Designing with Perennials for 3 Seasons of Blooms

You don’t need to be a professional landscape designer to achieve a perennial flower garden with colorful blooms in early spring, late spring, early summer, late summer and right into fall. Designing with Perennials for 3 Seasons of Blooms is all about creating the garden of your dreams! Would you love to have a Perennial Flower Garden that has flowers blooming continuously from early spring right through fall? I think for every flower gardener, one of our goals is to create a perennial bed that does exactly this. I am one of those flower gardeners.

Booklet - Designing with Perennials for 3 Seasons of Blooms

For many years, I’ve scoured nursery catalogs and gardening books trying to come up with a plan for a 3-season garden.

  • Ugh, but there’s all those little symbols to figure out
  • Most catalogs and gardening books are organized alphabetically
  • Oh, and what about all those botanical flower names?

Even with my 30+ years of gardening experience and the fact that I’m a Master Gardener, I still do not know the botanical names of flowers. I suspect that most flower gardeners probably don’t either. 

If you search for flower garden plans for your zone, the search will probably yield all kinds of beautiful garden plans and drawings. Or, maybe you’ve seen 3-season flower gardening plans in plant catalogs and gardening magazines. Notice the plan depictions are full of color, they look amazing and yes you want your flower garden to look like that. BUT wait, those color drawings are not a feasible depiction of a 3-season flower garden. Why, because most of the plants in the color drawings don’t bloom at the same time. How deceiving!

Why Design with Perennials for 3 Seasons of Bloom

I wanted to be able to sit down with a list of perennial flowers and graph paper and sketch out a 3-Season Perennial Garden. 

Honestly, I really don’t even know if what I want exists… that is until now! I am not a professional landscape designer, but I’ve taken what I’ve learned from taking classes and reading, plus my 30+ years of perennial gardening experience to put together this Guide.

This Guide & Workbook – Designing with Perennials for 3 Seasons of Blooms is exactly what I’ve wanted for so long, and I’m so happy to now be able to offer it to fellow gardeners like you as well.

What is Designing with Perennials for 3 Seasons of Blooms?

Designing with Perennials for 3 Seasons of Blooms is a 67-page, printable PDF Guide & Workbook to help you create a successful perennial garden with a succession of continuous blooms from early spring through fall.

4 Images of a flower garden - one showing spring blooms, one showing early-mid summer blooms, one showing mid-late summer blooms and fall blooms.

Who is This Guide For – Can This Guide Help Me?

  • Flower garden novices, or experienced gardeners that need some direction.
  • You’re a Seasoned Gardener, but perhaps you’re stuck in a rut and need some help in creating a flower garden that has a good mix of blooms for 3 seasons.
  • Perhaps you’re a flower addict and you just stick plants into any available space with no thought of design or bloom time whatsoever and you would like to change that.
  • Maybe you have a hard time envisioning what you want your flower garden to look like.
  • Or, you want to create a well-designed perennial garden and you have no idea where to start. 
  • You either inherited or created a mess of a flower bed and it needs a major overhaul.

Does it Matter What Gardening Zone I’m In?

No, it doesn’t matter what gardening zone or climate you garden in. The guide will teach you how to select plants for your new perennial garden.

Is this Guide for Sun or Shade Gardens?

Both. The guide teaches you the principles and how to make plant selections for your gardening situation.

What is Included in this Guide / Workbook?

  • Basic design principles for a flower garden bed.
  • We’ll discuss using different colors, combinations of plants, the bloom period of a plant, and the different characteristics of a plant to create a cohesive and visually appealing garden for your entire gardening season.
  • Flower Garden Design – walks you through the steps for designing your garden on paper, shopping for plants at your local garden center and executing your plan in the garden.
  • We will discuss different garden sizes, as well as different types of gardens, like perennial borders, island beds, foundation plantings, a front yard flower garden, etc. 
  • Worksheets and graphs to help you put your design plans on paper, along with a few sample perennial garden plans to give you an idea of where to start.
  • The Plant Lists – this is where this Guide becomes a cut above! Lists of over 90 Perennial Plants categorized by bloom times, sun requirements (including plants that require full sun to plants that like full shade), USDA hardiness zone, deer resistant, rabbit resistant, cutting flowers and pollinator-friendly with no symbols to figure out. The perennial lists give you a wide choice of different plants with which to create your design plan.

Most of all, easy-to-follow actionable steps to help you create your own 3-Season flower gardens full of continuous beautiful blooms.

Plus, lots of tips and tricks for creating your 3-Season perennial garden designs and additional helpful gardening resources.

Sample pages from a workbook and guide called Designing with Perennials for 3 Seasons of Blooms

This is just a taste of what is included in the guide: 

Start with plants that bloom early in the spring, spring bulbs such as crocuses, daffodils, tulips and many more. These plants will provide a burst of color as the weather warms up and signals the start of the growing season.

Choose plants that will bloom in mid-spring and early summer, such as irises, peonies, and salvia, to name a few. These plants create excitement in the gardens and let us know summer is here. 

Select plants that will bloom in mid to late summer, such as black-eyed susan, purple coneflower, daylilies and many, many more summer flowers. These plants will provide color and interest during the peak of the growing season.

Choose individual plants that will bloom in late summer and fall, such as russian sage, asters, mums, and goldenrod. These plants will help to extend the growing season and provide color as the weather starts to cool.

Take your flower garden to the next level by adding plants like ornamental grasses and small shrubs to create winter interest too.

Can you imagine a colorful garden like this with a good dose of visual impact, and possibly even the prettiest garden in your neighborhood?

Overall, designing a 3 season perennial garden requires careful planning, patience, and a bit of creativity. With the right selection of plants and features, you can create a beautiful and vibrant garden with tons of visual interest that will bloom throughout your gardening season.

How Much is Designing with Perennial Flowers for 3 Seasons of Blooms?

Designing with Perennials for 3 Seasons of Blooms is available for $15 (US). 

The Guide is available in a downloadable PDF format. You can either print the 67 page booklet, or you can have the Guide printed at a retail store like Office Depot or Kinko’s. I’ve tried to be very conservative with the color in the Guide so that it isn’t an ink hog.

I don’t recommend purchasing the guide with the intent of reading it on your phone, or tablet. It really is designed to be a printable workbook. This is NOT a hardcopy book and nothing will be mailed to you.

How Can I Get My Copy – How Does This Work

  • Simply click: Yes, I want Designing with Perennials for Three Seasons of Blooms
  • You will immediately be taken to SendOwl, a secure website that houses our digital products.
  • Click the little box that says “Subscribe to product update email” so any time the Guide is updated you will be able to download your free updated copy.
  • Next, click the button that says “Pay $15.00”
  • You will be redirected to PayPal where you can pay with your PayPal account, or you can simply enter your credit or debit card information using a secure network if you don’t have a PayPal account. Stripe is also available as a payment option.
  • You will receive a confirmation email and a link where you can download your Guide.

Don’t let another season pass you by wondering if you too can create a lovely 3-season perennial bed! Get started today making your long-blooming garden plans and carrying out those plans to create the garden of your dreams. If you still have questions or need additional information, please feel free to email me: [email protected]

Enjoy,
Joanna

Pinnable Images to Save:

Image of a flower garden with text overlay - How to Design a Perennial Flower Garden that Blooms from Early Spring right through Fall

 

Image of a flower garden book with text overlay - How to Design a Perennial Flower Garden that Blooms from Early Spring right through Fall