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Most gardens that you come across are created as a result of a combination of accident & necessity. They evolve through the influence of several custodians, each adding their own tastes or influences often in complete disregard of what has gone before. Although this is often most obvious in the hard landscaping the real tragedy for me most often lies in the planting structure. Planting design is a complex & absorbing subject that is so varied that it is impossible for anyone to be considered a complete expert. Some horticulturists are obsessed with groups like Bamboos or Hellebores & know all there is about their subject, others are proficient in the combination of colour & seasonality, but it is not too difficult to produce striking planting schemes in your back garden without studying for years.
There are many books that will tell you at great length about enclosure & exposure or texture & form in planting, but to escape a huge amount of reading the following salient points should help you when you are planting this autumn.
1. Try not to buy one plant on a whim & come home looking for a space to shoehorn it into. The accidental part of planting design is caused by an impulsive purchase or the receiving of a surprise horticultural present. When buying look for ‘killer combinations’, especially in herbaceous plants. These are selections of plants that always look good together, whether it is texturally (maybe one’s leaves are a smaller version of the other), seasonally (one takes over flowering when the other starts to fade), or stylistically (one plant plays the support role as the other takes the spotlight).
2. Avoid buying & planting just one specimen of your chosen addition. Planting combinations tend to work because of either a mass of complementary colours or textures, or many examples of one plant with spot highlight of one or two ‘stars’ that create the desired effect. Planting in fives or threes is a good idea, partially to enhance the survivability of your scheme (a lone plant may wither away), to stop you planting in rows & to give a mature effect without buying larger specimens that are more likely to turn their toes up when transplanted.
3. Ensure that your plants are compatible when mature. It is all too common that a plant combination that looks fine in the first two years of its existence can become lopsided when the plants have grown on. If your combinations are annuals then this tends not to be a problem but always note the height & spread of any plant to see if it is compatible with its planting partners. Bear in mind that any planting combination can consist of differing layers, with flower & leaf providing interest at different levels throughout the season. A mass of Vinca (Periwinkle) can form a dense horizontal carpet with early flower colour, with a tall partner plant such as Cordyline australis striking a strongly vertical architectural shape above.
4. Bear in mind what I have said before about the impact of colour. It stands to reason the a bright pink Phlox & a vivid orange Crocosmia don’t make for an ideal summer palette, but planning with seasonal colour enables you to avoid these clashes. You can, for example, start with fresh yellows & greens in spring turning to cooling blues & purples in the heat of summer that blend into warm autumn hues without a colour clash in sight.
5. Don’t plant too many ‘stars’. These are plants that really have a spectacular moment in their growing cycle. Although it would be incredible to mass plant Eremerus (9ft foxtail lilies) as a single species (& no doubt it has been done) to plant this stunning plant in with many others doing equally breathtaking horticultural pyrotechnics at the same time negates its best features. A ‘star’ plant is best combined with a star that has its’ moment in a different season or surrounded by support plants. These are plants that have no real moment of splendour but provide a consistent texture throughout the year. Good support plants include hedging like privet or laurel, or ground cover such as ivy, Stachys byzantina or Pulmonaria.
To save you working out your plant combinations from scratch many famous gardeners give you the benefit of hundreds of tried & tested examples in their books. Check out the real innovators in planting design such as Great Dixters’ Christopher Lloyd, the Dutch designer Piet Oudolf, & the TV plantswoman Carol Klein. Another method of gathering inspiration is visiting the great gardens on a regular basis. This enables you to see how combinations develop throughout the year, & what sort of management they require.
Designing successfully with plants is the same as any other design process, know your ‘material’, its’ strengths & frailties, & don’t be scared of experimenting, because sometimes the most successful plantings come from the most unusual combinations. |
