Nigel Colborn - Plant Solutions

The choice of plants, for any garden situation, will be rich and varied, even if growing conditions are less than ideal.

Some Thoughts on Planting and Design

Garden design has recently experienced a stimulating revolution. In an age of growing prosperity since the mid 1990s, interest in private outdoor spaces increased sharply and by the turn of the century, gardens and gardening had entered a new era. Growth in hard landscaping burgeoned, with ever-expanding areas of paving, decking, gravel, terracing, walls and fancy fencing. Such colourful new materials as tumbled glass gravel, raw sheet copper or dyed sands were deployed, often in dramatic and mould-breaking styles. This brave new gardening world continues to develop and to evolve in all aspects of design bar one: creative planting.

Plants are a crucial element to almost all popular garden designs but their importance is often overlooked. Plant choice, even by able and experienced designers, is sometimes inappropriate, resulting in ill-composed schemes which go badly wrong, or worse, in plants that simply languish or die. Plant associations can be unsympathetic, either to the hard landscaping that surrounds them, or within the mix of chosen species. There are plant-minded designers, of course, many of whom develop original and creative planting schemes, but these are exceptions, and in the great bulk of new gardens, from major public spaces, to tiny urban oases, plants have tended to become misunderstood components.

Creative planting schemes, with varied colours, textures and sizes, help to soften the harsh effect of hard landscaping.

Creative planting is a dynamic, ongoing art form. The mixed border, below, has been boosted with temporary colour from a midseason introduction of tender, summer-flowering perennials. These could, in turn, be underplanted with spring bulbs.

Plants for bedding can be used in exactly the same way as a decorator might deploy paint or carpet – to cover a surface with a chosen colour. These African marigolds, planted after the last frost, in spring, paint a bright golden surface for the whole of the summer. While they flourish, the effect is spectacular, but when the bed is stripped away, only bare soil will remain.

Texturing Plants

Given a sound structure, usually provided from a combination of hard materials and woody plants, the bulk of any planting scheme is likely to be concerned with filling the spaces in between. The term ‘in-fill’ or ‘space filling’ suggests that these plants are less important than the structure but the opposite is true. The soft planting, in all its guises and styles, plays the most important role of all. These are the plants that create the desired mood. They will often be the most rapidly changing, and so will deliver the essential dynamic of a well-tempered garden. Since, by volume, texturing plants usually make up the largest area, they will have the most influence on colour schemes, on texture, on planting styles and on ensuring sustained interest.

By policing in-fill plants, one can develop changes of mood and style from one part of the garden to another, or from one season to another. Bursts of special interest can be engineered to take place in specific garden spots, by concentrating in-fill plants that will synchronise their performance with their neighbours. A woodland garden, for example, may be a cool, shady, green retreat from the heat of summer where little is in flower and berries have yet to ripen, but in winter and spring, the same area could host a mass of highly coloured bulbs and perennials from snowdrops, hellebores and yellow winter aconites in mid-winter to wild narcissus, epimediums, primulas, and fritillaries in mid-spring. A dry garden, developed for minimal water use, will benefit from being well furnished with evergreens – especially those with distinctive foliage – so that the seasons are linked by a constant background, and so that there is something beautiful to look at during extreme summer heat or in the depths of winter.

When plants are teamed, colours in one variety can pick up sympathetic tones in the hues of its neighbours. Here, the bell flowers of the tall Campanula echo the mauve and pink hues of the annual candytuft.

Planting for the Senses

Although it seems pretty obvious, it may be worth remembering that good planting will stimulate more than just the eyes and nose. In a richly planted garden, there will be plants to listen to and to touch, as well as those that look pretty. This dimension becomes doubly important if a planting scheme is designed for people who lack one or more of the five senses.

SightThe most obvious of the senses, for gardeners, but there are subtleties frequently overlooked. Pale pastel colours and whites, for example, are best for planting schemes which may be viewed mainly in poor light or at night. Very dark colours tend to vanish into shadow, when viewed from a distance, whereas pale ones stand out. In bright light, pale colours appear washed out, whereas strong hues become more arresting. Large flowers, in strong colours, have far more influence in the overview of a border or plant group than do lots of small flowers in even much brighter colours.

FragranceThe second most important of the senses, in a garden, is the sense of smell. Plants with a desirable fragrance are best placed where they are readily accessible to the nose; those which have an unpleasant odour should never be placed where they can spoil the garden experience, but may still be worth growing for other reasons. When blending fragrances, some go better together than others. The richness of summer jasmine, for example is expanded to Wagnerian sensuality if teamed with the perfume of honeysuckle and Nicotiana affinis . The smell of lavender adds a firmer dimension to the sweeter perfume of old roses.

TouchSo many plants are pleasant to stroke, or to feel. Many of the artemisias, for instance, have silky textured filigree leaves and are aromatic as well. The shining, bright tan trunk of the Chinese cherry species Prunus serrula makes it worth growing, just to look at, but extra pleasure comes from being able to caress that smooth, polished bark.

TasteTaste is less critical, but if you want to grow a hazel nut for its beautiful foliage, or edge a border with wild strawberries for their decorative value, being able to eat the produce provides an added bonus.

SoundSound can help to create special moods. A breeze blowing through aspen leaves makes a noise identical to falling rain; wind in a pine tree sighs and sobs whereas winter gales make the tall dead stems of Miscanthus grass hiss in a disturbing manner. Classical Chinese gardeners were said to have had the tradition of planting large, broad leaved specimens just below the eaves of a building, and close to a window, so that during rain, the sound of water drops striking them would be audible from within. The effect, apparently, was to enhance the melancholy mood of a wet day.

The long, curving leaves of Bowles golden sedge, Carex elata ‘Aurea’ (left), harmonise with the yellow-leaved form of meadowsweet, Filipendua ulmaria ‘Aurea’, while their textures make a dramatic contrast.