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1.) Where to Start?
Select trees, and shrubs first to build the backbone of the garden. Choose plants that have more than one season of interest, think about foliage, form, texture and lastly their flower color.
Example: 'Rainbow' Leucothoe and Tassel Fern
'Gold Fountains' Sedge and Blue Hosta
2.) What influences how you combine plants?
Put plants together like a collage, repeating forms, scale, texture and repeating colors
Example: Redbud 'Forest Pansy', Dwarf Barberry 'Crimson Pygmy',
New Zealand Flax 'Maori Sunrise', Fountain Grass 'Hameln', Helianthemum 'Dazzler'
3.) What connects the plants in a design?
Strong hardscaping features and repetition.
Example: a fence, or a path anchor the design;
a clipped hedge gives a solid back ground
4.) Contrast plays a important role in creating colorful plant combinations
Complementary color are opposite each other in on the color wheel.
Examples: green and red; blue and orange; purple and yellow
Plant Mt. Hemlock with dwarf barberry 'Crimson Pygmy' or large conifer like Douglas Fir plant with Variegated Redtwig Dogwood. Contrast plants of different textures
Example: Plants with big bold leaves with delicate and small leaves.Plant Japanese Aralia with Yew 'Brownii' or Heavenly Bamboo
Contrast plants with same colors (monochromatic) but different forms.
Example: Verbena 'Homstead Purple' and Salvia 'Blue Queen' the Slavia is tall and spiky and the verbena squat and round.
5.) Plants must have same requirements for sun vs. shade and dry soils vs. moist soils
Examples: Shade Plants for Dry Soils: Skimma, Tassel Ferns, Epimedium, and Bleeding Heart.
Sun Plants for Moist Soil: Ninebark 'Diabolo', Spirea 'Little Princess', Fountain Grass 'Hameln', and Daylily.