Garden Design: Choosing a Look

Perennials

Class 1: Some Perennials Basics
Class 2: Garden Design
Class 3: Putting Pencil to Paper
Class 4: Soil Preparation and Planting
Class 5: Maintaining your Perennial Gardens
Class 6: Troubleshooting

Choosing a style is a little like getting dressed. You might choose a suit and tie look for your garden, using formal, symmetrical plantings, sheared hedges, and rows of flowering plants. Or you might be more of a blue jeans gardener, opting for rambling plantings that naturalize and resemble more of a meadow or woodland. Or maybe you are somewhere in between. Just like your closet, which may contain formal wear and sweatshirts, and everything in between, you may choose a blend of styles for your gardens.

For example, you might like a more formal look for the foundation plantings around your house, where shearing keeps hedges and shrubs in bounds, well-behaved perennials are carefully mulched, and annuals are planted in a symmetrical pattern.

Well-behaved perennials that won't flop over or sprawl work best in more formal gardens.

iris	hosta	sedum'

Your island beds – those surrounded by a sea of lawn – might be a little less formal and consist of shrubs and perennials allowed to grow more naturally, with perhaps some annuals tucked into the spaces to add season-long color. Edging and mulching keep the bed looking tidy.

Perennials that multiply and spread, but are easily kept in bounds, are good choices for island beds.

daylily	veronica	Shasta daisy

Finally, the gardens on the borders of your property might be on the wild side. Here, rambling shrubs, self-sowing wild flowers, and spreading ground covers might predominate. You may not bother with mulching or adding annuals, since this type of garden has a natural beauty all its own.

Generally speaking, the more formal the garden, the more regular maintenance it requires. (Remember, however, that all perennial gardens will require some maintenance!)

Allowed to freely spread or self-sow, these perennials lend an informal feel to a border garden.

monarda (bee balm)	lupine	purple coneflower

As we continue discussing design, think about the look, or looks, you want for your gardens.

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