In the world of design elements, color is king, and the rest are courtiers. This is unfortunate, because to my mind texture is a far more sophisticated prospect, and maybe the one I like to play with most. But have you ever just wanted to rip it all out and start over again? I have, and this is in part because I’m a bit of of a texture-mixing junkie. I may have a bit of a problem.
Here’s the sitch. I’m a sucker for fine texture, mostly leaves, whether it’s grasses, pines, or Amsonia hubrichtii. Alone, it feels peaceful. It’s restful to my eye. Mixed with others, fine-textured elements like grasses make medium-textured elements pop, when they might otherwise fade into the tableau. With bold textures, the simplicity of contrast can be simply spectacular. I know I’ve posted it before, but I like that rhododendron up there 100% more with grasses.
I grow a lot of plants in a relatively small space, for a lot of reasons-I’m a collector, sure, but I like to grow plants so I can speak from experience when I talk about them, and I like to find ways to make them look amazing with their bedfellows. I do believe it’s possible to mix a lot of different plants well in small space, especially by grouping similar textures together (see photo of Phlomis and Rudbeckia at bottom). Some days, though, I long for the simplicity, restfulness, and modernity of simple texture groupings like the one above: Pennisetum with pine, from a hotel where we stayed. Okay, it’s a terrible photo that doesn’t capture how sublime this simple pairing was, but how about the natural tableau at left, a palmetto swamp in the South. Fine-textured foliage above, bold below. The irony is, the longer I garden on this site, the stronger my desire for this kind of simplicity.
Here’s the thing: there’s a whole section of my backyard that’s completely untouched. I have LOTS of plants packed into the front, and this backyard space is equal to the size of my existing garden.
I’ve thought a lot lately about how gardens must evolve to fit the changing needs of our lives, interests, experience, and ability to maintain them. My strategy for evolving my garden as I (and it) grow older is to spread out the plants I have into that space, and simplify the texture scheme with larger blocks of fewer plants.
Simplicity, AND still with lots of different kinds of plants… Will I really be able to have it all?
Only time will tell.
Check out what other GDRTers are saying about texture!
Thomas Rainer : Grounded Design : Washington, D.C.
Rebecca Sweet : Gossip In The Garden : Los Altos, CA
Pam Penick : Digging : Austin, TX
Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK
Douglas Owens-Pike : Energyscapes : Minneapolis, MN
Deborah Silver : Dirt Simple : Detroit, MI
David Cristiani : The Desert Edge : Albuquerque, NM
Christina Salwitz : Personal Garden Coach : Renton, WA
Rochelle Greayer : studio “g” : Boston, MA
You love fine texture, and I love bold. But as you point out, both look better for being paired with each other, esp. in large swaths. I like your strategy for expanding your garden with plants you already have, and more of them.
And Pam, re: bold texture, don’t you LOVE that photo of the palmetto swamp?! Would that I could just grow a palmetto swamp, I think I might be happy. (Probably not, but what if?)
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I grew up visiting the Long Leaf Pine/Palmetto forests in the South. It’s one of the most stunning landscapes I’ve ever experienced.
I totally sympathize with wanting it ALL and wanting simplicity. Not somethign I do too well in my own garden.
I know those longleaf/palmetto forests, and I am OBSESSED with them, I tell you. OBSESSED! Sigh. Speaking of, I’m trying longleaf pine here. Lots of reports they’re hardy to Z6, so we’ll see. I worry more about snow breakage when they get big than snow piled on top of them now, when they’re small.
They’re awesome as seedlings. They look like some Dr. Seuss character. Let me know how your zone experiment works. I bet it will.
[...] Andrew Keys : Garden Smackdown : Boston, MA [...]
[...] Andrew Keys : Garden Smackdown : Boston, MA [...]
[...] Andrew Keys : Garden Smackdown : Boston, MA [...]
[...] Andrew Keys : Garden Smackdown : Boston, MA [...]
I just love your writing voice Andrew- I get it! Aren’t we all ever evolving in our design styles? I KNOW I am! I just had my whole back yard ripped out and re-done. When I finish paying for it, a loooong time from now, I will start on the front. ;-)
Thanks, Christina!
I’m with you re: fine textures. I’ve come to realize that just about anything looks better with a grass planted near it. A favorite of mine is landscape roses with silvery fescue at their feet, or maybe carex divulsa. Love them!
Dear Andrew, I have used small wispy grasses, and euphorbia Diamond Frost in containers this year-lots of them. Who knows what inspired that, but I do love the look. It’s amazing how drastically a composition can be altered with the addition of one small element. It’s also very interesting how a garden changes over time, as people change. Love your enthusiasm for that! Deborah
Simple and lots of different plants…not sure, but maybe that’s the beauty of designing gardens - the sum of many simple gardens, each with different plants, might be one way? I struggle with the same.
The effect of that palmetto groundcover is amazing, with scale of the trunks and distance. Coarse and green, yet spiky…perfect model!
I hear you - simplicity has a VERY strong appeal, and when the quantity of plant species is reduced, the visual impact of the chosen few must be perfecto!