Picture Idea 4 you: perennials

Showing posts with label perennials. Show all posts

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Beyond the Border How to Use Perennials and Grasses in Landscape Settings

Of all the plants I frequently obsess about, herbaceous perennials and grasses are perhaps my favorite. Of all the plant categories, they are the most ephemeral, dynamic plants. One can mark the seasons with these plants; they are harbingers of change. And as a designer, perennials and grasses are the most expressive plants within my palette. Rich layers of bold perennial massings can express a site in powerful ways.

The British border

When it comes to designing with perennials and grasses, however, we have a limited language for their use. The perennial border—an intricately arranged, delicate frame of flowers—is really the only concept we have for their use. And while borders can be beautiful, they have limitations. They are generally high maintenance, fussy, and require a high degree of horticultural knowledge. As a result, American gardeners and landscapers are often hesitant to use perennials and grasses because we associate them with British-styled borders. But it does not have to be this way.

Let me propose an alternative. Instead of limiting our landscapes to two distinctly British genres (the manor lawn and the perennial border), let us take the border and explode it out of its box. Let’s blanket our landscapes in bold massings of perennials and grasses. Let’s convert our wall-to-wall carpeting lawns into well-proportioned area rugs surrounded by perennials and grasses. Let’s drape office parks and civic landscapes in vibrant tapestries of flowers, ferns, and sedges.

The American landscape—from the great forests of the East Coast, the iconic prairies of the midland, and the mountains, deserts, and forests of the West—should be ample inspiration for a new, distinctly American garden aesthetic. Like the American landscape, let us use no small gestures. Let us draw on our country’s rich native palette and patterns and distill them into artful, garden spaces. The New Style will not merely imitate our natural landscapes, but interpret them into uniquely modern, human landscapes.

Over an acre of herbaceous plantings added in the right of way in
downtown D.C. Designed for NOMA BID by Thomas Rainer, Derrick
Wolbaum, & Elliot Rhodeside, Rhodeside & Harwell.

Ok, Thomas, enough with the manifesto. Is it really practical to use herbaceous plants on such a scale? Won’t planting huge swaths of perennials and grasses require an enormous effort of weeding, watering, and gardening?

The short answer is yes in the short term, but in the long term, this style of planting can be very low maintenance—even less maintenance than lawn and shrubs. The key to successfully planting large scale perennials and grasses is to combine good plant selection with smart massing.

In the next couple of posts, I’ll get into the nitty-gritty of how to select perennials and grasses for landscape settings. What types of perennials and grasses are best for larger massings? How do you arrange them in a way to minimize their maintenance? How do you make these landscapes full, beautiful, and lasting?

Stay tuned . . . I’m giving away all the secrets . . .

Monday, March 3, 2014

Thinking Spring Color in the Garden Part III Perennials

The rains are coming down in the northeast and the daylilies are poking their heads up through the soil so it is time to talk about perennials.

When it comes to combining perennials, colors from opposite sides of the color wheel combine the best. My favorite combination is that of purple and yellow. The cool color of purple ‘Maynight ‘ Salvia or blue Nepeta ‘Walkers Low’ combine beautifully with the warm yellows of Coreopsis ‘Zagreb’ and Daylilly ‘Stella D’Oro’and also go along with the yellow-orange color of Gaillardia Goblin. Combine purples and yellows along with the deep maroon color of Barberry ‘Royal Burgundy” and you have an array of color which one cannot resist.

Salvia Maynight

Another favorite is heuchera or ‘Coral Bells’ which is known for its deep burgundy foliage throughout the season and dainty white flowers in Spring which closely resemble baby’s breath. There are many varieties of heuchera but the one which I find to be most hardy in the Northeast is Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ which tends to hold up better here with our severe winters. Heuchera goes beautifully along with coreopsis, salvia and nepeta as well as with grasses.

Coreopsis Zagreb

Another suggestion for combining perennials with grasses would be the combination of Sedum ‘Brilliant’ with dwarf fountain grass, coreopsis and perhaps a weeping evergreen as a focal point. As far as sedum is concerned, there are also many varieties but I prefer the ‘Brilliant’ for its more vibrant pinkish color and shorter stature as compared to ‘Autumn Joy’-but it’s a matter of opinion. The ‘Autumn Joy’ or even the Spurium ‘Rose Glow’ would also complement grasses nicely in the garden.

Hosta Patriot

If you prefer the woodland look or have shady conditions then the ole reliable hosta comes to mind. There are so many varieties of Hosta to choose from and it is virtually indestructible. Also if you separate them with a sharp spade in early spring they will re-grow quickly to form a perfectly circular shape as if they were never touched. One of my favorite varieties of hosta is ‘Patriot’. It’s deep green foliage edged with a creamy white border makes it a welcome guest to brighten up even the darkest of shade gardens. It does very well here in the Northeast and goes beautifully with variegated liriope, heuchera (coral bells) and astilbe. Other favorites are ‘Francee Williams’, ‘Blue Cadet’ and ‘Golden Tiarra’.

Gaillardia Goblin

There are so many perennials to choose from for the garden. I have tried to focus on varieties which are hardy in the Northeast and which are my all time favorites for long bloom time, abundant color and dependability.

Heuchera Coral Bells

After years of experience as a designer I find these to be the most reliable and have enjoyed them in my own gardens for years and will continue to enjoy them for years to come.

In future articles I will focus more on the uses of combinations of perennials in the cottage garden as well as the incorporation of perennials along with evergreens and deciduous plants for everlasting beauty and enjoyment. For a complete gallery of perennials mentioned in this post visit: Perennials .

Happy gardening!

Author:Lee@ A Guide To Northeastern Gardening Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved