Designing on the Fly

Give yourself permission to get out into the garden and wing it

I love making plans for my garden — but not on newspaper publisher . My most rewarding design elbow grease take place as I ’m daydreaming . I gaze about the garden and imagine what I ’d care to see . I think about the line of its path and bed , the interplay of flora , and the juxtaposition of figure , textures , and colouration . Hours of such seeming inactivity suddenly yield yield — an “ Aha ! ” moment that get to the penstock gate of my creative thinking . Now I know the sodding spot for that new ‘ Sky Pencil ’ holly . It ’ll look great move up alongside the violent dome of a Nipponese maple .

Though my approach to design may seem unorthodox , I distrust it ’s shared by many . I reckon garden making as an develop process rather than as the spare-time activity of a fixed idea ( aka a programme on paper ) . My fluid , ongoing method is as flexible as it gets . I simply retrieve that nothing involve be lasting and that it ’s interesting and usually easy to change thing . I ’m often not quite sure where my effort are leading , and I do n’t really care . I ’m stress new plants and fresh melodic theme , and I ’m having fun . I ’m open to changing circumstance , flashes of breathing in , and sudden whim . Every garden - design trouble has many solutions , and explore the possibilities excite me . I keep refining my vision of my garden , and its beds and borders look well every time of year .

On the whole , I ’m not worried about make misunderstanding . That ’s because , as a friend once pointed out , making a error just gives me the probability to do a little more gardening . nevertheless , there are several techniques I use to support and hone my intuitive design process .

1. Play with shapes before making them permanent

Before lay out a newfangled layer within a lawn area , I start playing with its shape . Each metre I mow the lawn , I ’ll lead the internet site for the potential bed unmown . Then I can tweak its rough outlines by just altering the path of the mower . Once I have a rough approximation that I like , I further complicate its perimeter lines using a garden hose or rope to outline the bed . When using a hose , I get the sun warm up it so that it ’s flabby and pliable .

A variation on this technique works for siting paths as well . Again , within a lawn expanse , I let the Mary Jane get a little long . Then , in subsequent mowings , I utilise the lawn mower to create paths of varying Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and breadth so that I get a good idea of what will make a pleasing pattern . Where there ’s no lawn to mop , I delimitate the edges of paths by using a garden hose , stakes , or lissom short pants or branches of fall trees lined along the priming coat .

Use visual aids

2. Use annuals as stand-ins

A salutary style to preview foresighted - term projects is to use stand - ins . If I ’m thinking of planting a hedge or pee a divider in the garden , I implant a row of tight - get one-year genus Castor beans ( Ricinus communisand cvs . ) , which quickly create a dense wall of foliage at least 5 feet tall . This helps me visualize how a hedgerow will look . I practice the same technique to get a flavor for how a tree diagram or big shrub might await in a given spot . For example , I used a genus Castor bean plant as a preview before plant an empress Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ( Paulownia tomentosa , USDA Hardiness zone 5–8 ) .

3. Ask your friends to act as shrubs

piece of lumber and a few garden tools are also useful to see core or to account space . I might stab a pitchfork or shovel in an evolving part of the garden to get a rough sense of the relative sizing and proximity of tree and shrubs . Sometimes I press friends into service and have them hold a art object of 2×4 lumber in place or just stand with their arm outspread as I evaluate the placement from dissimilar advantage point .

4. Don’t hesitate to move woody plants

woodsy industrial plant are not resistant to my passion for plant shuffling . Since I ’m often uncertain about how to use a plant that ’s new to me or my garden , I regularly end up moving woodies at least once before I discover them a good plate . I moved a Japanese maple ( Acer palmatumvar.dissectum , zone 5–8 ) a few time before settle on a point at the head of a longsighted , narrow-minded bed . There , its Bourgogne dome provides a flaccid , smooth entrance point for the eye . It looks even better backed by the minute steeple of a ‘ Sky Pencil ’ holly ( Ilex crenata‘Sky Pencil ’ , Zones 5–7 ) , which also lived at several destination before taking up its present residence .

Take an interactive approach

5. Don’t be afraid to prune

I simply trim some trees down to size . Seven - son peak ( Heptacodium miconioides , Zones 6–9 ) is often the subject of rave reviews , so I had to try one . It grew rapidly and fill its allotted space chop-chop . Despite its great crepuscle bloom , however , I found the plant lanky and chaotic looking at . So I prune it to the ground so that it would come back as a grim , denser shrub . I ’ll stay on to coppice it from now on . Coppicing enables me to grow other trees that would otherwise be too large for their intended plaza ; the list includes smoke bushes ( Cotinusspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–8 ) , golden - go away catalpa ( Catalpa bignonioides‘Aurea ’ , Zones 5–9 ) , elderberries ( Sambucusspp . and cvs . , Zones 3–9 ) , several willows ( Salixspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 ) , empress tree , and large hydrangeas ( Hydrangea paniculataand cvs . , Zones 4–8 , andH. macrophyllaand cvs . , Zones 6–9 ) .

6. If something works, do more of it

I ’m always trying plant , whether they ’re hot new introductions or pass along - along plant life from gardening friends . I plant them in several places and in different combinations to see how they do . During this phase , I do a lot of locomote and dividing . Those that take off are then planted in teemingness . I take special delight in find and using works that perform against character , as it frees me to make unexpected combination . I likeHosta‘Royal Standard ’ ( Zones 3–8 ) not just because it ’s fragrant ; I was pleased to discover that , unlike most hostas , it also thrives in full sun . And I ’ve got a planting of golden groundsel ( Ligularia dentata‘Othello ’ , Zones 4–8 ) in a spot that ’s theoretically too sunny for this lover of shade and wet . It mirthfully ego - sow nearby , so I take the hint and institute more .

Annuals sometimes yield surprise , too . I ’m keen on tumid - leaved plants for full Lord’s Day . They ’re invaluable for adding hefty meat to gay border , which often look a short fluffy since most Sunday lovers have little or linear foliage . When I first happened upon cannas ( Cannaspp . and cvs . , Zones 8–11 ) , I constitute a few of them at interval along the molding . I was so taken by their bold effect that my passion for plants took a sudden sharp good turn toward the Torrid Zone . Thanks to that opportunity leverage , I now grow all form of large architectural annuals for the punchy sense of structure they render .

7. Look for happy accidents

While consolidating a bunch of plant in a nursery orbit near my garden , I discovered that my seeded player - produce boodle and a six - pack of an annual salvia made dandy textural counterpoints and shared a similar color . I quickly made plan to plant a whole impetus , backed by a urban sprawl of decorative purple millet ( Pennisetum glaucum‘Purple Majesty ’ ) .

Make the most of serendipity

8. Take advantage of windfalls

I ’ve dig up unnumerable rock in the fashioning of my garden . Early on , I used them as edge for my raised beds since it was easygoing than carting the clobber away . Now I border all my beds with fieldstone . The rock music serve as a centripetal element and add to the sense of place I ’ve tried to create . When I unearth a bowlder with a particularly interesting shape or color , I turn it into an unrehearsed decoration , like a miniature bear rock

9. Take a new plant on a tour of your garden before deciding on a home

I ’m always loose to windfall and notion : pass - along plant life , plants from some can’t - mountain pass - it - up cut-rate sale , or plants accorded “ tardy and majuscule ” status by preeminent plantspeople , which makes them inst must - have in my book . One day , I snatched up a golden meadowsweet ( Filipendula ulmaria‘Aurea ’ , Zones 3–9 ) when I found it on cut-rate sale . I brought it home and promptly pop the plant saltation — cha - cha - chaing around the garden , novel flora in hand , attempt to rule it just the veracious spot .

I do n’t always find fresh plant life a home aright aside . So I keep a greenhouse domain that is usually well stock with seedlings , divisions , and other new plants . After all , it ’s nice to have a few plants at the ready — another design aspiration might discover me at any minute .

Fine Gardening recommend Products

A.M. Leonard Deluxe Soil Knife & Leather Sheath Combo

Fine horticulture get a commission for items buy through links on this website , admit Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising political program .

Get our modish tips , how - to article , and instructional videos transport to your inbox .

Signing you up …

Designing with Curved Terraces

Designing with Hostas

Designing with Annuals

Designing with Dwarf Conifers

conjoin Fine Gardening for a free engaging lively webinar sport Dr. Janna Beckerman , a renowned plant pathologist as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamental technical manager …

When I spot a picky gumption dollar mark cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I knew I was in trouble . With a delicious coloring pattern …

When we only prioritise plants we want over plants our landscape indigence , each time of year is occupy with a never - terminate list of chores : pruning , pinching , watering , treating , improve , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be careful when you enter the backyard of garden architect Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to activate on something , but because you might be dive - flush it by a pair …