Plant collector or garden designer?

ooh, pretty!

Thanks. I saw it growing in the ditch during a country ride. I pulled the top off one and laid it in the garden. By golly, 2 plants grew. It reseeds well and likes shade! It's more wildflower than domestic.

Billyporter, thanks. Pirl recommended more lilies in the border too, and now with your recommendation I think I better do it. Maybe some bright, and then some light pink.

Thanks Sally!

This is a very interesting thread - and I think it raises some very good questions about ones approach to gardening. I think I have discovered that I am a combination of - well designer sounds rather illustrious - but I definately design areas from a hard landscaping perspective - 2 years ago we had to rebuild a part of our barn and put in a path to improve access (sorry, this is not one of the better pictures, but it gives you the idea). Once the area was created, I had a good general idea of what I wanted it to do - then I set about 'collecting' the plants - keeping a loose eye on colour, heights, and how they went together as far as timing/colouring/light requirements. Then, I wait. Just wait and see what happens.

I'm just at the point now, the second winter, that I am beginning to move things around - and that puts me back into the designer mode, but working within a certain framework. And that framework than goes on to inform how the next area works. I find now, after 10 years of working in this garden I find there is a definate flow to it - the paths seem to be forming loose concentric circles - both for the eye and for the feet. And I seem to be building vistas in, incorporating more and more areas. It is incredibly satisfying. But I can't say all of this was designed, so much, as carried in mind. And I am not sure how different those two ideas are.
Is design something that is 'finished', or is it more part of a process - one idea leading on to another. I'm hoping the second.

Welcome Laurie. I love the rustic look and the bed and pathway. My answer to your question would be no - it's a process that is never finished. Not in my garden anyway!

Welcome Laurie! I love the look of EVERYTHING in your picture! It would fit in so well here in Maine and reminds me very much of a place out in the country here.

thank you Victor -

So if it is never finished, where does that put us in terms of designer or collector?

Thank you pixie - nice to know it would be comfortable somewhere else - I always think that is the sign of a good traveller.

I don't think it changes anything! You can still keep adding, changing and removing while keeping an overall design in mind.

Laurie - such a beautiful photo. Your style works so well.

No garden should ever be considered finished: that equates with stale to me.

From Rainy Side Gardeners:
"My garden is not "designed." It's a horticultural lovefest..."

--Mike Darcy

My name says it all!!!

Although like others have said, I do try to design and I do work at composition and I move things around a lot. I have even taken design courses.

But to me its all about the plants. I just take joy in the beauty of each individual plant. I love to capture that beauty in photographs (but rarely do so... maybe my new camera will help!)

I do enjoy and appreciate good compositions I see elsewhere, but in my beds all I see are things that need fixing. even when other folks think mine are great, I don't believe them.

Oh, Pirl, perfect - a horticultural lovefest!!! Yes, that gives permission for all of it, including revelling in smell of freshly turned compost!

billyporter, I love your Tall American Bellflower. I'm going to try to find some. Do you think yours put roots down from the cutting or did the seed mature and fall off and germinate?

You're pretty cool in zone 5. I'll also have to see if it can withstand our heat and sometimes high humidity

This message was edited Jan 10, 2008 9:56 AM

3g's, right about now your heat and high humidity sounds good! (grin)

Good points plantaholic! Is anyone 'designaholic'??!!
Sally is cool in any zone!

possibly, Victor, try this: http://www.andysturgeon.com/portfolio/town.htm

Thanks Laurie, but I was kidding about a possible DG screen name. I just checked and there is not one - yet.

ooops, sorry - I hadn't noticed plantaholic as a name (sorry Pl2!) But I also think there are designaholics, and I think Andy Sturgeon falls into that camp - I like his work, but I do find it argues the point of which leads the construction of a garden: design or plants.

Laurie, that's lovely. It's not what I would have expected from an English garden. Your garden fits so well with the house, and the overall setting. Great job.

Thank you pollyk. I'm assuming the unexpected is in reference to Andy Sturgeon's work?

Your pathway is really lovely, Laurie.

Pirl, I am familar with Doss' pics and posts because she was very supportive and helpful to me when I first joined this board, looking for help with my blank canvas of a garden. She is always so positive and encouraging and her gardens are beautiful.

Victor, unfortunately I don't have the space for some of those flowering shade shrubs...though I sure wish I did. My yard/garden is really pretty small, I think. I do rely on many of the shade annuals you mentioned for my color, and I have one small chunk that gets partial sun where I have crammed a bunch of daylilies. So those only bloom for six weeks or so, then they look pretty bad. My husband is always pointing out plants he likes when we are out somewhere, and of course I have to break it to him that those are "sun" plants and we only have shade. I don't think he gets it! (he has zero interest in gardening). And of course he moans and groans every time he sees a new hosta I've brought home. Even though he has no real interest, I think he'd like to see more color out there than I currently have.

Looks nice! I see different colored hostas. Is that white astilbe toward the right rear? Have you any hellebores? Trillium? Don't give up! Lamium, sweet woodruff, ajuga?

Noreaster - looks wonderful! If he wants more colour, what about trying some crocosmia - there are some wonderful hybrids that would give you later summer colours of flame yellow right through to reds - and have you considered using Peonies? Mine stay in blossom for a good 8-10 weeks - and again, a good range of pure white right through to blood red. They do very well in quite deep shade - it looks like yours is more speckled - might be worth trying some (I believe they are fully hardy). And of course, hellebores and daphnes for their winter scent. Hellebore Mrs Jekyll has a lovely scent - can really fill the garden, thrives in deep shade, and fully hardy. Oh, and those gorgeous Primroses: Himalayan for its scent (yellow through the copper shades), and Vialli (spelling?) for their pink and purple torch heads! Excellent, hardy and fairly small - can tuck in anywhere.

I'm late to this thread - you have probably already gone through all of these suggestions - so apologies if I am repeating advice already offered. I love shade areas - I'm working on a very large woodland area right now, so you really touched my current soft spot.

Yes, that's white astilbe. I planted some red ones on the other side of the yard last summer, so I'm excited to see what those do next season. Also have the dwarf astilbe "Sprite" in another section. I do have many different hostas in that section, as well as on the other side of the yard...I feel that other section is more haphazard right now and needs some "designing". I'm curious to see how it looks this coming season, since some of my hostas should start getting a bit bigger. The fact that there are so many different shapes, sizes and colors with hostas is what makes me keep buying them, despite the fact that I really don't have room for all of them to reach their full sizes.

I've avoided Hellebores because the toxicity concerns me with my dogs...they probably would eat them but I understand those are particularly bad if they do. Unfortunately, so many of the woodland shade plants are considered pretty poisonous. I think Daphne, Mountain Laurel, and Azaleas and Rhodies are all pretty bad in that department. Of course, so is Lily of the Valley, which I have tons of.

I've never heard of crocosmia, Laurie, so I'll have to look that one up. And I had no idea peonies could grow in the shade. We have one on the side of the house that was there when we moved in. Maybe I could move that to the back somewhere so that I could actually enjoy it.
I

Here's a site that has dog-friendly plant suggestions for different sun areas:

http://www.petplace.com/article-printer-friendly.aspx?id=2557

Great link, Victor. I see that LOTV made their list of the top ten least wanted. We have a veritable ocean of that. If I could take all that out (no small feat), I'd certainly have room for many more plants...

I do also have Sweet Woodruff, which I love.

Check out the new Tag feature at DG. It will replace our favorites tool.

Geese you folks have really done nice things with your properties. Around here just a few have shown interest in really nice bed or spot development and design as you have shared.

Victor, nice thread. I just came in from a doing some pruning which is apropos to this discussion. I have an area of native shrubs and bramble on the property that I have been eying for years to incorporate into the "designed" part of the yard. So for many years I have been selectively pruning some of these shrubs within the mass of bramble.
In Dec. I planted a drift of narcissus and scilla and hyacinth on the edge of this mess. So today I began brush cutting everything down around these long pruned shrubs. Voila, a new shrubbery has appeared. I will now add a few more things that I have had my eye on to this area in the spring, thus the collector in me appears. It will be a grouping of shrubs. Not quite finished my whacking, so no pictures yet.

I would say that design for me comes first in the form of shape and flow, then foliage color, texture and size and lastly, the color and sequence of bloom. I became aware that I now buy plants more for the foliage and texture than for the bloom (with some exceptions) as the plants bloom time is so short in comparison to foliage. So when I decide to put a sword shaped leaf in a location then I decide what it will be, say an iris, then I decide which kind of iris and then the bloom time and color.

My big rule of thumb is that no plants are to be bought or ordered until I know where they are going and that I have listed them in my journal and that the bed is prepared by the time they arrive. This keeps the design focus as a priority and it also means that the plants can be put into the ground the minute I get home with them or if they arrive in the mail, as long as I have the energy and good weather.

But if I see a drop dead bloom, you can bet I will drag it home and wander about until I find it a home. Guilty many times. But now with DG, I am more likely to go home without it and do some research and then go back and get it. But this only work when I am on Island.

I think most of my designed spaces were dictated by the lay of the land what nature gave me to start with and the relationship of the beds to the house and drive and by the light and views. I followed what I was being told. Most of it works. A few beds seemed forced. A silly little one around a sundial which covers up the well head really bugs me.

I am now going to go back and enjoy all the wisdom and the pictures on this thread.
Pirls of wisdom
Victory gardens rule
Noreaster's Hard scrabble tales
amethystsm jewels
Polly's perfections
Laurie's lovelies
venu's views
big al's beauties
doc's dandies
and all the rest.

Thanks Patti. You have lots of discipline. Most of the time I order plants without knowing exactly where they're going. However, as my available space shrinks, that is becoming less so and I am forced to be more discriminating.

Lauire,

I'm not familiar with Andrew Sturgeons work, but will surely look it up. I was thinking of so many pictures you see of the cottagey gardens in England. Yours looks more woodsy American to me.

I love both styles. It's just not what I expected to see.

Patti, you could post a few pictures on here too, I know you have some lovely ones.

Here's the driveway shot, but in September. Two different crapes in bloom on the right and an agastache on the lower left.

Noreaster - I love your gardens!

Laurie, what a gorgeous setting. I could feel the serenity resonating from my monitor. I can't speak for Polly but when I think of English garden the cottage garden pops into my mind with rambling roses and tall foxglove. That's what made your garden unexpected for me.

Noreaster, your shade gardens make me wish I had more shade. You have a knack for having your gardens look like nature created them. Very pretty.
Victor, your fall shot of your driveway shows your talent for picking fall plants that burst with enthusiam. You have a very handsome driveway to say the least.
Everybody's contributions are inspiring to say the least!

Thanks. I love Noreaster's shade gardens too. You really don't need lots of flowers to have a fantastic shade garden.

I've been thinking about whether I'm a collector or a designer. I don't have very many plants yet so that probably means I'm not a collector. My gardens definitely don't look very well designed. So, where does that leave me? Probably somewhere in the middle. I'm working on getting more plants and I try to find an appropriate spot for them in the garden. I do spend a lot of time planning my containers that I plant annuals in - but those plans can fall apart once I get to the nursery and start buying plants and see so many more that I want!! Eleanor

It leaves you in a great spot, Eleanor - a clean slate! Have fun designing and collecting!

Thank you Victor, Pirl, and Venu. Our yard comes with a lot of built in natural features like rock ledge, so I think it would be really hard for me to achieve a formal look, even if I wanted to. Shade suits me too, because I really struggle to keep the few plants I have in the sun alive and perky looking...I can't keep up with the water needs sometimes. I think that's why I like daylilies and their seemingly total lack of need for TLC. I will still probably always have some degree of flower envy, though, when I look at this forum ;).

Eleanor, I think container planting with annuals is probably one of the things I enjoy most in the summer. It's just fun to experiment, I think. Plus, I like how fast they grow, lol.

Speaking of annuals, I thought of another one for color shade for anyone that is looking for options in that department. I found this Torenia "magenta moon" at a local nursery last summer and I really love the color...plus it bloomed all season. My two goals next season are to use a lot more of that in my containers that I have around the garden, and to find a spot to plant a good sized group of the chartreuse Hakonechloa grass.

A clean slate is a great spot to be in, Eleanor. You only need one to start a collection.

Venu, you did speak for me. Thanks. That is just what I envisioned English gardens to be.