When it comes to gardening, there are too many benefits to count--at least while holding a spade in one hand! Gardening can improve emotional balance, help with memory and cognition--and it can make your outdoor space look incredible.

Whether you're in it for the personal benefits gardening can provide, or you just want to tidy up your yard, you probably want your flower gardens to be visually appealing. An awesome garden space usually requires some research and careful planning--but here are 8 tips that can help you get started!

1. Do Your Research

One of the very first things you'll need to do before getting started on the design of your flower garden is to dig into your research.

Whether you know a lot or a little about plants, flowers, and how they grow, you'll want to look into what plants will live best in the place you're planting them. How much sun does your garden space get? What kind of climate do you live in? What kind of soil do you have?

Doing plenty of research and asking yourself lots of questions long before you take a spade to that ground is a really important step toward a gorgeous garden.

2. Choose Your Shape Wisely

Another important thing to do before going out to buy flowers to fill your garden is to determine the general size and shape of your garden's space.

Maybe you'll decide to outline the garden with a small rock wall or another barrier, or maybe you'd rather set the garden area apart by filling the empty space with generous amounts of mulch.

Regardless of how you choose to set your garden's confines up, make sure the shape of the space complements the surrounding area. If you've got a great big house, a small garden will look even tinier and awkwardly insignificant.

3. Set Up a Focal Point

All the best gardens have very clear and purposeful organizations. A great way to establish an organization for your garden is to start by establishing the garden's focal point.

Maybe you'll decide to begin your garden by drawing the eye to a non-plant-element, like a small fountain or statue. Maybe you'll position a row of taller shrubs along the back edge of the garden. Or maybe you'll start in the center of the garden with a bright focal point of yellow blooms.

However you manage it, be sure your garden's focal point commands viewers' eyes, drawing them in and drawing them deeper into the rest of the garden space, too.

4. Consider Plant Heights

Once you've established a focal point for your garden, you can start to fill in the empty spaces. When doing so, it's important to consider the size and height of all the plants you're inputting.

Understanding how tall certain plants will grow can help you ensure you're not wasting any space by planting certain flowers where they'll just end up getting blocked out by bigger plants.

Aim to establish a hierarchy in plant sizes, with taller plants around the back. Consider choosing plants that can allow for a gradual descent in height the farther from the back of the garden they go. This will help your whole design appear extremely purposeful.

5. Mix it Up

There may be nothing more boring than a garden that's filled with nothing but the same two varieties of flower and nothing else. When it comes to growing your gorgeous garden, you've got to mix things up!

Work in a wide variety of flowers, shrubs, bulbs, and other plants that complement each other. There should be a clear scheme to your garden, but it shouldn't be predictable or boring.

Keep in mind the fact that different plants bloom at different times; mix things up so there's always something awesome to look at!

6. Consult the Color Wheel

Doing a bit of studying into the color wheel and the ways in which complementary colors can serve design is a great place to start when deciding on a color scheme.

Often, gardens composed of different plants and flowers that are different hues of the same color can be super visually appealing. Similarly, complementary colors (or colors that reside opposite of one another on the color wheel) can work wonders for your garden's color scheme.

Consider choosing colors that make each other pop--both when in bloom, and when only varying shades of green foliage.

7. Go With Odd Numbers

You've heard the saying--the best things happen in threes! Well, the same is true when it comes to your garden.

Choosing elements in odd numbers is a great way to lend a sense of balance to the layout of your garden. Whether they're spaced apart or planted alongside one another, plants that come in groups of three or in other odd numbers can be great for the symmetry and visual appeal of your garden.

Plus--if you're buying a flat of flowers to plant, working in odd numbers usually lends permission for you to accidentally break one! Phew.

8. Incorporate Hardscape and Other Non-Plants

One of the best ways to add a finishing touch to your beautiful garden is to incorporate something that's...well, not a plant.

We touched on this idea when it came to establishing a focal point to your garden, but if you elect to use shrubs or a small tree instead of something man-made as your focal point, it's still a great idea to add some element of hardscaping to your garden space.

Including a pergola, lattice, or another element of stone or wood is an awesome way to allow for transition between your garden and the other spaces around it, like your home, driveway, and garage.

Want More on How to Design Beautiful Flower Gardens?

If you want more information on how to design awesome flower gardens, check out the rest of our content!

Gardening can be extremely relaxing and fun--plus, it's nearly always rewarding.

If you're ready to jump right in and get started, stop by and see us today!