PLANT BINGE SEASON

Spring brings the urge to plant binge (I'm an admitted plant addict). 

How many times have you entered a nursery center with looking as your only goal, but leaving with handfuls of plants?  The worst case is at the end of the planting season when everything is marked down to pennies.  How could you not purchase a few more goodies for the garden?  I fall into this category often, but I do follow a few personal rules.

1. Try to buy at least three (or more) of one plant.  Though you may not have a destination in mind yet, at least there will be a nice grouping for the final design (and it will look like you planned it).

2. Try something new.  If you're only paying 99 cents, why not try a new plant?  If it doesn't do well, no biggie.  My garden is filled with sale (and even free) plants that no one else wanted or recognized.  I now have some amazing plants that I would have never dreamed up on my own.

3. Is there a season you're lacking great color?  Late summer or fall perhaps?  Try to find plants that fill those gaps.  Don't let the lack of bloom in the nursery distract you - just because it's not blooming at that moment, doesn't mean it's not fabulous. Read the tags and grab the beauties others missed. 

4. Pick up those small, special plants (less than 12" tall).  These itty bitty plants are perfect for the front of your border or tucked in small spaces. Buy as many as you can. It's so much fun spreading these out along the front of a planting bed to pull it all together (what? a sale item creating a cohesive design?).

What other hints do you have?

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GARDEN INSPIRATION

As you may know, I enjoy exploring garden blogs. I even keep a board of them on Pinterest.  Once in a while I love pulling out a few for extra inspiration. Since it's spring and we're aching to get outside (at least those of us in the cooler parts of the world) I encourage you to start dreaming.  Here are four to get you started:

Garden Therapy

Cornus Garden Design

A Garden of Possibilities

Successful Garden Design

I not only enjoy finding inspiration from blogs, but also from you. A couple of months ago I shared a survey to get feedback on possible topics I could cover on my blog.  For those that didn't participate, I'd love your thoughts. Here is a link to that survey once again: GARDEN DESIGN SURVEY.

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DRAWING TREE FORMS

There are three design elements to consider when creating a planting design: form, texture and color.

Each plant you choose encompasses these characteristics in different ways. Though you should consider all of these it is important to know that form is the most consistent, then texture and finally color. 

A good planting design should start with a strong composition of forms in elevation (standing in front and looking straight on). Trees, shrubs, and perennials all have forms. Below are only some examples of tree forms. Additional ones, not included below, are vase-shaped, weeping, and irregular. 

To design in elevation it's helpful to also be able to DRAW in elevation. I've included a video below to show my simple technique, so you can begin the joy of designing right away. 

A design hint: Take a photo of your house, throw on a piece of tracing paper, then try drawing some of these plant forms on top to see what combination might work for your landscape. Don't forget to layer them too (some tall plants in back, then medium and smaller plants in front).  Enjoy!

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THE GARDEN AS ART

While I'm working on my next tutorial (hopefully out later this week), I'd thought I'd share another surprise. Several of you have asked about whether I planned to sell garden prints in the future...specifically my tutorials.  I've finally pulled some together in both digital and hard-copy format.  These are perfect for tacking up on a studio wall as reference or for a uniquely framed {educational} garden print.  Click on the links below to find out more:

DIGITAL GARDEN PRINTS 

(print these out yourself)

HARD-COPY GARDEN PRINTS 

(these are a high quality print that I sign and send to you)

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THE BEAUTIFUL TRIM

Today was our first warm day this spring and now I have flowers swirling in my head. I thought this was the perfect time to share one of my favorite plants, paired with a planting design hint.

An essential part of the perennial border often not given the deserved attention is the front...the extreme front. Often we jump into plants that are 18" to 24" tall in this location, but what makes this part of the border special is the beautiful trim of really short plants...those 12" or less. I especially love when they spill over onto the sidewalk. 

I've been experimenting with this living trim for a few years and have discovered a few beauties.  One of them is Veronica x 'Waterperry Blue'. This plant only grows 4-6" tall and has an amazing blue flower in the spring (zones 4-5).  The foliage also has a slight burgundy tinge making it extra nice throughout the growing season. Oh, I can't wait until the snow is completely gone!

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A GARDEN IN A POSTCARD: Allées

My husband and I love antique shopping.  Some of the things I enjoy searching out is anything garden-related: books, tools, fabrics...and even postcards.

Oftentimes the garden image is just a secondary bonus to whatever tourist site the postcard is depicting.  What's fun for me is finding something teachable in those images. Does it show a landscape design principle, a garden term, or a certain plant?

The two postcards below are fabulous examples of allées. An allée is a walkway or road lined with trees or tall shrubs. This term originated from a French word that meant alley.

The second postcard's allée is formed by pepper trees. Being from the Midwest I was not familiar with this plant, so I looked into it a little more and found an intriguing story. This beauty has a slightly shaded past.  If you'd like to read more please jump over to this article. 

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HOW TO LABEL PLANTS

When we create a landscape design it's important that we communicate what's on the plan. The plants are one of the most important elements and typically take up most of the design, so an organized system to labeling them is a must. A beautiful design can look messy and unprofessional if plant labels are not laid out well. Below are the rules I use when labeling plants in plan view (looking from the sky down towards the garden).

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MY RADIANT ORCHID GARDEN

Unlike what the title of this post indicates, this garden does not include any orchids.  Instead it celebrates perennials that showcase Pantone's 2014 color of the year: radiant orchid.  My illustration below doesn't even come close to these flower's amazing vibrant purplish-pink color, so I also created a Pinterest board, where you could see their true colors (as true as a photograph expresses anyway!). All of these plants grow in US zone five.  What would you include in your radiant orchid garden?

If you'd like a digital file of this image to print out for yourself, this one is available for purchase in my Etsy shop (along with several others).

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BOOK LOVE

Since it's the week of love I thought I'd share some books that have impacted my love of design.  These are not all traditional garden books, but they have all inspired me in my love of landscape design. I always encourage you to look for inspiration within the gardening world, but also look outside on the fringe.  You never know what will spark that new idea.

IN AND OUT OF THE GARDEN by Sara Midda

My favorite book of all time.  This is such a special collection of illustrations and garden fables.  I'm still infatuated with it as much today as I was when I received it as a gift over 20 years ago. It taught me that we can communicate our ideas in so many beautiful ways.

THE ELEMENTS OF GARDEN DESIGN by Joe Eck

Back in the 1990s I visited an amazing garden in Vermont by Joe Eck and Wayne Winterowd .  I was a young designer grasping for formulas on how to create an amazing garden. This book began to break it down for me and I kept it a close resource for many years. It's simple and easy to read, plus it brings back memories of that wonderful visit to North Hill.

THE VICTORIAN GARDEN by Allison Kyle Leopold

I read this book many years ago when a local group asked me to present on Victorian gardens.  The amazing thing I learned was how much our society impacts landscape design....including such things as religion, technology, and politics.  This book sparked my love of garden history.

101 THINGS I LEARNED IN ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL by Matthew Frederick

Gardens are never mentioned in this book, but the author does an amazing job discussing how to create space...which directly relates back to landscape design. This book has a refreshingly simple way to look at design which has lured me through it's pages over and over again.

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THE WELLIE RAIN GARDEN

Last week I wrote a post on rain gardens and thought it would be fun to use my theme garden design process to add a little more punch to this type of landscape.  I've been thinking about using Wellington rain boots as a theme for months and this was the perfect opportunity.

I followed my theme garden design process to whip up my Wellie Rain Garden Plan:

1. PICK A THEME. Wellington rain boots!

2. BRAINSTORM. These are the words that pop into my head then when I think about rain boots: colorful, fun patterns, rubber, polka dots, red, yellow, rain coat, puddles, umbrellas, storms, wet, showers, wellies, Britain

3. RESEARCH. To find out a little bit more about Wellie rain boots, I dove into the internet.  This is what I found:

• The Wellington boot was invented by the Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, in the early 1800s in Britain.
• Wellesley was considered one of the greatest defensive commanders of all time.  He beat Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
• This time period was also the height of the English landscape style.  This style broke away from the formal gardens of the Renaissance into expansive informal landscapes with large lawns and curving paths.

4. TRANSLATE TO PHYSICAL FORM. After looking at my brainstorming and research lists my plan evolved this way:

• Colors: bright, mostly warm colors that make me think of fun rain boots.  I threw a little bit of purple/blue in there to signify rain, but focused more on the reds, oranges and yellows.
• Shapes: The circles are inspired by umbrellas and polka dots, plus the rectangle and rows of plants symbolize the Duke of Wellington's marching army. Though these are both strong, geometric shapes they are placed informally like the English landscape style (yes, I know I'm stretching it here on the English landscape style, but decided to just focus on the informal/asymmetrical aspect of it).
• Furniture: Of course, I included a bright colored umbrella. Wouldn't it be nice to sit under the umbrella during a spring shower and watch the rain garden do it's magic?
• Plants: All of my plants are recommended for rain gardens in US zone 5.  When designing your own rain garden, just Google rain garden plants for zone # and a myriad of sources will pop up for you. Think about height, textures and colors.  I kept mine to 3' or less.

5. CREATE THE PLAN.  See above.

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