How does your eye move through your garden?  Does it stop and start?  Does your eye move smoothly around then rest in one spot?

The diagram below illustrates the use of height to achieve rhythm.  We start with medium plants on the end, go to short plants, medium plants again, a tall plant in the center, another medium plant, back to short plants and finish off with a medium plant on the other end.

Rhythm by Height

Rhythm can also be achieved with color or particular plants.   Yellow, or one specific color, dabbed through out a boarder moves your eye around.    One specific plant can be used in the same way.  Iris or medium tall ornamental grass serves as exclamation points to move your eye around a bed.

The spacing of the color or plant, or height arrangement influences the style of the garden.  Evenly spaced and the same number of plants gives a formal look or feel.  Different spacing and a varying number of plants in a group give a more casual look or feel to the garden.

The picture below is a 21 foot long with two Iris spaced three feet a part repeated five times down the boarder.    The resulting rhythm gives a formal feeling to the boarder.

Formal Rhythm

(Editor’s Note:  Shapes and colors represent no particular plant, except where noted. Drawing is not to scale.  Not intended for installation.)

To achieve a less formal rhythm, the picture below has three Iris on the end, one Iris four feet down, then six iris seven feet down from the previous clump.  The result is a more casual feeling boarder.

Informal Rhythm

(Editor’s Note: Shapes and colors represent no particular plant, except where noted. Drawing is not to scale. Not intended for installation.)

In the first example of height, the tall plant in the center would be referred to as the focal point. The focal point is the place your eye rests. As the garden designer, you decide where the viewer’s eye should rest. A basic principle of garden design is to select a focal point then add frames to show off the focal point. Think of a painting in a museum with its ornate frame and multiple mattes framing the painting so you can’t miss it. The same concept applies to your garden.

The tricky element of garden design is the focal point often changes. A Magnolia in bloom is the focal point of the spring garden. When its bloom is done something else needs to take its place. This changing of focal point can be either frustrating for fun. Frustrating in that what looked looks spectacular in bloom doesn’t look so great when the bloom is done. Fun, in that you can have an entirely new garden every few weeks. Select another area or plant to be the focus and add frames or select a plant that looks great in or out of bloom.

American Style Garden

English, French, Victorian, Modern American, Japanese, Natural, Goth.  These are all garden styles.   What is your garden style?  Do you like one of everything as in the English tradition?  Do you like large groups of a few plants arranged in layers as in the Modern American tradition?  Do you like the structure of the Japanese style?  Or do you like the more spontaneous natural look of a wildflower garden?  There is no right or wrong style its all up to the gardener.

Where I notice problems occurring is when garden styles begin to mix in the same bed.   You have seven Annabelle hydrangeas,  five boxwood, three grasses, two cone flowers, one rose, one wiegela, two spiraea, one daisy, one coreopsis……    The list starts out orderly.  You practically picture the layers as in Modern American style and then the list goes on with one of many plants as in English style gardens.

If you are fortunate enough to have oodles of space, different beds can have different styles.  Additional design work will be necessary to tie it all together but, it can be done.  Defining your style will give you a calm, consistent look instead of a faltering garden you want nothing to do with!

Japanese Style Garden

Sunny Perennial Garden

Did last year’s garden just look okay?   Or did it look good while things were in bloom then pooped out?  Or did it flat out just not look right all season long?  If this was the situation in last year’s garden, let’s set the intention to have a great garden this year.

Don’t worry about what the improvements will cost or the amount of work to get there.  Let’s take these next few dreary months and study garden design.  So, when the weather warms up and you make that first trip to the garden center you’ll make an educated purchase instead of an impulse buy.

My goal for the next few months is to educate you about garden design through a series of posting on garden design principles.  My intention is to give you a critical eye to improve your garden, not necessarily  design an entirely new garden.   However, if that’s what the situation warrants the postings will get you on your way.

The garden design principles I’ll touch on are style, color, shape, texture, order, unity, and rhythm.  Over the next few weeks when you see a garden photo make a mental note of what catches your eye.  What do you like about the garden in this photo?

Just like the grocery store you buy things that aren’t good for you, or something you already have, or something looks so good you just have to have it. It is just like being hungry. You don’t think straight. You just start buying.

You order that ribbon grass because it will look so good with the Coreopsis. You get the Rudbeckia to fill the space in the back of your boarder. You order the Clematis for your mailbox because it will look fabulous blooming all summer.

Then, by late summer you can’t find the coreopsis because the ribbon grass and the Rudbeckia have taken over the bed and are now having a turf battling. The Clematis bloomed nicely in June, but has since produced just a few sporadic blooms and the leaves have turned a funny green color. The plants don’t look anything like they did in the catalog. You soon realize, you’ve been betrayed.

Catalogs lie. All they want to do is sell plants! They don’t care how much space you have, or how visible a plant will be, or how much sun or water a spot gets. The catalog did its part. They sent you live plants and they grew.

Okay. I’m being dramatic and sarcastic. Plant catalogs are wonderful. They give us hope that spring will come and life will return. Yes. A plant catalog’s main purpose is to sell plants. Would you purchase a Clematis if the photo was of a crisp brown vine with the description: “Flush with blooms in mid-June, then becomes chlorotic with sporadic blooms the rest of the summer.” No. But you’ll fall for the blooms all summer line! And technically, it does. To avoid disappointment you need to do a little homework.

It is always best to check a plant in more than one source. Catalogs can be a good source of what a plant should look like in perfect conditions. However, check other sources, such as garden magazines, books, websites, garden columns, or ask other gardeners.

Sources I rely upon are:

Manual of Herbaceous Ornamental Plants by Steven Still

Armitage’s Manual of Annuals, Biennials, and Half-Hardy Perennials by Allan Armitage

Manual of Wood Landscape Plants by Michael Dirr

The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses by Rick Darke

Manual of Bulbs by John Bryan and Mark Griffiths

Most of the books are available in the reference section of your library. Check at least three sources. All the sources won’t agree, but you will get honest information on how the plant performs. As an example, most source will tell you our above mentioned ribbon grass, Phalaris arundinacea, is a runner.

Oh! Something else – be sure to use the botanical name when researching a plant. That way you know you’re gathering information on the same plant in each source. If the botanical name doesn’t match it isn’t the same plant.

So, grab your pile of catalogs and some reference books and start the plant’s adventure with a little investigation. It is a great way to spend a cold winter day!

Poinsettias get all the attention this time of year.    You see them everywhere:  In the grocery store, the drug store, the garden center, even the big-box super stores.  If you are looking for something different, not so fickle, and much easier to get to re-bloom, try the Amaryllis.  You’ll most likely have to go to the ‘little guy greenhouse’ to find one,  or order from a bulb company, but I’m sure you will see the extra effort is worth it.

Amaryllis occur naturally on the coastal hills and stream banks of the southwestern seaboard of Cape Province,  South Africa.  They are a late summer/early autumn bloomer.    Around here we can get them to bloom for the holiday season or beyond with a little manipulation.

The Amaryllis you’ll find right now in the garden center were potted in early-November.   They are going to look like a large onion sticking out of a pot with a green pointed stalk emerging.    Place the pot on a  warm, sunny window sill and watch it grow - by inches some days.   When it does bloom, depending on the variety, you will get multiple blooms out of the bud.

I’m always amazed at how much flower comes out of the bud!  I think  I get more excited about the daily growth and anticipate the bloom more than the holiday itself.

Amaryllis make beautiful centerpieces for your buffet table, dinning table, can accentuate an end table, or bathroom counter top.   They also make great gifts for all your gardening friends.

Once the Amaryllis is done blooming the leaves will emerge.  Keep the plant watered and fertilize with liquid fertilizer once a month.  Once the weather has warmed up the plant can go outside.  By late August the leaves will begin to die back.  Once all the leaves have died back  point move the pot to a cool corner in your basement and stop watering the plant for about six weeks.    Bring the pot out to  a warm sunny location and begin watering again.  No need to repot.   Amaryllis like to be root bound and hate having their roots disturbed.   After the second blooming consider repoting it simply give it new soil.

Enjoy your Amaryllis and Happy Holidays!

The start of the Garden Walk

Ever be out walking the dog or on your morning run and wonder ‘what does the backyard of that house look like’?  Why not find out by planning a garden walk in your neighborhood.  Approach your neighborhood association if you have one or if you have a great garden open your garden and invite your neighbors.

Make it a simple week night event, for just a few hours.  You are guaranteed to not only meet your neighbors, but make new friends too. Go ahead and do it!  Your garden is a work in process.  It will never be perfect.

The photos on this post are from a garden walk held in my neighborhood.  Everyone had a wonderful time and can’t wait till next one!

Lynn & Kathy in a garden restored from puppy damage.

Lynn & Kathy in Mary's shade garden.

Tom & Jay inspect Direka's Water Feature

Barbara in Jay's Coneflower Garden.

Zonnie and Lynn in Direka's Garden

Blue Clematis along the way.

The end of a fantastic evening in Barbara and Victor's Garden

Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'

Plants are smarter than we think.  They tell us things all the time, if we take a moment to listen.  Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ tells us when to watch for Japanese Beetles.  Watch for Japanese Beetles in your garden when the flowers of H. arborescens ‘Annabelle’ change from green to white.  How is it that Annabelle knows this?  Plants know when to do, what they are supposed to do, base on something called phenology.  Phenology is the accumulation of temperature (degree days), rainfall, and daylight.   Insects run on a similar schedule.

There is a great book by Donald Orton, Coincide The Orton System of Pest Management, with charts of what are called indicator plants.  When a particular indicator plant is blooming, or leafing out, or changing color, there is a list of pests that are present in the garden on other plants.  This is a wonderful, simple method for pest management and helps every gardener save time and prevents from applying pesticides (organic, of course) at the wrong time.

Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Blauer Prinz'

Hydrangeas are a great mystery to their owners.  Some bloom.  Some don’t.   Why, you ask?

The reason most plants don’t bloom is because they don’t get enough sun.  Somewhere along the way Hydrangeas, Hydrangea macrophylla in particular, got billed as a shade plant.   If you have ever visited a southern state you’ve probably noticed how much stronger there, than here in southeastern Michigan.    In southern regions they do need protection from the sun and that may mean shade.

In the past three to five years new varieties of Hydrangea macrophylla have been developed to bloom on new growth.  Many of the gorgeous southern varieties bloom on the previous season growth.  The tip contains the bud for the next season.  Here in southeastern Michigan the tips of the previous season’s growth typically die off from cold winter temps.   That may be why your Hydrangea macrophylla doesn’t bloom.   Next time you take a walk about your garden pause and notice where the blooms are coming from  - old wood vs. new wood?  Pruning may also be the culprit for lack of bloom on all varieties of Hydrangeas.  (That is another post on its own!)

As for H. paniculata and H. quercifolia, they need sun to bloom too.  Have you ever seen a H. quercifolia blooming on just one side?  Upon closer observation I bet you’ll see the side with blooms is the side that gets sun.  Same goes for H. paniculata.

Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'

Hydrangea qucercifolia 'Snow Queen'

According to Michael Dirr, the foremost authority of woody plants,  he claims the only Hydrangea to bloom reliably in the shade is H. arborescens ‘Annabelle’.    He notes the blooms will be smaller and more abundant in the shade than if given sun.

There can be many other reasons for your Hydrangea to not bloom but not enough sun is most likely the problem.

Watch for posts on why your Hydrangeas are pink when they use to be blue and why your green leaves are various shades of yellow.

One way I enjoy my garden is to take my morning cup o’ tea out to the garden and look at the plants.  (My neighbor thinks I’m crazy.  He’s barely awake and I’m out in my garden already!)  I admire the plant combinations, plant shapes, leaf textures,  and my most favorite - how the morning light reflects the color of the flowers and leaves.  This serene morning walk also lets me keep an eye on things so I can stay a head of pests and diseases.

Things I also observe are leaf color, leaf size, growth rate, flower size, and flower shape.  I look at the ground to see if leaves or flowers have fallen off,  have little seedlings popped up, are there slime trails on Hosta leaves, black soot or white powder on  leaves.  All these things are indications of problems.   The sooner they are caught and treated the less serious the problem.    Check back over the next several weeks and I’ll write about the problems I see and the solutions.  Please post the problems you see in your garden.

You come home from work and see the buds on your Cone Flowers (Echinacea purpurea ) are drooping! You immediately get the hose and give them a good dose of water just as any diligent gardener does when they see a wilted plant. Is this the correct action or could we be doing the plant harm? I know what you are thinking - but…but…the plant is wilted, it must need water!!! Let’s step back a minute and examine the conditions before we pour water on ANY wilted plant.

First off, is the blazing hot, late afternoon, sun beating down on the poor wilted plant? If so go back and check the plant one hour after the sun has moved off the plant – as in the plant has been in the shade for one hour. Is it still wilted? If yes, then water it. If no, the plant is fine, no need to do anything. A wilted plant that recovers without being watered is simply conserving water by stopping its transpiration process. (Transpiration is the loss of water from the plant, mostly from the leave’s stomata. Stomata are pours in the leaves that let out gases and water vapor.) Transpiration will stop when a plant is threatened by sudden temperature increases, prolonged high temperatures, or prolonged dry periods. Pouring water on a plant, when it has stopped transpiring, will leave its roots sitting in water. Roots that sit in water will rot and eventually die. This condition is referred to as dry rot.

There are some plants prone to shutting down with hot sun– Hydrangea macrophylla, Leucanthemum x superbum, Echinacea purpurea, Heuchera sp., - that is just what they do. Perhaps, with these plants, a location that doesn’t get hot afternoon sun is called for.

Some argue if the plant has enough water it should never get to the state of shutting down. One needs to consider weather conditions the plant has been under or is it newly transplanted to different conditions, before such a statement can be made. Here in southeast Michigan we have gone for weeks with temps in the upper-60’s to low-70’s to the low-90’s in just a few days. The poor plants need time to adjust to the heat just like humans!

So,if you arrive home from work and see your plants in the blazing sun wilted, not need to panic.  Go inside, change your clothes, get a glass of lemonade, sit down and watch the plant recover too.