Site map and analysis completed, per Part One? Check! Garden style selected, per Part Two? Check! Welcome to Part Three, where the focus is: What plant “jobs” need to be filled in my garden? Plants jobs can be functional, aesthetic, or both.
Aesthetic jobs affect the sensory aspects of a garden. These are primarily visual influences but also include scent, sound, and touch. Pleasing plant designs take texture, form, and color into consideration, incorporating these attributes through the principles of rhythm, line, balance, contrast, and unity.
- A plant's texture describes the size of its foliage and flowers and ranges from coarse to fine. Drifts of fine-textured plants tend to make the spaces in which they are planted seem larger. Bold-textured plants add flair to a garden.
- When referring to an entire plant, form describes its overall shape and stature. Plants with bold horizontal or vertical lines or strong visible branching are highly structural. They visually anchor a garden and add drama. Plants with rounded or billowy shapes contrast with and soften structural plants. Form also describes the varied shapes of individual flowers (for example: spires, balls, umbels, plumes or daisy-like configurations). Drifts of contrasting flower forms add interest to a garden.
- Infinite color palettes can be created with foliage and flower color. Foliage offers long term color, while flowers provide their hues in shorter bursts. Plant color palettes can be generally categorized as “cool” or “warm.” Cool palettes mingle purples, blues, grays, pinks with blue undertones, and pure- or greenish-yellows. Reds, bronzes, and oranges create a warm palette. Pinks with red undertones and orangey yellows go in a warm palette, too. Color palettes can also be monochromatic, combining different plants that have foliage, flowers or bark in the same color, such as red, yellow, blue/gray, or even white. Planting red, yellow, and blue together produces a garden in “primary” colors. And don't forget that green, in all its various shades, is a color.
- Repetition of any or all of the three attributes (texture, form, and color) creates rhythm in a garden. Gentle contrasts between texture and form and a monochromatic color palette make for subtle rhythm. For pizazz, bump up the contrast between form and texture or use vivid colors.
- Line is used to emphasize garden style and create directional cues. Plantings and hardscape can be used to create lines that lead the eye through a garden. For example, the line of a path or converging lines of plantings draw the eye to a focal point while curving paths, with destinations that are hidden by plants, invite the curious to explore a garden.
- In design, balance is the principle of distributing visual weight equally. Plant mass and color both affect balance. In a symmetrically balanced garden, opposing areas are mirror images of each other with similar plantings used on either side. In an asymmetrically balanced garden, unlike elements can balance each other. For example, a single strongly structural plant can be balanced by a boldly colored mass of filler plants.
- Contrast and unity are partners in well-designed gardens. Interesting gardens require contrast while unity ties it all together. To achieve unified contrast, follow the 2:1guideline: Select any two of the plant attributes (texture, form and color) to create either unity or contrast. The third attribute will oppose the other two. For instance, contrast texture and form while using color to unify the overall scheme. Such a garden could feature bold and finely textured plants along with highly structural plants and billowy filler plants, all tied together by a monochromatic color palette. Applying the principles of rhythm, line, and balance will further unify the design.
For this phase, think about plant functions rather than individual plants. Start by ‘bubbling in' the location of structural plant masses, and then add filler plant masses. Within each bubble, note the plant function (shade tree, screen plant, accent), the cultural conditions, and whether the plant(s) are to be evergreen or deciduous. Next, think about which plant attributes you want to use to provide contrast and which ones will provide unity. Assign texture and form attributes to each of the bubbles, keeping in mind the 2:1 guideline. Double check to see that you have arranged the plant attributes to provide rhythm, line, and balance in a way that reinforces your garden style.
Your completed preliminary planting plan will show separate bubbles labeled with plant form, function, cultural conditions, foliage type (evergreen or deciduous) and plant attributes.
A special bonus section of this series will focus on developing a plant list based on your preliminary planting plan. Then, stay tuned for our final and fourth guiding question: is my yard ready to plant? Happy Gardening!
This series of four Real Dirt articles summarizes the presentation Butte County Master Gardener Eve Werner created for the Butte County Master Gardeners Spring 2017 Workshop Series.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area, visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.
In Part One, What Can I Give My Plants, you were encouraged to analyze your planting site, and to determine the existing conditions in your garden space. With site map in hand, the fun begins as you explore our second guiding question,What garden style do I want?
Since there are endless garden styles to choose from, consider simplifying your quest by using the style of your home as an organizing principle. Planting designs that complement a home's architecture create a cohesive feeling. For example, the clean lines of mid-century modern architecture feel at home with simple plantings emphasizing foliage over flowers. Pairing a cute bungalow with an informal or fanciful garden harmonizes with the home's charm and stature. You can also unify your house and garden by selecting plants that repeat or contrast with the home's distinctive color scheme.
Some of the many possible garden styles include the following:
Pollinator: Your garden design could include only plants that nurture our native bees, butterflies, and birds. Altacal, the local chapter of the Audobon society, offers a Neighborhood Habitat certification for this type of garden. Plantings in a pollinator garden are layered in height (low plants, medium shrubs, and taller trees) to offer varied habitat, and bloom times should be staggered to provide year-round nectar and pollen sources. Pollinator gardens tend to be whimsical, billowy, and informal in style.
Cottage: Also attractive to pollinators is the exuberant, free-flowing, and busy cottage garden. Here many varieties of plants rub shoulders in a tangle of flowers and vines, while paths are winding and overgrown, creating a truly informal style.
Formal: The antithesis of the cottage garden is one that contains shrubs coaxed into symmetrical geometric designs, with defined paths echoing those arcs and angles. Usually restricted to leafy, dense shrubs and plots of lawn, the formal garden is high-maintenance and low on food for pollinators. The gardens of Versailles near Paris set the standard for formality in an intentional display of the power of man over nature and King over commoners. Jane Austen's characters later strolled amidst the shrubbery of formal English gardens.
Artsy: Perhaps you want your garden to reflect your creative nature. For this type of garden, think outside the box for construction materials and methods. Broken concrete pieces, old pottery shards, and rusted drainage pipes can make appearances in paving and planting areas. Arrange your garden with focal points for art and other surprises.
Modern: Clean and spare with asymmetrical geometry, the modern garden often incorporates industrial elements, such as corrugated steel repurposed into garden beds or used for fencing. Plants can soften the geometry or repeat it but this garden style generally favors foliage over flowers.
Start your research! Look at gardens with new eyes to identify design and style elements. Keep a log of what you want to incorporate into your own garden, and what you wish to avoid.
In the coming weeks, this column will explore question three: What Plant “Jobs” Need To Be Filled In My Yard? and question four: Is My Yard Ready To Plant? Happy Gardening!
This series of four Real Dirt articles summarizes the presentation local Landscape Architect Eve Werner created for the Butte County Master Gardeners Spring 2017 Workshop Series.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area, visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.
Are you ready to convert your thirsty lawn to a beautiful array of low water plants? Have you had your fill of the “crazy quilt” approach to planting? Do you wonder why some gardens seem perfect in their space? Would you like to create a garden that makes a personal statement?
Eve Werner's Planting Design Basics can help. This and three subsequent Real Dirt articles will summarize the PowerPoint Presentation she created for the Butte County Master Gardeners Spring 2017 Workshop Series.
What are these four basic questions? 1: What can I give my plants; 2: What garden style do I want; 3: What plant ‘jobs' need to be filled in my yard; and, 4: Is my yard ready to plant. This article focuses on question one. Questions two through four will be covered in coming weeks.
What can I give my plants: A great design starts with understanding what you already have. Matching plants to your site conditions is an easy way to create a beautiful garden with happy plants, and reduced maintenance and water use. Perform a simple site analysis to gain a solid understanding of what you offer plants.
Begin by drawing a base map, to scale, of the site. Include the house footprint, the location of doors and windows, existing plants that you want to keep, hard scape areas such as paving and fencing, and utilities. Note the architectural style of your home. Make several copies of your base map.
Observe and record onto your base map information that you want to consider when designing your garden. First, note your yard's relationship to your home. This could include potential locations of features that you want to screen or highlight when viewed from within your house. Next, note slope and drainage issues, including areas that puddle easily or slopes that cause water run-off. Finally, consider the relationship to neighboring properties; record features such as large trees or buildings that cast shade on your yard, unattractive items that need to be screened or beautiful elements that you want to ‘borrow' for your scenery.
Next, determine cultural conditions - solar exposure, soil texture, water, and maintenance – that will affect plant growth. Knowing your cultural conditions will lead you to select appropriate plant species.
Soil texture refers to the proportions of different sizes of mineral (sand, silt, and clay) and organic particles in soil. Sandy soils have a large percentage of coarser particles. These soils drain fast, lose nutrients quickly, and are easily eroded. On the other end of the soil texture spectrum, clay soils have finer particles, hold water, retain nutrients, and are easily compacted. Most soils are composed of a mix of sand, soil, and clay soils with varying amounts of organic matter. Look up online how to use the soil texture “ribbon test” to quickly estimate your soil type.
For water analysis, know your average annual rainfall, and decide how much fake rain you are willing to provide through supplemental irrigation. Choose your irrigation methods (drip, spray, soaker hose), and check if you need to replace or update any existing irrigation systems.
Maintenance means the weeding, deadheading, pruning, raking, etc. required to keep a garden looking good. All gardens require some level of maintenance but plant choice and design style greatly affect the level of maintenance. Who will be maintaining your garden? What is their level of experience? How much time will be spent maintaining your garden? Your planting design should reflect your maintenance abilities. Formal gardens with many plants that are poorly adapted will require skilled care and much more maintenance than naturalistic gardens with plants that have evolved to thrive under your cultural conditions.
Once you have created a base map and performed a site analysis you will know the growing conditions that you can offer your plants. Now, you are ready to consider the remaining three questions that will be covered in upcoming Real Dirt articles. Happy Gardening!
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area, visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.
- Author: Eve Werner
- Author: Laura Lukes
In Part One, What Can I Give My Plants, you were encouraged to analyze your planting site, and to determine the existing conditions in your garden space. With site map in hand, the fun begins as you explore our second guiding question,What garden style do I want?
Since there are endless garden styles to choose from, consider simplifying your quest by using the style of your home as an organizing principle. Planting designs that complement a home's architecture create a cohesive feeling. For example, the clean lines of mid-century modern architecture feel at home with simple plantings emphasizing foliage over flowers. Pairing a cute bungalow with an informal or fanciful garden harmonizes with the home's charm and stature. You can also unify your house and garden by selecting plants that repeat or contrast with the home's distinctive color scheme.
Some of the many possible garden styles include the following:
Drought Tolerant: Very timely, and in keeping with the Master Gardeners' recommendation to garden within our water means, is the garden that focuses on plants that require little to no irrigation. Such gardens can be located anywhere on the design continuum, all the way from formal to informal, but they usually lean toward a looser, naturalistic look. Chico neighborhoods contain many examples of great drought-tolerant landscapes, by homeowners who are converting thirsty expanses of lawn to climate-appropriate plants. Many of the plants in a Chico drought tolerant garden will be native to areas with a “Mediterranean” climate like ours that has cool, wet winters and dry, hot summers.
Pollinator: Your garden design could include only plants that nurture our native bees, butterflies, and birds. Altacal, the local chapter of the Audobon society, offers a Neighborhood Habitat certification for this type of garden. Plantings in a pollinator garden are layered in height (low plants, medium shrubs, and taller trees) to offer varied habitat, and bloom times should be staggered to provide year-round nectar and pollen sources. Pollinator gardens tend to be whimsical, billowy, and informal in style.
Cottage: Also attractive to pollinators is the exuberant, free-flowing, and busy cottage garden. Here many varieties of plants rub shoulders in a tangle of flowers and vines, while paths are winding and overgrown, creating a truly informal style.
Formal: The antithesis of the cottage garden is one that contains shrubs coaxed into symmetrical geometric designs, with defined paths echoing those arcs and angles. Usually restricted to leafy, dense shrubs and plots of lawn, the formal garden is high-maintenance and low on food for pollinators. The gardens of Versailles near Paris set the standard for formality in an intentional display of the power of man over nature and King over commoners. Jane Austen's characters later strolled amidst the shrubbery of formal English gardens.
Artsy: Perhaps you want your garden to reflect your creative nature. For this type of garden, think outside the box for construction materials and methods. Broken concrete pieces, old pottery shards, and rusted drainage pipes can make appearances in paving and planting areas. Arrange your garden with focal points for art and other surprises.
Modern: Clean and spare with asymmetrical geometry, the modern garden often incorporates industrial elements, such as corrugated steel repurposed into garden beds or used for fencing. Plants can soften the geometry or repeat it but this garden style generally favors foliage over flowers.
Start your research! Look at gardens with new eyes to identify design and style elements. Keep a log of what you want to incorporate into your own garden, and what you wish to avoid.
In the coming weeks, this column will explore question three: What Plant “Jobs” Need To Be Filled In My Yard? and question four: Is My Yard Ready To Plant? Happy Gardening!
This series of four Real Dirt articles summarizes the presentation Butte County Master Gardener Eve Werner created for the Butte County Master Gardeners Spring 2017 Workshop Series. For more information about the Butte County Master Gardener Program, please visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/bcmg/
- Author: Laura Lukes
- Author: Eve Werner
Are you ready to convert your thirsty lawn to a beautiful array of low water plants? Have you had your fill of the “crazy quilt” approach to planting? Do you wonder why some gardens seem perfect in their space? Would you like to create a garden that makes a personal statement?
There are many ways to approach the art of arranging plants in a garden. Considering four basic principles can help you create a cohesive, beautiful, and lower maintenance garden. These principles, in the form of four questions, are the following:
1. What can I give my plants?
2. What garden style do I want?
3. What plant ‘jobs' need to be filled in my yard?
4. Is my yard ready to plant?
This article focuses on question one. Questions two through four will be covered in this column in the coming weeks.
Observe and record onto your base map information that you want to consider when designing your garden. First, note your yard's relationship to your home. This could include potential locations of features that you want to screen or highlight when viewed from within your house. Next, note slope and drainage issues, including areas that puddle easily or slopes that cause water run-off. Finally, consider the relationship to neighboring properties: record features such as large trees or buildings that cast shade on your yard; unattractive items that need to be screened; and perhaps beautiful elements that you want to be able to see from vantage points in your garden or home.
Next, determine cultural conditions that will affect plant growth. These include solar exposure, soil texture, water, and maintenance. Knowing your cultural conditions will lead you to select appropriate plant species.
Soil texture refers to the proportions of different sizes of mineral (sand, silt, and clay) and organic particles in soil. Sandy soils have a large percentage of coarser particles. These soils drain fast, lose nutrients quickly, and are easily eroded. On the other end of the soil texture spectrum, clay soils have finer particles, hold water, retain nutrients, and are easily compacted. Most soils are composed of a mix of sand, silt, and clay with varying amounts of organic matter. You can quickly estimate your soil type by performing a soil texture “ribbon test” – a description of this can be found online (see, for example, How to test your soil - texture and/or Guide to Texture by Feel).
For water analysis, know your average annual rainfall, and decide how much additional water you are willing to provide through supplemental irrigation. Choose your irrigation methods (drip, spray, soaker hose), and check if you need to replace or update any existing irrigation systems.
Maintenance includes the weeding, deadheading, pruning, raking, and perhaps fertilizing required to keep the garden looking good. All gardens require some level of maintenance, but plant choice and design style greatly affect the level of that maintenance. Who will be maintaining your garden? What is their level of experience? How much time will be spent maintaining your garden? Your planting design should reflect your maintenance abilities. Formal gardens with many poorly adapted plants require skilled care and much more maintenance than naturalistic gardens with plants that will thrive under your specific cultural conditions.
Once you have created a base map and performed a site analysis you will know the growing conditions you can offer your plants. Now, you are ready to consider the remaining three questions that will be covered in upcoming Real Dirt articles. Happy Gardening!
This and three subsequent Real Dirt articles summarize the presentation Butte County Master Gardener Eve Werner created for the Butte County Master Gardeners Spring 2017 Workshop Series. For more information about the Master Gardener Program and their Public Education Series, please visit our website.