Spring

• Old-fashioned spring gardens tend to have a mixture of perennials, bulbs and annuals. Many of these perennials and bulbs may need to be planted in the late fall or very early spring, so planning your old-fashioned garden may take some forethought. Sow seeds as soon as the threat of frost has past. From tiny violets and pansies to irises, peonies, primrose, daffodils, tulips, anemones, bleeding hearts, poppies, delphiniums, roses, almost anything that strikes your fancy can be added to you old-fashioned spring garden. Plant your flowers in a random, informal manner. The main requirement of any old-fashioned garden is to arrange the flowers according to their blooming height--taller in the back, progressing to the shorter plants and groundcovers in the front. Stagger planting times to extend the blooming period.
  
  

Summer

• Old-fashioned summer gardens are generally filled with annuals, either planted from seed after the last frost, or from small plants. As with old-fashioned spring gardens, taller flowering plants should be planted in the back, or center for circular beds, and the height should be shorter at the front.
  Snapdragons, poppies, bachelor buttons, cosmos, pansies, daisies, sweet-smelling stock and hydrangeas are a few popular flowers for an old-fashioned summer garden. Consider planting a few herbs in among the flowers, like lavender, rosemary, basil or parsley. You can also grow vegetables in an old-fashioned garden. A zucchini plant will add lots of green, leafy filler. Pepper plants and tomato plants also do well.
  
  

Fall

• Many of your old-fashioned plants that flower in the summer will carry over into fall, particularly if you continue to clip the spent flower heads off the plants. Or, you can reseed and plant new seedlings mid-summer to produce blooms in the fall. Favorite old-fashioned blooms for fall include nasturtiums, chrysanthemums, lilies, dahlias and zinnias.
  
  

Container Ideas

• Create the feel of an old-fashioned garden with containers by planting a mixture of plants within a single, medium-to-large pot, barrel or window box. You can also cluster several planted pots together; vary the height of the pots with bricks or inverted flower pots for a spectacular display. More care will be needed to keep an old-fashioned container garden fresh. Water and fertilize regularly, and never allow the soil to become dried out in the heat of the summer.