Nigel Colborn - Plant Solutions

The best plants make multiple contributions. The pink, variegated petals are the obvious asset of this old gallica rose, ‘Rosa Mundi’, but it also provides sweet fragrance and makes a sumptuous texture contrast with the yellow-green lady’s mantle growing nearby.

Planting for the Emotions

Less obvious than planting for the physical senses, carefully devised planting will also stimulate an emotive response. A feeling of calm, for example, is enhanced when gentle colours and subtly blended foliage textures are deployed. But when colours are strident and there are strong colour contrasts, the viewer tends to feel more agitated, particularly when plants with spiky outlines are used, or where trees have irregular limbs. Examples abound, of how specific planting schemes stimulate particular emotions. Here is a small selection, presented in opposing pairs:

Hot/cool; calm/agitatedAs a general rule, cool colours – blue, white, green – are calming, whereas hot oranges, reds and golds can be agitating. But blues are cold and can lack passion whereas bold, burning reds stir the blood and hot oranges actually make one feel warmer.

Low-key/high keyIn some parts of a garden, planting is best if low-key. Uniform ground cover – or a lawn for that matter – makes a gentle foil, allowing neighbouring features, whether plants or objects, to stand out. A frequent mistake made by people who remove their lawns is to install a gravel surface, but then to plant it so busily that it becomes a strong feature in its own right, perhaps overshadowing surrounding borders or planting schemes. Where a strong, bold statement is needed, however, planting must rise to the need, drawing one’s eye and dominating the scene. A single main architectural plant, or a small group, may suffice, but a canny plant designer will keep an eye on such a group and keep finding ways to make its impact even stronger.

Inviting/forbiddingCareful placing of plants, particularly near entrances or where different sections of a garden are divided, are able either to make a welcoming pitch, or to discourage entry. Both techniques are valuable. Where the entrance is narrow – through a gateway, perhaps, or under an arch, a carefully placed plant with interesting foliage colour or conspicuous blossoms will help to draw people in. If the arches or gateways are themselves well furnished with handsome climbing plants, perhaps with special treasures also grown at their feet, a visitor might pause there, to enjoy the moment, before passing through.

A sea of spring daffodils induces a feeling of calm and well-being thanks to the delicate contrast between the soft, pastel colour of the flowers and the subtle greens of the stems and foliage.

Where there needs to be private access, whose use is to be limited, the opposite of these measures can be taken. Shrubs can be allowed to expand and disguise the thoroughfare, or planting in front can be staggered so that only those ‘in the know’ are inclined to slip through. And in places where security is a concern, ostentatiously thorny, dense vegetation can do a lot to back up the threat of any spiked railings or fencing which stands between it and the outside world.

Intellectual versus emotionalThis is a more difficult concept to believe in, but with planting, just as in an instrumental concerto, there is often a tension between two forms. With the musical analogy, the solo instrument converses with the orchestra, sometimes in unison, but mostly in a melodious dialogue. In a garden, formal landscaping – whether with plants or structures – can have a similar dialogue with more naturalistic planting. Formal geometric shapes are the result of an intellectual exercise, Man imposing himself on Nature. Line and form have been carefully considered and structures – be they plants or man-made objects – are laid out in strictly disciplined patterns. Eighteenth century parterres, Victorian bedding schemes and some modern day public plantings are examples of these. Wild, natural landscapes are the antithesis of this cerebral approach. Topography and vegetation are seen as nature intended and the rules of symmetry appear to be broken. Naturalistic designs in gardens take the main elements of beauty from truly wild landscapes and compose them to create romanticised scenes. Streams or ponds appear like natural water courses and planting is in layers – trees, shrubs, understorey – more or less as you would find in rural regions.

In most gardens, however, both concepts are adopted and there is a stimulating tension between the two. An artificial flower meadow, for example, might be skirted – as in the author’s garden – by fine-mown lawn, and a clipped shrub screen. In many modern versions of Elizabethan knot gardens, summer perennials are allowed to progress and flower fairly freely, whereas the originals would have been much more formally planted.

A gateway that is well furnished with interesting plants and flowers will be more inviting than bare pillars and a gate. If this many plants decorate the entrance, how much more will there be to enjoy inside?

Floral fireworks! The seed heads of Allium schubertii bring a touch of drama to this dense, mixed Mediterranean planting scheme.

Planting in Specific Styles

Planting styles will depend very much on overall design, and on personal preference, but it is worth considering some of the most popular and distinctive of these:

Classic mixed borders

Mixed borders must be large enough to accommodate shrubs – perhaps even trees – along with herbaceous perennials of all sizes, probably interspersed with annuals or biennials for gap-filling and even a succession of bulbs. These are the most malleable and, over time, will run through gentle but profound changes. Colour can be carefully controlled, with main themes, such as red, white, hot or cool hues, or may roll through a series of intriguing changes with the season.

It is important to view such borders at all levels, and to bear in mind how they are likely to look in all seasons. Whenever any major changes are made to the planting, this is likely to have a ‘knock on’ effect on other times of year, so that one big change necessitates further changes down the line. These are ongoing, long-term planting schemes which can be adjusted and tinkered with over decades, and which will keep most keen gardeners both occupied and pre-occupied for a very long period. It is said that the Edwardian garden guru, Gertrude Jekyll, spent over forty years adjusting the borders at her garden, Munstead Wood.

Cottage-style planting works well beneath the walls of a 300 year-old building. The climbing Bourbon rose, ‘Kathleen Harrop’ furnishes the limestone, without hiding too much of it, and teams with the colour of the pink valerian which is allowed to seed around freely.

Mediterranean

With water becoming a scarce commodity and, in some areas, an expensive one, much attention is being turned to low-water planting schemes. Typical natural landscapes, whose arid beauty is well worth imitating, occur in such places as the rocky Mediterranean coastal regions, the southern tip of Africa, the American Chaparral and in many parts of Australasia. Such areas have amazingly rich floras and many of their native plants have become garden staples. Gladiolus, Lavandula and Eschscholzia are examples of the thousands of widespread plants which enjoy similar conditions.