Choosing Plants for Romance and Beauty
A romantic garden doesn’t have to just be about love and relationship status. It can also be about celebrating natural beauty. The choice of plants for romance and an intimate feel is important. While all plants are beautiful, consider those that work well together to create a harmony of colors and textures. Also important are plants that are naturalistic, think more along the lines of English cottage garden versus French formal. Pretty scents will add to the romance of a garden, so consider the smell of the blooms as you choose flowers for love.
Choosing Flowers for a Romantic Garden
While all types of plants can be lovely and contribute to the passionate atmosphere of your garden, flowers are the ultimate in romance. You want flowers that smell nice, are soft and lush, have a romantic meaning or symbolism, and fill in the spaces just right. Here are some classic flowers for a lovely romantic garden:
Roses: Few flowers are as steeped in romance as roses, especially red roses. For a romantic garden, choose a soft pink variety and let them grow naturally instead of pruning into tight shrubs.
Peonies: Peonies are tough perennials and easy to grow, but their big blooms are soft, romantic, and smell delicious.
Bleeding heart: The bleeding-heart shrub literally grows heart-shaped little flowers that are perfect for a romantic garden.
Forget-me-not: This pretty ground cover is not just romantic for its lovely, delicate blue flowers, but also for its legend. A German knight supposedly drowned while picking these flowers for his love, and his last words to her were “forget me not.”
Love-lies-bleeding: For a deep red and striking flower, try love-lies-bleeding. It grows up to five feet (1.5 meters) tall and is topped by red tassels. The foliage turns blood red in fall.
Love-in-a-mist: For a romantic annual, love-in-a-mist is a delicate flower that comes in pastel shades of lavender and pink. The name refers to the wispy foliage. These plants stand upright but also sprawl and create a flowing, romantic look perfect for containers and edges.
