Thanks for your interest in my post about informal flower beds. Flower beds with letters are more of a formal style of flower bed. I have several suggestions for you for a formal flower bed like you mentioned.

My first suggestion would be to select one flower, all the same color, for the letters and a second flower, all the same color, for the background. When you plant the flowers, place the letters first, but make sure to place the flowers in rows. Then fill in the empty space with the background flower.

My second suggestion would be to stick with two colors, but use many different types of flowers (several red flowers and several white flowers). Then you can follow the same principles mentioned in the information on informal flower bed design basics to place the flowers as letters or in the background.

My last suggestion would be to follow the design philosophy that places like Disneyland use, that is to pick one color for the letters and then do a complimentary mix for the flowers in the background and follow the design principles mentioned in the informal flower bed design basics podcast. You can use a mix of flowers and colors for the background, but if you use white or a pastel for the letters, then I would use more dark and solid colors for the background, or vice versa.

The last thing I would mention is that, since you want the letters to be legible all year, I would recommend using annuals instead of perennials for your flower bed. You can plant bulbs and pansies in the fall and summer annuals in about May, depending on where you are located and when the summer annuals are available.

I hope that helps, Kathy, and be sure to send me pictures when you are through and visit back often!

Jeremy Lott