Imagine an artist trying to learn how to paint by reading a dry textbook. It would be pretty difficult, don't you think? Sure you could learn a few basics, but without pictures or illustrations, it would be a challenge to fire your imagination enough to confidently put brush to canvas.
Gardening is similar in many ways–you learn by seeing and doing. So when you're pouring through gardening books this winter, keep in mind how much the photographs can be an important learning tool. Teach yourself to look at the pictures with a critical eye.
Identify similarities in the gardens you like and even those you dislike. Take those observations and consider them in terms of your own space. When you do find a garden you like, try to identify the underlying design principals at work so you can apply them in your own yard.
Note more than just the flowers that appeal to you. Pay attention to how they are grouped, how the colors are combined and the role that foliage plays in the overall planting.
The garden I am about to show you wasn't created overnight. It was years in the making. A lot of trial and error was at work here, so don't look at the end result and feel intimidated. Learn by example. That's what I always aspire to do.
A Backdrop of Green
Green forms the backdrop for all the other colors in Jacquie Jordan's garden In Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Even though the green is a unifying element, there is great diversity in the shade of green–there's deep forest green of the evergreens, the sharp chartreuse of the deciduous tree on the middle right (above) and the medium green of the lawn. There's also lovely variegation that adds variety to the green elements.
Shape
Jacquie has also taken shape into account when she groups plants– both the shape of the plant and the shape of the leaves. There is a widely varied mix of low mounded plants and tall, upright perennials and trees. Contrasting shapes allow the foliage to make its own contribution to the beauty of her garden.
Layout
Cottage gardens perennials are planted in a more carefree and natural way than they are in a more traditional flower border (like one you might see in an English manor). Plant height is not stepped up from low plants to tall plants at the centre core of the flowerbeds. Instead, the arrangement of plants is much more casual. In Jacquie's garden, a tall daylily or a bright yellow Rudbeckia is quite at home on the outer edge of a flowerbed.
Color and its Repetition
As in many cottage-style gardens, Jacquie has uses a wide range of flower colors. These splashes of color add drama and keep the eye moving from one flowerbed to the next.
Such a cacophony of color might easily verge on the chaotic, but Jacquie has cleverly used repetition to help link one flowerbed to the next. Scroll back and look at the way she has used the deep maroon. The color packs a punch and unifies two different areas of the garden.
She's done the same thing with yellow and white. The vast majority of the flowers have a color echo somewhere else on the horizon. There is no odd-man out when it comes to color.
"Blooms are usually so fleeting, that I usually think of texture and foliage colour first, then the flower colour," says Jacquie. "I'll take a blossom and walk around the garden with it until I find a plant I think it will be happy with, and if everything else works, I'll try it in that space. I'll wait a season and If the bloom absolutely clashes with its neighbours, and I can't live with it, I'll try somewhere else. It's surprising though, how often colours you never think will be harmonious, actually complement each other. "
Adding Sophistication to a Color Echo
Here you see the combination of a Sedum with deep reddish-purple stems and a Smoke Bush, Cotinus with foliage of the same color.
The parts of the plant are different, but the color is the same.
Seek out plants with Interesting Features
This spring, try to make a point of selecting plants with more than just their flower in mind. These Sedum that Jacquie has collected are great examples of plants with interesting features: variegation and stem color.
(Above Left) There are a number of different cultivars of Sedum that have cream or butter-colored variegation (Sedum, Autumn Stonecrop 'Autumn Charm' and Sedum, Autumn Stonecrop 'Frosted Fire' to name just two).
(Right) This Sedum has flowers with a matching stem color (Sedum 'Matrona' is an example).
Height and another example of Shape
This island flowerbed just wouldn't have the same appeal if it were all low-growing perennials. The raised plant pot, the ornamental grasses and the metal obelisk all add height.
Notice also that the perennials have varying shapes There are low, mounded plants and perennials whose foliage sprays up and out. They are the green equivalent of a fountain.
"The attraction for me is colorful and unusual foliage or flowers, unique shapes and evergreens for year-round interest," says Jacquie.
Mystery
Have you ever watched a movie trailer and come away feeling like you have already seen the whole movie, or at least all the best parts of it? Why bother lugging to the movie theatre if you already know the whole plot?
The element of surprise is an excellent motivator. In a garden, don't show all your cards at once. Keep a few cards up your sleeve. A garden should reveal itself slowly. When you're walking around Jacquie's garden, the pathways twist and turn. The view is often obstructed by tall plants. You never know what's next.
Whimsy
Use your garden to express your own unique personality. Here Jacquie has created a moss-covered seat for an old chair.
Don't stress about Plant Placement.
When Jacquie buys a new plant, she'll wander around the garden with it still in its nursery pot looking to find it a home. As with so many things, she experiments. Some things work and others don't. Not every plant finds its perfect home the first time.
It's also important to remember that plants in nursery pots tend to dry out quickly! Even after you revive them with water, they become stressed and soon enough they'll become pot bound. It's better to chance a mistake than leave the plant in its pot waiting for a decision.
Always remember to take pleasure in what's works and then go back and correct what didn't work. Persistence is your most important ally when it comes to gardening. Even after years of experience, Jacquie will often move plants around. Slowly, over time, your garden will come together.
The Workload
As you can well imagine, maintaining a garden of this size is quite a bit of work, but Jacquie would tell you that it's the "doing" she loves best.
Weeds aren't the huge issue you might think they'd be in her garden. The mature plants are so tightly packed in that weeds have difficulty gaining a foothold.
The task that Jacquie finds the most daunting is actually edging the flowerbeds. "I'd finally get the whole garden edged and then I'd have to start over from the beginning to keep it looking good all the time," Jacquie laments.
Tiger lilies with daylilies behind.
The Role of Trees and Shrubs
Jacquie's island-shaped flowerbeds are filled with more than just flowers. There is always a conifer or a few shrubs, and often a small tree.
She says, "I have trees and shrubs in every bed but it didn't start out that way. I now have Japanese Maples, azaleas, rhododendrons, Berberis, Chamaecyparis of all types, Cotinus, hydrangeas, Pieris, oses and many varieties of Sambucus (some of which look almost like Japanese Maples). Most of my trees and shrubs are trellises for my Clematis."
Flowers or Foliage? I asked Jacquie which she valued most.
"I think I value flowers and foliage equally but am much more interested in foliage than I used to be. For instance, hostas never used to interest me much, except as a filler, and now I'm crazy about them, " Jacquie says.
Problem Solving
Every garden has its challenges. It's so much easier to work with problem issues rather than fight them. Poor drainage is a concern in Jacquie's garden. I love her solution: a drainage ditch that curves its way whimsically through the garden.
Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate'
I hope you've enjoyed this two-part series and have found a few ideas that can be put to work in your garden.
