10 Flower Border Ideas and Designs
Updated: Jun. 23, 2022These playful colors, sophisticated greens and pleasing textures make gorgeous designs with eye-catching flower borders.
Striped Flower Border
You don’t have to be a landscaping professional to add a flower border to your yard. However, there is one lesson from the pros you’ll definitely want to heed:Â plan out your design. That will help you get your flower borders right where you want them and make decisions ahead of time about what to plant.
Here’s an example of how planning can really pay off. This house alternates between red and white flowers to create an attractive striped pattern. It’s far more eye-catching than a plain red flower border, so this house has plenty of curb appeal without many other landscaping features.
Simple Impatiens Flower Border
This modest flower border provides rich color to a yard with minimal effort. It’s perfect for gardeners who have a small, shady space and prefer an understated, classic look. A mix of red and orange impatiens creates subtle depth, and the staggered planting style makes an elegant scalloped edge.
Mix Colors and Textures
Low-growing flowers are popular border choices, but you can also go big and bold. This flower border idea mixes colors, textures and heights for a playful display. Purple, red, pink, yellow and plenty of lush greens. Just look at those huge canna lilies! The hummingbirds will love them.
White and Pink Flower Border
White and pink flowers complement each other like peanut butter and jelly, and they pop against a lush green lawn. Evergreen shrubs break up this brilliant sea of pink. The scattered green accents tie the whole look together.
Purple Edging
Edging is one way gardeners can show their creativity. Edging is often done with brick or stone, but this flower border uses vibrant purple flowers instead. It runs around both edges to form a flashy outline. The middle is filled with petunias and other colorful blooms.
Green and Modern
This border has a few tall purple flowers, but the focus is on shades of green. The two borders incorporate shrubs, succulents, cactus and ornamental grass. The trendy combination matches the modern architecture style of the house.
Hosta Border
There are many varieties of hostas with different shades of leaves. Some are blue-green, some are almost yellow and some have striking variegation. Even the flowers come in different hues. Hostas are low maintenance, yet they give a landscape much-needed interest and texture.
Incorporate Lighting
Landscape lighting can be purely decorative, such as highlighting a fountain, or it can be functional. Path lights give you decoration and functionality. Nestle them in a flower border by the edge of the driveway, sidewalk or yard to help you see where to walk when the sun goes down. This yard pairs traditional path lights with summery red, white and blue flowers.
Layer Flowers and Ornamental Grasses
Layered rows are some of the most impactful flower border ideas, offering a tidy appearance and tons of personality. The layers could form an ombre effect or give attention-grabbing contrast. The box hedging and ornamental grasses in this flower border neatly frame cheerful daffodils. When the daffodils fade, fill in the gap with your favorite summer-blooming annuals.
Border Both Sides of a Fence
A fence is a must for people who have dogs or want privacy. A front fence, however, can block the view of your landscaping.
This fence has a flower border on both sides to boost curb appeal. Alternating tufts of purple and green line the sidewalk, while pink flowers peek out through the fence gaps. The flowering bushes add an additional layer of privacy. Passersby can’t see the house, but they’ll still enjoy the view.
