planting
Red hellicantemum
Seslaria autumnalis - needs to be cut back as it can get winter damage. Needs to be divided or replanted eventually. Senecio mal.
Blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis) is a superb drought-tolerant lawn alternative. You can keep it trimmed to look like a traditional lawn, or let it grow and see the awesome seed heads, which reach about 12 inches tall in late summer. Plant it in a hell strip, as in this image, and leave it alone. It’s native to the High Plains, Mountain West and Southwest, from Minnesota to Texas west to Idaho and Nevada and into Southern California.
8. Plant to emphasize garden subtleties. Look around your space and take note of its best characteristics. Woodland gardens are generally full of beautiful components that deserve to be noticed. Perhaps you will find a formation of boulders or a stand of vertical trees. By thoughtfully planting around these features, you can give them the attention they deserve. Notice how the natural coloration of this boulder is dramatically reinforced by the ghost ferns (Athyrium ‘Ghost’, zones 3 to 8).
japanese painted fern, button fern, hakonekola grass
6. Plant for textural interest. Few plants exhibit texture to the degree that ferns do. A frequent complaint regarding shade gardens is that there is little color other than the ever-present green. This perceived shortcoming can be used to great advantage, because the absence of competing colors causes the eye to notice subtler but equally beautiful things such as form and texture. autumn fern adds color dyopteris erythyosma
5. Plant to emphasize layering. The layered growth habit of certain ferns, such as this tassel fern (Polystichum polyblepharum, zones 5 to 8), provides unexpected interest in a shade garden. They can be used to create a focal point around the bend in a pathway or can really shine if planted on a slope at eye level.
4. Plant for architectural interest. Plants with good structure are standouts among the usual array of ground covers found in most shade gardens. Fortunately there are many ferns that fit the bill. Notice the beautiful vase-like structure of these ostrich ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris, zones 3 to 7). When planting ferns with architectural interest, be sure not to plant them too closely together. Proper spacing will allow them to be seen to best advantage.
1. Plant en masse for a soothing experience. Probably the No. 1 way to create drama in a garden is to limit the plant palette and install large quantities of those plants. My motto is this: Why plant one when you could just as well plant 50? Ferns, in particular, lend themselves to planting en masse because of their unique form and texture. If the group can be installed in a serpentine pattern, so much the better. Serpentine shapes have a relaxing effect on the brain. Notice how effective this mass planting of Korean traveler ferns (Thelypteris beddomei ‘Korean Traveler’, USDA zones 6 to 9) is in this woodland garden. Also notice how this planting lifts the eye and dramatically emphasizes the Japanese maple in the background.
Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis) This is the tree that gives us bay leaves for cooking and supplied the ancient Greeks with leaves for their heroes' wreaths — it's also called Grecian laurel. Left alone, sweet bay can become a good-size tree, but trimming and shearing can enforce the right size for a patio — in the ground or a big pot. It’s the perfect choice for a spot near the grill or kitchen; leaves for cooking will be handy, although they’re usually used dried, not fresh.
multi trunk arbutus marina
Fern Pine (Podocarpus gracilior) Here’s a plant so malleable, so Gumby like that you can shape it into all sorts of things: a shrub, a hedge, an espalier, a small tree. As a patio tree, trained with a single trunk and a roundish top, it’s delicate, weepy, graceful, deep green and very easy to grow. It's not actually a fern or a pine; the name comes from the lacy leaves that are so slim, they look like needles. USDA zones: 8 to 10 Water requirement: Moderate Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade or almost full shade Mature size: 20 to 30 feet tall and 10 to 15 feet wide when trained as a tree Growing tip: Maintain a tree shape by pruning off side branches from the lower trunk and letting the top grow bushy (snip off the top to increase bushines
Perhaps garden design in the future will treat trees in small spaces almost as sculptures or living works of art. Whatever happens in the future, there is no doubt that our smaller gardens would not be the same without the benefit of trees. Shown: Japanese maple (Acer palmatum)
Multistems. Multistem trees combine elements of both trees and shrubs; their benefits make them a great choice for smaller gardens. They can fill a small space while creating a feeling of openness that is not always achieved with a single-stem tree. They provide the benefits of a larger foliage mass and often the decorative impact of beautiful bark. Not all standards can be grown as multistem trees, but silver birch (Betula sp) is a favorite. As a standard tree, it would be far too large for a small garden, but it’s perfect as a multistem. Other good examples include the paper-bark maple (Acer griseum), snowy mespilus (Amelanchier lamarkii) and the Japanese angelica tree (Aralia elata ‘Variegata’). Shown: Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia sp)
Pleaching. Pleaching is a method of growing trees, usually in a straight line, with the branches of the trees tied together and clipped to form a flat plane above the bare trunk. The branches are tied to canes or wire and are regularly pruned to keep their shape. Some species used have the tendency to naturally graft themselves onto one another. This method is similar to the traditional espalier system of growing fruit trees against walls, except that neighboring espaliered trees do not connect and grow into each other. And pleached tree foliage tends to be higher up on the trunks, or stilts, as garden designers call them. It takes a lot of work to train and maintain pleached trees, although today they are more widely available as already trained specimens. This method is making a comeback as gardeners and garden designers utilize the ability of pleached trees to create privacy and block wind and sound while creating a wildlife environment in a limited space.
agave blue glow with euphorbia porteguese velvet
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