One of my neighbors loves my gardens, the other doesn't complain about
them much but does frequently remind me that I am planting things too
close together. I typically look up a shrub, see how fast it grows
and how large it will get, how much it can be pruned and whether this
will damage the look, and then plant as close as possible to
surrounding plants. I have spireas planted about three feet apart
that are said to get 5x5 eventually. I like the effect of different
shrubs and perennials growing together and forming a mass of different
textures and colors, rather than a plant here and there with tons of
pine bark, rock, etc around it. I was curious how other gardeners
feel about this. Do you feel that planting things closely together
creates an unattractive landscape or the opposite? More importantly,
am I likely to shorten the lives of some plants by not giving them
enough breathing room? I tend to plant some things like roses with a
lot of space between them and small short plants underneath and around
roses which allows good air flow, but I am wondering about other
things.