Keep these tips in mind How many plants do you need?

GCSAA seminar offers advice Dean Bemis of Rough Designs and commercial landscape consultant Larry J. Houser will present the seminar "Problems and Solutions: Using Annuals and Perennials in the Golfscape" at GCSAA's 70th International Golf Course Conference and Show Feb. 8-14 in Orlando, Fla. Visit the Conference and Show section of this site for more details.

A step-by-step flower bed planning guide can help every superintendent --
particularly those on shoestring budgets.

Mike Perrault

Few landscape master plans offer detailed descriptions of flower beds.

"Usually there's little more than an amoeba-shaped blob of maybe 3 or 4 inches around that says 'annuals' or 'perennials,'" explains horticulturist Dean Bemis, who has helped superintendents design and plant flower beds in the Chicago area for 12 years through his St. Charles, Ill.-based company Rough Designs. "In other words, you can't just unroll a plan and start measuring 2 feet to the inch and figure out what you've got. You have to innovate."

Master plans serve as excellent general guides to point course managers in the right direction to determine how flower beds fit into the overall landscape picture and how they can be sensitively incorporated into the golf course. But superintendents need to put on their thinking caps to plan attractive, eye-catching flower beds -- or hire a horticulturist or consultant to do it for them. These days, however, horticulturists are often in short supply. Michigan State University officials say there are approximately eight jobs awaiting every horticulture graduate, and few choose the golf industry.

Simple designs splash color across Rolling Green CC in Arlington Heights, Ill., where eight-year member Lawrence Chirico is superintendent.

That means you may want to take advantage of these fall and winter months to plan your own flower beds. Bemis suggests some simple steps superintendents can take to design and plant their own colorful beds.

Take pictures, make copies
As fall starts to wind down and your flower beds begin to look empty, load your camera with black-and-white film, go outside and take photographs of each bed. Bemis recommends purchasing 8x10 prints (even though they're a little more expensive) because they're much easier to work with.

Use your own lettering or numbering system to identify each bed on the backs of the photographs. Bemis advises superintendents to always start in the same place every time they go out on the course to number or letter flower beds. "If you start on the north side of the clubhouse, work your way in a logical loop all the way around," he says.

Randall Oaks GC in West Dundee, Ill., where 15-year GCSAA member Michael Sprouse is superintendent, is an example of a sensible planting approach that incorporates only a couple of varieties of plants.

Once you've lettered or numbered each photograph, take them to a copy shop and have 10 copies made of each print. Those 10 copies will serve as worksheets for sketching out flower bed designs. Use colored pencils and pens to illustrate texture and color representations of the flowers you envision. Put the photographs in protective plastic sleeves (available at any office supply store), and put everything in a notebook.

Measure beds, articulate plans
On each sketch, include such details as the size and shape of the flower bed, borders, heights, color themes and varieties of plants. Start by measuring flower beds to determine square footage as well as the number of plants you'll need.

"Go out and actually pace out the bed and put down how big it is," Bemis says. "I figure on about 3 feet with my pace. You want to note it two ways. You want to walk around the bed so you get the circumference, because these are irregular shapes. Then you want to try and estimate the square feet by pacing on a right angle."

Horticulturist Michelle Michol helped design a "Walk of Fame" using flowers at Oakland Hills CC in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Once you've determined the amount of square feet in a flower bed, you can calculate how many plants will be needed based on spacing requirements of the particular plants. It takes a few simple math calculations (see accompanying chart).

As you begin visualizing and sketching flower beds, keep in mind that simple designs are almost always more effective. Superintendents, more than anyone, should know that an elaborate design might not be easy or feasible for crews to plant and maintain.

"You can put an Aztec Indian stencil through a bed, but are you going to get five guys on the crew to plant it the right way?" Bemis asks. "I doubt it. You don't want to overdesign. The old saying, 'less is more' never holds truer than with garden design."

Keeping designs simple also means limiting the number of varieties of plants, he adds. "Don't have a thousand varieties in your plan, with two plants of each," he explains. "What you want is a thousand plants of two varieties. In fact, I hate seeing a bed that's 5 feet by 30 feet that has 12 different varieties in it, all different heights. You know, it has geraniums, begonias, some impatiens, salvia, marigolds. You look down there and it looks like a dog's breakfast."

Selecting plants and locations
When considering whether to plant perennials or annuals, remember that perennials have shorter periods of bloom, need weeding and periodic division and typically require more foresight to design a continuous succession of bloom. Annuals bloom from spring through frost, but must be replanted every year.

Other considerations include:

Climatic conditions: Select flowers that are right for the sun, partial shade, wet or cold conditions.

Plant locations: Consider the positions from which plantings will be seen by golfers. Putting a flower bed on a berm, for example, can make the display stand out.

Maintenance: Factor in how the flower bed will be maintained. For example, think about a mower's turning radius. Also consider watering concerns, as well as potential problems with insects and disease.

Continuity: Consider a theme to be used across the course.

"For most places, really, if you use a broad brush and do a nice border with a good, contrasting color that's taller in the middle, you make a nice-looking bed," Bemis says. "If you match it up with several beds around it, then you've really got some impact."

The objective of early flower bed planning is to end up with sketches that include outlines and details about the flowers, and notes on the common elements such as accents, borders and color themes. Then it's time to plan a trip to your local greenhouse or nursery.

Sit down with the nursery consultant and discuss your plans. "Ask him to grow the stuff for you. Offer him a 20 percent deposit, because it's all coming out of your budget anyway," Bemis says. "Then he'll probably fall all over himself, and he'll grow the material for you in the containers you want."

Mike Perrault is staff writer for GCM.