Using Foliage to Create Three Season Interest

There are two main keys to choosing and grouping foliage: texture and shape. Before digging in that new bed, take the plants and try arranging them so that they form a pleasing mix of these elements. Shuffle until satisfied and only then place them in their designated spots in the garden. Note: This can be done at the nursery before purchase as well.

Texture

Essentially there are three main categories of foliage texture: fine, medium and broad. Too much fine foliage and the bed looks fussy; too much broad foliage and the garden looks heavy. The idea is to aim for a pleasing mix of the three textures in each area of the bed.

Plants with a fine texture are those with small leaves, less than the size of a penny, such as Russian sage, thyme, lavender, coreopsis, gaura, ferns, asters, astilbe and salvia. Some small-leafed plants, like the gaura and Russian sage are ‚”see through” in that the foliage is so sparse that even though they are somewhat tall they do not screen out shorter, fuller plantings that are behind them.

Many ornamental grasses also have very fine blades, like Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ which actually glows when the sun hits it from behind, or the 2009 Perennial Plant of the Year, Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, which is a golden grass that grows in horizontal waves – a beautiful front of the border plant in light shade.

Plants with medium texture have more substantial foliage – silver dollar size or more. These include heucheras, perennial geraniums, rudbeckia, echinacea, daylilies (although the tiny ones can have grassy, fine foliage), peonies, dahlias, campanula, calla lilies, Oriental poppies, begonias and many more.

Plants with bold texture include large leafed ones such as hostas, cannas, colocasia (elephant ears), petasites, castor beans and more.

A well designed garden groups contrasting foliages together. An easy way to do this is to plant in drifts of three to five of each type of plant – the number of plants in the drift being determined by the actual size of the plant.

For instance, one peony plant is substantial enough to make up a drift of its own. Contrast it with three daylilies and three coreopsis for a pleasing composition.

Taking Leaf and Plant Shape into Consideration

The overall shape of leaves affects both the appearance of the plant and its use in a pleasing design. While some grasses are fine textured, their long, thin shape is very different from the lacy texture of a fern. The two form enough contrast to work together.

The same goes for lance leafed plants such as daylilies – the overall shape of this plant is that of a fountain – much like the shape of miscanthus or fountain grass. This contrasts well with more upright plants such as peonies, as well as with those that form rounded clumps like geraniums and heuchera.

Hostas, mounded shapes with broad foliage contrast well with lacy ferns which are vase shaped and upright. They also work with fountain shaped plants and with the unusually shaped waves of Hakonechloa; because of the boldness of each leaf, they also work with almost any medium textured foliage.

Plants usually come in a variety of shapes: fountain, vase, fan, upright and mounded. Contrasting shapes is as important to a good basic design as is leaf texture. Study your plants and try arranging them while still in their nursery pots, aiming for a good contrast in texture and shape.