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Landscaping

A Garden Is Living Art in Nature

May 1, 2022

Occasionally I ask myself, “Why do I garden?”  It takes work, can be expensive, things die.  But to answer my question: “I feel alive in the beauty of my garden.”  The garden, for me, is like living within an artist’s painting.  As a career, my mediocre talent would have rendered me a fair but struggling artist.  But in the garden, I get to create my artistic voice—a composition filled with shape, color, texture, and mood.

Gardening inspiration varies by gardener
Gardening holds a variety of interests for different people.  Some are fascinated by unusual plant varieties; others are horticultural enthusiasts who seek scientific knowledge of plants; some approach gardening as a contribution to environmental health; others maintain a garden to improve the appearance of their home and play space.  Mine happens to be simply an artistic experiment in visual appeal.

For the most part, I’m happy with the landscape I’ve created over the years—except this one, small, oblong, garden space near the driveway.  I’ve tried so many different things:  ornamental grasses, roses, daisies, ajuga, and marigolds.  Who can’t grow marigolds?  I’ve had the soil tested and know the dirt is really good.  Moisture levels and drainage are fine.  I’ve even tracked an entire year of sun and shade patterns.  So, what’s wrong?  The area is just dull, uninteresting, and unappealing.  It needs to be replanted.  And I’ve decided to tackle it like an artist preparing to paint a masterpiece.

Creating a plan
Many techniques for creating a good painting and a pleasing landscape are actually quite similar.  Each requires thinking about composition, focal point, color choice, and movement or directional lines.

Small garden plot of mixed perennials and shrubs
Newly planted mixed perennial bed

Artists will often begin by creating a rendering of the envisioned painting.  Likewise, I started this replanting project by creating a plan.  I measured the area (8 feet by 16 feet) and sketched a rough outline.  I showed both the straight and curved edges of the oblong, and I highlighted the portion that receives full afternoon sun in summer.  I noted the most important existing feature—a ‘Bloodgood’ Japanese maple tree—and the least attractive feature—a telephone utility box.  Then I noted conifers in my neighbor’s yard that would become the background for my “painting”—Hinoki false cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) and a large cedar tree.  These elements defined the starting point of my composition.

Composition for a painting and for the landscape involves shapes, sizes, groups, and patterns.  It involves how these masses are arranged relative to each other and how they direct the eye along curves, lines, or see-through spaces.  Every composition needs a focal point and mine will be the Japanese maple.  The tree is perfectly situated off-center in the oblong, its branching structure frames a distant azalea bed, and its burgundy-red leaves define my color palate.  Everything else in the area will become supporting elements to this primary focal point.

The utility box needs camouflage.  The area in front of the conifers needs to be softened and brightened.  The sun-baked, curved edge at one end of the planting bed requires a different treatment than the shady area beneath the maple tree.  And the viewer’s eye must travel the length of the planting bed, pausing at secondary points of interest, before arriving at the primary focal point.  An artist can create these effects using objects of different shapes and sizes, color and light, and the angle or direction of brush strokes.  My design challenge is similar.  But instead of using paint and brush strokes, I must choose plants that create the visual effect I want and that tolerate the growing conditions of my space.

Selecting the elements of my living art
I decided on a grouping of Otto Luyken laurels and hydrangeas to transition from the conifer background to the planting bed, to introduce a different leaf texture, and to brighten the area with white and pink blossoms.  The hydrangeas will grow to partially obscure the utility box, as will a grouping of penstemons, or beardtongue.  The burgundy foliage of the penstemons replicates the color of the Japanese maple and helps the eye skip from the front of the bed to the focal point.

I heightened the interest under the maple tree by grouping hostas, heuchera, and Japanese forest grass.  The white and lime-green leaves of the hostas and forest grass will brighten the shady area and contrast nicely with the burgundy heuchera foliage.  A row of yellow-blooming coreopsis follows the curve of the lower edge of the bed and directs the eye toward the maple tree.  The coreopsis is underplanted with Cerastium tomentosum ‘Snow in Summer’ for its white flowers and silvery, fine-textured foliage.  A final nod to contrasting textures and repeating colors comes from a grouping of red and yellow day lilies.  Their spiky leaves and tall flower stalks will shoot up between the hydrangeas and the coreopsis to offer another element of interest in the garden.

Cerastium tomentosum 'Snow in Summer'_Jim Janke_CC BY 4.0
Cerastium tomentosum ‘Snow in Summer’
Coreopsis 'Jethro Tull'. Commonly called tickseed.
Coreopsis ‘Jethro Tull’
Penstemon digitalis 'Blackbeard'. Commonly called beardtongue.
Penstemon digitalis ‘Blackbeard’
Hydrangea macrophylla 'Mini Penny'
Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Mini Penny’
Japanese forest grass. Hakonechloa macra_Lucy Bradley_CCO
Japanese forest grass
Heuchera 'Palace Purple'_Kathleen Moore_CC BY 2.0. Commonly called coral bells.
Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’
Hosta 'Mediovariegata'
Hosta ‘Mediovariegata’

As I muse about my garden, I recognize that my enthusiasm comes from the artistic endeavor of design and that my joy comes from seeing the final composition.  I garden to create spaces that convey a visual message—some quiet and tranquil, some exuberant and colorful, some invitations to explore, and some reflecting memories of people and places.  My garden is my canvas—my contribution to art through nature.

Article written by Beth Leonard, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

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Categories General Gardening, Landscape Design Tags landscape design, soil-full musings

Gardening Video: Managing Water in Your Garden

September 27, 2021

Gardening in the Mountains presents:
Managing Water in Your Garden

Check out the latest gardening video on the Buncombe County Master Gardener website.  Explore cost-effective and environmentally sustainable methods for managing water use in the gardens of Western North Carolina where summer rain patterns can be too little, too much, or not at all. To access this video, click on the link below:

Managing Water in Your Garden

Or go to www.buncombemastergardener.org , click on the ‘Gardening Videos’ tab at the top of the page, and select the video from the list provided.

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Categories Gardening Videos, Water Management Tags irrigation, rainwater, stormwater management, waterwise gardening

Gardening with Variegated Plants: Pros and Cons

April 30, 2020

Do you love trying new plants to add a little extra “zing” to your garden? If so, you’ve probably bought or lusted after a plant or two with variegated leaves or flowers. Variegation means that leaves have white, yellow, or other colors in addition to green, or flowers that have multiple colors rather than solid color petals. The variations may be regular bands, edges, patterns, or wild splotches. Although you can find annuals, houseplants, perennials, shrubs, trees, and even herb and vegetable plants with variegation, they are the exception, not the rule. Growing these unusual plants comes with both risks and benefits!

What causes variegation?
Variegation occurs for many reasons.
• It comes naturally. Where variegation has evolved over generations of plants, the plants’ seeds produce new plants with the same characteristics. This pattern variegation may occur in flowers or leaves.

Dragon’s Eye Pine (Pinus densiflora ‘Oculus-Draconis’) with variegated needles (leaves)

• It spontaneously occurs as a “sport” or chimera. Plant can spontaneously produce sections that have cells with two distinct genetic characteristics through mutations. You may spot a branch on a plant you are growing that looks different from the rest of a plant: while most leaves are solid green, one section has white patterns. In this case, if growers want to propagate new plants with this variegation, they must do so vegetatively—from a portion of the parent plant—rather than from seed. The houseplant golden pothos (Epipremnum pinnatum) is easily propagated from cuttings. ‘Night Sky’ petunias are propagated through tissue culture to produce plants that have purple flowers with white splotches—but these patterns vary with temperature (see “For more info below”).

Golden Pothos

 

‘Night Sky’ Petunia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• It is a symptom of a viral disease. Many variegated plants produce their color variations because of viruses. The most famous example is early generations of tulips that displayed color breaks when infected with tulip breaking virus—as you might expect these tulips eventually declined and contemporary tulips with these distinctive markings are genetic variations, rather than diseased bulbs. Similarly, many variegated Hosta varieties were found to be the result of Hosta virus X and their introduction led to an HVX epidemic and subsequent virus testing of new varieties to try to contain its spread. However, some Camellia varieties with multicolored flowers are plants bred with Camellia yellow mottle virus, and some brightly colored Canna varieties are selections of plants with Canna yellow mottle virus.

Camellia

 

 

 

 

 

‘Bengal Tiger’ Canna

Pros of variegation
The primary advantage of variegation to gardeners is the plant’s distinctive appearance. These plants can serve as important focal points in your landscape design.

Lavender

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Variegated Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum var. pluriflorum ‘Variegatum’)

From the plants’ perspective, variegation may protect plants from herbivores in a variety of ways (Lev-Yadun, 2015). Other researchers are investigating if white patches on variegated plants might facilitate photosynthesis (the process plants use to process sunlight into glucose) when temperatures are low, helping them survive lower temperatures than solid green plants.

Cons of variegation
Some people just don’t like variegated plants and gardeners certainly risk having garish landscapes if they overuse them! Linda Chalker-Scott, Extension Urban Horticulturist, describes variegated plants as “tarted-up” and notes they often looking “environmentally stressed and/or diseased.”
• Weaker growth/Failure to thrive. In fact, some variegated plants don’t do as well as their unvariegated counterparts. Because variegated leaf sections don’t have the chlorophyll of green sections, photosynthesis is typically less efficient, and many variegated plants show weaker growth. Similarly, variegated plants that carry viruses may decline because of the viral infection or even pass the disease on to related plants in your landscape.
• Reversion. Another problem is variegated plants that are “sports” or chimeras may revert to solid green—if you see such new growth, remove it immediately!
• Propagation issues. Unless you know the source of variegation in your plants, you may have difficulty producing more plants—especially from seed. Also, many variegated plants are patented and cannot be propagated for resale without permission.

Article by Buncombe County Extension Master Gardener Volunteers

For more information:

Variegation:https://irrecenvhort.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-prop-glossary/03-genetic-selection/22-genetic-variegation.html

Lev-Yadun, Simcha (2015). The Proposed Anti-Herbivory Roles of White Leaf Variegation. In U. Lu ̈ttge, W. Beyschlag (eds.), Progress in Botany, Springer International.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simcha_Lev-Yadun/publication/300009810_The_Proposed_Anti-herbivory_Roles_of_White_Leaf_Variegation/links/592b28ad0f7e9b9979a95996/The-Proposed-Anti-herbivory-Roles-of-White-Leaf-Variegation.pdf

Viruses and ornamental plants:https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/PDIS-11-11-0928-FE

Night sky petunias:https://www.zmescience.com/science/night-sky-petunias-03042019/

Linda Chalker-Scott:http://gardenprofessors.com/tricky-tricolor-leaf/

Why plants lose their variegation:http://gardenprofessors.com/why-doesnt-my-plant-look-like-it-did-last-year/

 

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Categories General Gardening, Landscaping Tags cultivar, flowers, landscape planning, propagation, Variegated plants

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