Reduce maintenance and increase year-round interest by strategically packing plants together
While take the air along a forest path today , I stepped over Douglas fir cones ( Pseudotsuga menziesii , Zones 4–7 ) all around the base of a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree — a sure star sign in the Pacific Northwest that fall is here . All around our region , plant and fauna are getting ready for the dormant season . decently now , my planting beds are hanging on and are still full and lush . autumn pursuit plants are coming into their own , and structured plant life are part to gain notice again after a colorful , riotous summertime .
When I implant in my garden beds , I have one overthrow mantra : stuff it . I ’m always guess about coloring material , grain , seasonality , and size , but a grownup thing with me is maintenance . Looking around at successful , beautiful gardens , I mark that thick plantings are a reoccurring trait . There ’s not a destiny of browned dirt or mulch display . Garden design is about layers and focal points , but it is also about the filth . assailable areas of the ground are obligate to get weeds in them . Unplanted grime can also be lost to erosion . Fully packed grease can actually rise plant rather of weeds . The solution is stuff — or planting densely .
The blueprints of dense planting schemes
This collector’s garden features unusual plants with rotating seasons of interest
Top layer
Middle bed
Bottom layer
This last layer can be made up of your special sake plants such as orchids , natural spring bulb , late - blossom plants like ‘ Ice Storm ’ dauntless impatiens , or just plain weird selections likeTricytris . These should be right where you’re able to see them , along with shed plants to cover the area where they are found when these exceptional pastime plant life go hibernating . I care to use Blue Sunrise ® geranium and ‘ Blackberry Wine ’ corydalis as spillers to cover the bare ground when spring - bungle are dormant .
These formal garden designs incorporate masses of just a few plants for a chic, structured look
More officially styled plantings with mess of one plant and borders of other plants can also avail to lose weight weeds . The competition from mass planting of hydrangeas plant at the downhearted conclusion of their recommend spacing ( i.e. , planted at 3 foot aside instead of 6 feet ) will keep pot out . Yes , some pruning may be postulate after a few eld , but that is better than weeding every few week . The middle layer can be ‘ Eden ’s Twinkle ’ astilbe or a depleted azalea such a ‘ White Nobility ’ . Add a border of evergreen plant Taiwan mondo grass and this slow , schematic garden is ready to go to work create maintenance gentle .
Another courtly planting centers giant feather smoke , which is surrounded by English box and ‘ Elfin ’ creeping thyme .
A full-sun, centrally located garden must have year-round color and blooms
This planting , which incorporates an agapanthus collection , include the late - blooming ‘ Graskop ’ agapanthus , has stuffed beds with deal of action throughout the year . Evergreen ( or ever - gray ) colour from ‘ Hidcote ’ English lavender and unmarried man ’s buttons sum up to the class - round stake .
Dense plantings add room for more perennials and dispense with the need for annuals
The added reward of stuffing your garden beds is bring blank space to grow more plants . That is always a end for me . There is no indigence for annual to fill in the gaps with these designs , and gardens look interesting enough without them . outpouring look one way , then plants change and summer await dissimilar . Take a spirit around at well - designed and maintained gardens . You will notice this planting style over and over again .
Think about lug your garden . you could part plant you have in the garden in autumn and move them around , bring bulbs into demonstrate beds where there is give dormancy or fall bare spot , and shop sales agreement tabular array at a local nursery . on-line ordering is one of my favorite ways to purchase flora during the winter or when going to the baby’s room is not potential .
— Susan Calhoun is the proprietor of Plantswoman Design in Bainbridge Island , Washington .
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This shady bed features many different textures and shades of green from plants such as ‘Soft Caress’ mahonia and ‘Stained Glass’ hosta.Photo: Susan Calhoun
Rare, unusual, and special interest plants should be placed prominently in the design.Photo: Susan Calhoun
Blue Sunrise®geranium creeps through Chilean hard fern (Parablechnum cordatamsyn.Blechnum chilense, Zones 7–9) and alpine water fern (Blechum penna-marina, Zones 6–9), covering dormant spring-bloomers.Photo: Susan Calhoun
The light, bright colors of Quick Fire®panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata‘Bulk’, Zones 3–8), a white-flowered astilbe, and Taiwan mondo grass complement each other for a formal mass planting.Photos: Diana Koehm (left), Michele Christiano (center), Brandi Spade (right)
Giant feather grass centers this formal planting. It’s surrounded by English boxwood and ‘Elfin’ creeping thyme.Photo: Susan Calhoun
Your full-sun gardens should have long-blooming plants that are reliable performers.Photo: Susan Calhoun
