I'm curious about garden design. Are there any rules you all use to
plan your gardens (specifically pots)? For example:

Group flowers of the same color
Only one or two types of plants per pot
Mix certain colors (i.e. purple and yellow,, blue and red)
Use white sparingly
Group plants by texture
etc.

Thanks for the input,
Adam

On Sat, 10 May 2003 21:30:17 GMT, "Adam Schwartz"
wrote:

I'm curious about garden design. Are there any rules you all use to
plan your gardens (specifically pots)? For example:

Group flowers of the same color
Only one or two types of plants per pot
Mix certain colors (i.e. purple and yellow,, blue and red)
Use white sparingly
Group plants by texture

There are no "rules." All the points you mention are possibilities,
not laws.

"Adam Schwartz" wrote:

I'm curious about garden design. Are there any rules you all use to
plan your gardens (specifically pots)? For example:

Group flowers of the same color
Only one or two types of plants per pot
Mix certain colors (i.e. purple and yellow,, blue and red)
Use white sparingly
Group plants by texture

I plant anything that will thrive with minimal care in light
shade, in any cheap pots I can find, and put them wherever they
fit.

it's the "eclectic" look.

Tsu

--
To doubt everything or to believe everything
are two equally convenient solutions; both
dispense with the necessity of reflection.
- Jules Henri Poincaré

Adam Schwartz wrote:

I'm curious about garden design. Are there any rules you all use to
plan your gardens (specifically pots)? For example:

Group flowers of the same color
Only one or two types of plants per pot
Mix certain colors (i.e. purple and yellow,, blue and red)
Use white sparingly
Group plants by texture
etc.

Thanks for the input,
Adam

For container plantings, I tend to follow this general guideline: something
tall to provide height, something full to provide body and something drapey
to cascade and soften the sides. It doesn't necessarily have to be a single
"something" for each of these elements, but typically if you combine things
in uneven numbers, you will get a visually interesting and pleasing
combination. I also tend to follow a color scheme, but it doesn't require
strict adherence and sometimes a pop of a single bright color can really
jazz things up. And since I seldom design based on flowers, foliage color
and texture play a very significant role in my container planting, with the
flowers only complimenting the composition rather than driving it.

This same process governs the rest of my landscape as well - generally there
are three primarily layers of interest (and a few sub-layers as well) with
emphasis on foliar texture and color, flowers secondary. I do use a lot of
white to unify different areas of the garden - it is the single color that
draws the entire garden plan together as it is the one color that combines
with anything. Besides, white gives the garden luminance at night and many
white flowers have fragrance. It's a good thing!

pam - gardengal

go to steins, look for well balanced designs .. buy em if they are discounted enough
or copy them if not. Ingrid

"Adam Schwartz" wrote:

I'm curious about garden design. Are there any rules you all use to
plan your gardens (specifically pots)? For example:

Group flowers of the same color
Only one or two types of plants per pot
Mix certain colors (i.e. purple and yellow,, blue and red)
Use white sparingly
Group plants by texture
etc.

Thanks for the input,
Adam




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

It seems that when one reads most container gardening books, they make the
same rather inane comments as one finds in art commentary. "The furry
leaves of the yada plant complement the striking flowers of the blah-blah
plant, making for a pleasing combination of so-and-so spilling over in a
frothy confection of . . . " I suspect they are making a lot of the BS up
so that they have something to write about.

Most multi-plant container designs incorporate something tall and/or spiky,
something mounding, and something trailing -- but even that gets ho-hum
after awhile.

Here is a decent "planting recipe" site that I have used before, when I was
first getting into the container gardening thing:
http://www.fernlea.com/awesomeaccents/recipes.html
(but the site will try to sell you stuff, so be warned).

As always, there are no real rules. Put stuff in pots, make sure you pick
the right plants for the light and temp. requirements, and see what works.

-- pelirojaroja

"Adam Schwartz" wrote in message
news:Jbeva.544050$OV.514603@rwcrnsc54...
I'm curious about garden design. Are there any rules you all use to
plan your gardens (specifically pots)? For example:

Group flowers of the same color
Only one or two types of plants per pot
Mix certain colors (i.e. purple and yellow,, blue and red)
Use white sparingly
Group plants by texture
etc.

Thanks for the input,
Adam

I plant anything that will thrive with minimal care in light
shade, in any cheap pots I can find, and put them wherever they
fit.

it's the "eclectic" look.

Tsu

^5. I plant whatever I like, where ever I have space (within the realm of my
zone and soil/light conditions). My garden is *my* enjoyment and forget
"rules". I only have to please myself.


Just my 2 cents.........
Christine

What is steins?
wrote in message
...
go to steins, look for well balanced designs .. buy em if they are
discounted enough
or copy them if not. Ingrid

"Adam Schwartz" wrote:

I'm curious about garden design. Are there any rules you all use to
plan your gardens (specifically pots)? For example:

Group flowers of the same color
Only one or two types of plants per pot
Mix certain colors (i.e. purple and yellow,, blue and red)
Use white sparingly
Group plants by texture
etc.

Thanks for the input,
Adam




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

As I garden longer and longer, I put a lot of emphasis on foliage color and
texture. Flowers are great, but foliage is always there in or out of flower. I
like blue with pink, white or pale yellow. I don't like pink and yellow, yuk.
I'm drawn to variegated foliage in all the species of plants.

My big problem is design. So, I gave in and have a prairie garden. Things up
front are very tall, sometimes shorter deeper into the bed. I'm not fussy about
colors, but I don't like a lot of red. It represents anger and I don't have
much anger these days.

I follow certain things like using plants in odd numbers (3,5,7,9...).

Garden paths seem to be more and more important to me these days, as well. I
have very narrow paths because I'm a plant hound and hate giving up much space
to paths, but for the first time in my gardening life of 30 years (not my age,
just how long I gardened) I now have paths. To me, it gives the garden more
definition. Since my style is prairie and grassland(ish), it needs paths to
indicate it has some formality, though it's not formal.

I have taken to using plant markers so when someone walks in the garden they
don't have to ask me what this or that is. I use zinc markers and engrave the
plant name or write it with an indelible marker.

Shrubbery is also grown to accent their natural shape. I don't find shrubs into
poodle cuts are aesthetically nice to look at. My neighbor wanted me to do it
for them and though I know how, I told him the plant wants to be the shape it
is. In hostile climates (like ours in Texas summer) it's best to leave plants
to grow into their native shape and judiciously prune with sequiturs, bypass
being my favorite.

I can go on and on, but I garden for wildlife. The more life I can bring into
the garden, the more successful I feel. We stumbled on a hog nose snake,
yesterday. I believe they live on toads which is not my favorite thing, but we
just looked at it for a while and let it go back into the den.

Victoria


On Sat, 10 May 2003 21:30:17 GMT, "Adam Schwartz"
wrote:

I'm curious about garden design. Are there any rules you all use to
plan your gardens (specifically pots)? For example:

Group flowers of the same color
Only one or two types of plants per pot
Mix certain colors (i.e. purple and yellow,, blue and red)
Use white sparingly
Group plants by texture
etc.

Thanks for the input,
Adam