Good Neighbors
Gardeners who are interested in creating perennial beds and borders concentrate on combining plants that look good together, and flower at the same time.
Using plants so they enhance each other in ornamental plantings is the highest form of our art. One way to come up with good combinations is to visit public parks and gardens for inspiration. Another method is to simply pick a flower from one spot in your garden and walk around with it – testing to see what goes with what, and when. I didn’t do that when I planted the daylily ‘Corky’ among the warm-colored flowers of the crescent border. ‘Corky’ has small lemon-yellow blossoms on practically invisible aubergine stems, making the plant look like a flight of butterflies.
When ‘Corky’ bloomed, I realized that the flower color just did not work. So, I switched it with ‘Golden Chimes,’ a similar daylily variety with Kodak-yellow flowers. ‘Corky’ went to the bed beneath the aged magnolia with cool blues and soft greens. Success!
Perennials are a moveable feast; if at first you don’t succeed, try again. That’s what I call “trowel and error.”
One other way to learn about plant partnerships is in a new handy guide book by this week’s guest Tom Fischer — Perennial Companions: 100 Dazzling Plant Combinations for Every Season with photographs by Richard and Adrian Bloom of the famous English nursery, Blooms of Bressingham.
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