You can avoid the pitfalls of having a border that looks regimented or that only looks good a short part of the growing season, by designing your garden intuitively. What is meant by intuitive? Simply put – allow more spontaneity into the garden by taking mood and emotion into consideration. Stand next to a favorite garden spot and think about what you are feeling. Whether it is a sense of serenity or whimsy, or the reassurance of naturalness; remember it is some type of emotional connectedness you are feeling.
So how does one begin to accomplish this in the modern mixed border? A quick primer on flower form may help. For instance, plumes create softness while spires tend to lead the eye upward. Button and umbel shaped flowers give defined focus, a place for the eye to rest. Plants such as grasses can be transparent or act like curtains (you want to know what is behind it). That old rule about larger perennials toward the back doesn’t always need to be adhered to if you want to create a little mystery.
One of the most important design concepts is to use more than one shape or element to make a garden more interesting. The importance of foliage can never be overstated. Not only does it create transitions to other areas in the garden but also it is indispensable for bold dramatic effects, or lacy and delicate features. With both flower and foliage, choose form first, then color. It is helpful to know that blue recedes and gives depth, while flowers in the red color zone are bright and appear to flow toward you. The use of color echoes or graduating hues of the same color is a useful idea: a combination of orange lilies, gailardia, and a rusty sedum is just one example.
Finally, I would like to suggest that wild habitats such as meadows play an important part in new ideas for American gardens. Instead of strictly adhering to English garden traditions, why not strive for a balance of the spontaneity of a wild lawn or field with the modern mixed border. Think about the wildflower meadow and how the flowers are scattered and repeated, creating a wonderful rhythm for our eyes to follow. Incorporating that scheme into our garden will give a greater impact than the bloom time of too many differing varieties.
Of course, I know you all still want the answer to that question – which flowers bloom the longest? So here is my short list of dependable bloomers. For red I would choose Knautia, a pincushion flower with non-stop blooms from July to frost. For white flowers the staff favorite is a variety of Shasta Daisy called ‘Thomas Killen’. Repeat blooming daylilies are always popular with a variety of colors available. For the blue and purple color field Echinops is valuable, along with the prolific Agastache (anise hyssop). My choice for purple would be Salvia ‘Purple Rain’. Achilieas are available in a wide range of colors and the variety ‘Credo’ is particularly good if you are looking for a soft yellow. Please consult the long blooming list in our catalog for more choices. This list would not be complete without mentioning ornamental grasses, which are increasingly popular for their drama and motion. Maybe this year you will experiment with, as well as experience, your garden.
Suzanne Wakefield