consists only of perennial crops, but this is also the main disadvantage – most of them bloom in the second or even third year. In addition, perennials tend to grow gradually, so they need to be planted (or sown) at some distance from each other. In the first year, such a flower bed looks, to put it mildly, not rich. In the second – third year, when all or almost all the flowers are already blooming, it will look better, but the empty land between the plants spoils the whole view.
Various perennial crops grow to their peak in 3 to 5 years after planting in the garden. Until this time, it makes sense to add annual flowers to empty places. Most often, this is exactly what they do – the main composition of perennials is diluted (or supplemented) with annual crops. Their annual replacement allows you to vary the appearance of the flower bed.
You can find more than one example of the composition of the rabatka, which someone has already tested and advised as a successful combination of perennial crops. If you take a tall blue delphinium, a short delphinium of a similar color (spur), ankhuz azure, as the plant next to the highest tier, broad-leaved blue veronica, as the lowest plant, then you want to dilute this blue with something bright orange. Lilies and serrated buzulnik of the same height with ankhuz, lower phloxes, gravel and yarrow are perfect. A low orange cinquefoil and a bluish mid-tier muzzle will complete this composition. This is a complex flower bed that will be beautiful in 2 to 3 years.
You can choose several plants for a simple pattern. Along the garden path, white daisies, yellow gelenium, and blue bells should be planted in rows. A narrow border of a row of white alyssum and a row of blue forget-me-nots can be run along the edge of the lawn. It’s easy to make these simple ones. Often in large flower beds, non-flowering plants are used, for example, cereals, subshrubs and shrubs with beautiful leaves. Coniferous crops framed by flowers look good in garden plots.
Basic work
Most perennials love sunny flat areas with nutritious soil. Having carefully studied the preferences of the selected colors, you need to prepare the site. This is usually done in the fall. The bed is dug up well, the composition of the soil is adjusted if necessary. The borders of the flower beds are laid out in accordance with the plan.
After that, the locations of the plants are marked on the ground, they can be marked with pegs and twine, or simply sprinkled with light sand. After that, holes are prepared, flowers are planted. Most likely, some of the plants will have to be planted in the spring if it is a large multi-component flower bed.
Care
Like any country plantings, flower beds need to be weeded, loosened, watered, fed if necessary. That is why you should not make the flower bed very wide. Perennial plants most often do not require special preparation for wintering, they are good because they almost always winter without the participation of the owners. But they will need attention during their growth period. Some plants require transplanting after a few years (certain types of phlox), others need thinning bushes or planting children (like hosta or ankhuz).
All this must be done on time. Fading flowers are cut off, dry stems are removed, this is done throughout the season. Flower beds are often mulched with small pebbles for decorative purposes. But it also saves the flower garden from evaporation of moisture and the spread of weeds, so mulching can significantly reduce the time and effort spent on caring for plants.
Video “Design of flower beds and rabatok”
A video selection of examples of creating designer perennials for decorating paths and alleys.