Perennials.....bed designs needed

I love to work in my flower beds, but I don't have the imagination when it comes to creating "full", "colorful" groups of plantings. Is there a rule of thumb as to the number of each plant I should purchase and plant together? I get to the nursery and just walk in circles overwhelmed by everything, and end up leaving with one of this, two of that resulting in sparse flower beds.

I currently have the following throughout: stella daylillies, shasta daisies, catnip, veronica blue, joseph's tears, flags, gladiolias, hostas, dianthus, tiger lillies, wild sunflower, purple cone flower (only 3; new this year), sedums, orange cosmos, star rose bush, red hibiscus, snap dragons.

Any designs you can share would be greatly appreciated.

I've read to always plant in groups of 3 or 5, and NEVER, EVER plant in a straight line!

Hi Funinthedirt. Here is a link to Better Homes and Gardens magazine landscape idea site. You can poke around, read about some plants you like, see how the plants are used and generally get some good ideas. I enjoy looking through there to get ideas and inspiration. When you have some ideas, any help you need or questions you have can come back here....grin

http://www.bhg.com/gardening/

Hi funinthedirt! You sound like me but if you have the patience to wait (and not many do )then in my experience I found planting two or three things at a time instead of in bulk will save you lots of agrivation and money unless you really have the money and elbow grease it takes to dig and fertilize and focus on just one area. If the few don't make it then your not out that much. I have enjoyed taking my time and introducing different plants, some bought and some given by friends and after a couple of years now am starting to reap the rewards and got the plants I wanted. I especially like the ones I received by friends they are the special ones. Sounds like you have a great start, just have fun and love the hobby.

You are a true gardener.

Perennial garden designs are tough (for me that is). The possibilities are limitless.

*You can go with a theme - perhaps a formal garden, cottage garden, or maybe a hummingbird garden.
*You can base it on the seasons - year round or seasonal.
*You can frame the garden by putting large grasses of the ends of the planting bed.
*You can put creeping in the foreground and height in the background.
*You can make an island and have the height in the middle that sweeps down to the creeping perennials.
*You can have a butterfly or hummingbird perennial garden.

Once I designed a perennial garden based on a piece of music. I assigned all the various brass and wind instruments with a specific perennial that I felt represented that instrument the best. As the music played I placed the specific perennials at specific points and filled in the gaps with ground covering perennials.

I also designed a garden based on a Monet painting (this one was a school project). It was based on looking down from a upper window and seeing the painting at specific time of year. That was a fun project.

Here is a design tip ... use coarse textures in the foreground and soft textures in the background to create the illusion of depth in a small planting bed or the opposite to create an almost wall like area.

Armitage's Garden Perennials: A Color Encyclopedia - this is a great book to help with getting ideas before you jump into getting a plant you may not what after a time (but as for gardeners this statement rarely is true).

Also, I know that that it is best to remember the color wheel from grade school. It has to do with colors clashing or creating one big blur.

We do the same thing..like a kid in a penny candy store. My goal this year is to have a set plan and I found a gardening coach that I will hire to help me draw up a plan and figure out how many of each plant that I need to buy. She came for an hour consultation($50 fee)but she was worth it, and I've been checking out numerous gardening books out of the library, and browsing over the ones I already have, to decide on how I want to implement the cottage garden look. I would like to try growing from seeds this winter but with hubby having another knee replacement surgery, I may not be able to follow through with that plan this coming Spring. I have thought about approaching a well know public gardens and ask if I could volunteer in the propagation dept. so I can learn how to best grow flowers from seeds. The gardening coach said she likes to plant 5 of each plant..I've always planted 3 so we will see what happens.
I never marked the color of my tulips/daffs when I planted them and when they start blooming I will have to take a picture to know what colors are planted where and mark them. Sounds like you have a good start on perennials already. Good Luck!

So glad that Pippi21 mentioned Garden Coaches. I've been doing that and find it a lot of fun plus a way to help people find the way to design their garden.

I would agree with all the suggestions. For many years I have been a plant collector. It sounds as if you have a great knowledge of plants and you have selected some color schemes you like. If you can narrow the plant selection and plant more of each of a few kinds, rather than a few of a lot of kinds. Does this make sense? Also, I try to have some "anchors in the garden with grasses and evergreens. This way, there is winter interest.

The "rule of threes" re: how many to plant is most often used, but I would say the "rule of odds" may work better so that you get waves of color rather than spots of color. Of course, it all depends on how big the plants will grow. When you make a drawing of your design, be sure to allow enough growing space for each plant. The nametags should tell you according to how large the plant is when you buy it. It usually takes about three years for plants to grow in. I use annuals to fill in spaces until the perennials grow in.

I have some more information at my blogs "How I Love to Garden" at kirbyplant.blogspot.com and "Garden Coaching in Winston-Salem, NC" at gardencoachws.blogspot.com

I also have a new page on Facebook, Garden Coaching and Landscape Design....Come for a visit!

A Garden Coach, what a great idea!

Is there a place on line that I can find one in my area? Any suggestions as to what I should ask before hiring one?

I have a huge garden area to fill and need LOTS of help. If I do this alone I'll end up buying all kinds of things that won't work together, waste money, and won't get the look I want. Problem is I love everything LOL.


Annie

Annie, some of our local nurseries offer landscape assessment services. You might ask if any in your area do so. They range here from $35 to $50 per hour consultation.

Thanks, themoonhowl !!!

Annie

You are too welcome, Annie. Good luck in your search.

See below for the connection to the garden coach directory which has a state by state list. I think this is a great new resource for gardeners for their homes, schools, etc. (I do community as well as individual projects). It's also a great professional option for landscape designers who want to offer something more basic and "do it yourself" than a full fledged garden design. I do it because I enjoy working with people in their gardens and combining my teaching and horticulture background. My blog goes into more detail. www.gardencoachws.blogspot.com or on Facebook at Garden Coach and Design.

http://gardencoachdirectory.wetpaint.com/

Again good luck!

I checked out the list, unfortunately none are close to me. I'd rather have someone who is able to come stand in my yard and have a good look than do it via e-mail. So I'm on the hunt for someone at a nursery nearby, but mostly looking at the blogs and pictures here at DG, Wow, unbelievably talented gardeners here!!

Annie

Also consider different shades of the same color, or a garden that has interesting leaf patterns/colors. A shade garden I did at church with coleus was a big hit and looked good all summer.

Some practical considerations re perennials:

Watch out for trees.
Shade is the enemy of ongoing colour in a flower bed.
Here at least, with (deciduous) trees (as long as they don't dry out beds too much), you can have colour in the spring. The analagous situation in natural settings, i.e. in local woodlands/woodlots, is flowering until the leaf canopy closes over. After that it's too dark.

The lily beetle has reached our area. Lilies (daylilies are fine), fritillaria and toad lilies are too much trouble to keep in mixed perennial beds.

Also wonder about 1-3-5-7 type advice with some perennials. Once established, many perennials (small and large) spread quite rapidly, e.g. spotted lamium or New England asters. It doesn't always make economic sense to plant 3 or 3+ of these plants in a group, when you are going to be reducing the size of the spread in 3 or 4 years. Better, for a perennial bed, to accept that it will look sparse in the first year or two and then great for the next year or two after that. Beyond about five years, it takes more skill to maintain a perennial bed so that there is colour throughout the growing season.

The most impressive perennial garden I have seen is Merlin's Hollow, Aurora, Ontario, Canada. There was no colour coordination at the time of planting. Yet the bloom times of the many different types of perennial seem to produce something of a natural colour coordination, e.g. cooler colors in spring and hotter colours in summer. Personally, I fail to see anything wrong with the colours or the associations among colours
in a perennial garden like that. Maybe it's to do with using hundreds of different types of plants, the maturity of the garden and also the need to group plants with similar requirements together.