The form and disposition of the beds is one of the picturesque elements of creating a garden. Their position generally determines their form, and aspect decides their position. The term “bed” is used to distinguish a detached compartment for flower growing. Beds are most often formed in turf. Sometimes, however, they are given a background of gravel, particularly when a formal effect is desired.

A flower bed in the foreground with a wall fountain in the background usually produces a nice effect.

Whatever the background, the form of bed, as regards its outline, is important, and it is essential that you should not outrage good taste by indulging in anything of eccentric character. There are disadvantages from a practical standpoint of using such shapes as crescents, stars, and other figures having acute angles.

Even if the practical objections do not count, these shapes are not desirable because of their obvious artificiality. The outlines by which you bound your flower beds should not be of a character to fix the eye and divert our attention from the flowers.

Another objection to these bizarre shapes is the great aggregate length of their boundaries in comparison with the space they enclose. This disproportion means that you need to take more care and have more work to keep the actual length of edging trimmed – much more than is necessary, especially when you have numbers of beds of this nature.

To take a concrete case, the boundary length of a five-pointed star, as shown in the illustration, compares with that of a circle of the same diameter as five to three. A circle, it is well known, encloses the largest amount of space in relation to its circumference, and is therefore the figure which has the smallest length of boundary. The octagon, hexagon, and pentagon come next in economy of boundary, and the square and rectangle follow.

If, as the gardener you go beyond these simple shapes you will have too much edging. This does not mean that you do need to confine yourself to these shapes only. You must have variety
in form and scope for fancy. It is well, however, to know about the consequences of indulging in sprawling and attenuated forms, which are prodigal of margin, but enclose comparatively little flower space.

Of the forms of bed in general use, and admissible on practical and artistic grounds, here are some examples, omitting the circle, square, and rectangle as sufficiently indicated by their names.

It is obvious that some of these are suitable only as components of a group, by reason of their unsymmetrical character.

Beds are placed either singly or in groups. In the former case it is well to select a shape that bears some relation to the outlines of the grass on which it is placed, if it comes sufficiently near those outlines for it to matter.

A square bed set in an oval grass plot would not harmonize very well with its outline as a circular or oval bed, in connection with groups of beds. So in a square or rectangular plot of limited dimensions a square or rectangular bed would best please the eye.