Saturday, February 23, 2013

TUXEDO FRONT GARDEN - more plans

In my previous post about the plans I have for the front garden I talked about it being all blues and purples without the corresponding yellows and oranges one might expect.  I may be changing my mind. I am also thinking differently about how tightly I will space one particular plant and in a couple of cases am now planning on mixing 2 plants together in an area previously mapped for one.

The red area was earmarked for Delphinium. It still is in fact, but now it will be over a larger area and mixed together with grasses.
what a great combination - alliums and stipa tennuisima
Picture this shot from my "Gardens That Inspire" Pinterest board but replace those spires in the background with Delphinium.


Then mix them up a bit more evenly vs. the foreground/background layout and you can imagine what I now have in mind for that corner.

With that in mind I came across this great blog post on Delphiniums, which has this to say about companion plants:
"Where tall delphiniums will not work is in your meadow garden, among the unruly tufts of sedges and grasses, or in some similarly naturalistic setting. In those kinds of gardens they make the surrounding plants look shabby, and they themselves look as though they’re waiting to hook up with some randy sailors on shore leave."


I do not think I will back away from my plans; how could they stand out too much? While I am pretty good at taking advice this is going to be a place where I have to learn first hand.

The newly added orange circle is a great spot for the combo below.

Prairie Gayfeathers  (Liatris spicata) and Crimson Knautia .  The Gayfeather  might also look great inter-planted with Coreopsis...

Liatris are often under rated but can be really impactful en masse, which is clearly illustrated above.  While once I thought a monochromatic garden was for me, I am now leaning toward throwing in some complementary colours.

Perhaps some Coreopsis would work well with the Liatris?   I should be able to directly sow Coreopsis seeds here; a 70/30 Liatrias/Coreopsis weighting will be attractive so the yellow does not overwhelm.

Let me know what you think about either combination in the comments section at the bottom. 

4 comments:

  1. This sounds lovely. I love Delphiniums, but haven't been able to grow them. So instead, I grow Larkspur, a distant cousin, and they spread all over. I look forward to seeing this garden when it's complete.

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    1. Thanks for stopping in Christie. I will be sure to document my progress, but I am not sure it will ever be "complete". LOL

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  2. I am smiling about this post. I am very bad about making plans, and when I do, I rarely end up following them. I seem to like a hodge podge of colors, too. I just hope the time until we can get in there and dig goes by quickly.

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    1. For having had no plans to begin with your place sure looks great Sue.

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