This is an example of a successful monochromatic flower border. It may look deceptively simple but it is not easy to achieve. Notice how shrubbery and trees act as an effective background for the white flowers.This three-part posting was prompted by an e-mail from a reader asking me how she might improve her flower beds. Her problem was two-fold. First of all, she has been gardening for over twenty years and her landscaping still look like a “hodge podge”. Secondly, there was only a limited budget available for gardening. Here is an elaborated version of my reply.

To create an attractive looking garden that will not look like a "hodge podge", one needs a master plan to help shape the appearance of the garden. This chapter deals with two major elements of garden planning: staging and color.

Staging: Just like the background sets in a play or a movie, a garden needs background scenery to enhance it. Trees, vines and ornamental shrubs create an effective proscenium to showcase the garden. A wall is never enough. If the garden is located in an island in the middle of a lawn, pay attention to what is behind the island, even if it's at a distance.

Color scheme: 

There are four dominant color schemes for gardens: Hot, pastel, monochromatic, and multicolor. Hot refers to reds, oranges, gold and warm burgundies, pastels include pink, yellow, blue and sometimes purple. Multicolor refers to a scheme that combines most colors, including  those that are not harmonious with each other. Monochromatic refers to a one-color garden but includes the shades of accompanying green foliage.

To avoid a “hodge podge” one should avoid using a color scheme that is multicolor, monochromatic or bold. These are gardens for the seasoned horticulturalist with large expanses of land to tame eccentric color choices and expansive wallets to pay for change when these risky experiments fail. Until one masters the art of composing a successful garden, it's best to work in pastels. This family of tones creates calm and makes the hodgiest, podgiest garden look neat and soothing. More people chose this scheme over all of the others.

Why did I advise against a bold color scheme? Bold colors have tremendous energy. The interplay of several such colors creates visual movement in the most stationary of plants. The effect is frenetic and may be unpleasant to experience. Even if plants are arranged neatly, the ultimate effect is far from tidy because hot-colored plants appear to be closer than they really are and that creates a crowded feeling.

Monochromatic gardens are rarely beautiful. By removing the visual interaction that occurs between complementary and contrasting colors, one eliminates the drama and passion that make a garden pleasurable. A one-color garden is more of an intellectual experiment than a thing of beauty. The above image of a white garden may look beautiful at first glance but if that is the only garden on the property, looking at it over time might become wearisome.

Why do I recommend pastel gardens? Pastel gardens work for everyone. The colors in this pallet blend well and they are very forgiving of errors made in plant and color choices. Pastel colors also seem to recede from view thus creating an atmosphere of calmness. A pastel garden may be compared to a party where all of the guests are interesting and where everyone has a good time.

Part Two of this article, to be posted next week, will discuss the ten basic elements for creating a beautiful garden.

Thanks to David Goodgame for the photo of the white garden found on his site, English Cottage Gardens, Alaska Style.

Timber Press  ISBN 13:978-0-88192-950-8

Click on the image to learn more about this book from AmazonEasy care plants that require little or no maintenance are favorites of mine.

Like many other people, time is a rare commodity for me and I must manage it wisely, even in my own garden. Every now and then I focus on a perennial that I have been growing for many years. I marvel how easy it is to care for and how well it blooms, even when neglected. Perennial gardeners wish that all of their plants would behave like that. Nature, however, only cooperates with us to a limited extent. It requires research to learn about such plants and it is reassuring to discover that some garden writers are doing that work for us.

With the publication of this book, Tracy Disabato-Aust has given us a gift. For the novice gardener, the author supplies a list of plants that will help create an eye-catching low-maintenance garden. The seasoned gardener, on the other hand, may discover several plants previously ignored but still worthy of consideration. The reader should bear in mind that the plant list comes with the usual restrictions based on the amount of sunlight and humidity available in ones garden as well as recommended hardiness zones.

According to the author, and we gardeners are all in agreement, a plant must exhibit the following five characteristics to be considered high impact:-

• Multi seasonal interest
• Colorful foliage
• Long lasting bloom
• Outstanding texture
• Architectural form

In addition, there are 12 traits that the author looks for in evaluating low-maintenance plants. Each of the 50 mentioned in this book demonstrate at least 10 out of the 12 traits:

• Long lived
• Tolerance for heat and humidity
• Cold hardy
• Deer resistant
• Insect and disease resistant
• Minimal or no deadheading
• Thrives without heavy fertilization
• Requires no staking
• Infrequent or no division required for four years or more
• Infrequent or no pruning required to maintain neat appearance or best  flowering
• Non-invasive
• Drought tolerant

This is a very welcome publication because the topic contributes to the dialogue on sustainable gardening. There is a movement in the landscape community to try and develop gardens that require very little resources such as water or fertilizer and that require almost no maintenance to keep them alive. The list of plants in this publication addresses these issues admirably.

Another welcome trait of this book is the opportunity offered to the reader to discover important plants that might have been overlooked. This reviewer was delighted to learn about a cultivar of a perennial that is hardly known in the gardening community. It is called Thalictrum Erin. I have always been a Thalictrum fan and I grow a lot of it in my garden. But I have never seen anything quite like this one. It is the tallest of all Thalictrum, growing up to 96 inches in height without staking and yet never exceeding 36 inches in width. My “eureka” moment occurred as soon as I found this information in the book. Now, I need to find this plant for my garden.

In order to understand how Ms, Disabato-Aust compiled the list of 50 plants; it is helpful to study her style of landscaping. Hers are exquisitely designed gardens that are not just flower beds but are, instead, foliage and textural compositions that include shrubs, trees and perennials. All of the plants used in the author's work are chosen for the synergistic effect they have on the viewer when used in combination with other plants. The reader should feel confident that, by including a selection from the list of 50 plants, it is possible to create an attractive garden.

Tracy Disabato-Aust has earned international acclaim as one of America’s most entertaining and knowledgeable garden writers and professional speakers. This book is just one of her many accomplishments.

After I received this unsolicited collection of images and was about to delete them, one of the photos caught my attention; it is a picture of a vivid pink flower with partially fluted petals. I must confess that I don’t have much experience growing Mums. Most varieties cannot over-winter in zone 5 where I garden and frost arrives here too early to allow us to enjoy a plant that can extend autumn in warmer growing zones.

However, some of my readers are partial to intensely pink plants, as I am, and I am pleased to share this photo with them.

Ursula Cholmeley works full time supervising the restoration of a walled garden estate that has been in her family for over 400 years. In her possession are original documents dating back to 1592 when the gardens were established in Tudor times. The abandonment of the gardens began slowly during World War One. By the year 2001 they had become impenetrable, after 50 years of neglect.

That is when restoration of the gardens began under the direction of Ms Cholmeley. She expects that it will take another 20 years to bring the garden to its envisioned glory. That includes the planting of 10,000 bulbs, growing native flowers for the meadows and the planting of flower borders, shrubs and trees. Judging from the photos posted to the website, the work so far has produced remarkable results.

By 2009, visitors are now able to see more than just a restoration project. Easton Walled Gardens are an ongoing landscaping saga worthy of a side-trip for anyone planning a visit to the UK. The estate, which is set up and equipped to handle visitors for most of the year, is located in the middle of England, in the village of Easton. Click on any of the photos to learn more about travelling instructions and dates of accessibility. When visiting the site, also click onto the various garden divisions in order to appreciate the extensive assortment of beautiful flowers photographed there.

THis is a view of a sustainable garden at the Agricultural Farm Historic Park in Derwood, Md. Click on the image to learn more.

In some parts of the world, water is too precious to waste on ornamental gardens and lawns. In certain locations, manpower is becoming costly and hard to find. Time for garden maintenance is not always available to those with multiple obligations outside the home. For some, paying a gardening service is costly. For the seasoned gardener, the advance of old age reduces the amount of expendable physical energy available for gardening.

A wide variety of plants are available to create a sustainable garden. These include certain ornamental shrubs, drought resistant perennials, ornamental grasses and even some drought tolerant Allium bulbs. In addition, one should consider plants that are not invasive, that are long lived and that are free of insects and disease. With these plants it is possible to create sustainable landscapes where nature alone is the caregiver. These gardens require less water, less pesticides, less fertilizer and less manpower. Sustainable gardens, by virtue of their stability, will also improve our planet by enriching the quality of animal and beneficial-insect habitats. 

Two contrasting Hosta plants create visual chemistry that is enhanced by the lime-colored and delicate-looking Alchemilla Mollis, a beautiful shade plant that is a vigorous self seeder.The major architecture of a shade garden starts by planting gracefully arching ferns and low mounding Hosta. These two perennial plants establish the overall structure of the composition. The secondary theme is introduced by Pulmonaria whose playful visual textures and variegations offset the more disciplined lines of the Hosta. Now, add low-growing Japanese painted ferns with its feathery variegations that draw the eye further into the composition. Although it may not flower in full shade, the leaves of Geranium macrorrhizum Variegatum will add strong detail due to the generous amount of cream in its foliage.

Composition of silver Japanese ferns and Pulmonaria. This exquisite photo is the copywrite property of BelleWood-Gardens. Click on the image to visit that site. Illumination for a dark garden is supplied by the white variegations found in the leaves of some Hosta and in the silver-white decoration on the foliage of many varieties of Pulmonaria. The most cheerful addition however is found on Brunnera Jack Frost, whose green leaves, over-frosted in white, capture and reflects light.

This is Hexastylis minor Dixie Darling. This photo is the copywrite property of BelleWood-Garden. Click on the image to visit that siteEqually beautiful in the shade due to their ornamental quality, are the leaves of variegated Asarum splendens and its cousin Hexastylis minor Dixie Darling.

Primula bullesiana is colorful but hard to find.Adding color to the full-shade garden is not easy as few perennials will bloom without some sun. Those that produce flowers in full shade include specific varieties of Primula, Corydalis and Dicentra. In early spring, flowers of Primula bullesiana will supply rich colors as will Aquilegia canadensis. Various cultivars of Corydalis will bloom all summer in pink, blue and yellow. As long as the soil remains moist, Dicentra King of Hearts will bloom in pink throughout the season. It is also worth experimenting with Astilbe. This perennial needs sun or part shade to bloom but some gardeners have reported that it will flower in full shade but less intensely. 

Heuchera Purple PetticoatsAll-season color that is both muted and rich can be added to the full-shade garden by planting various cultivars of Heuchera. The foliage of these varieties supplies endless shades of purple, wine, apricot, and peach. Plant a composition incorporating purple Heuchera with silver-purple Japanese Fern and watch the magic unfold.

Thanks to Judy Glattstein of BelleWood-Gardens for permission to use some of her beautiful photos.

Anyone exiting my garage in the springtime, either on foot or by car, will see this view of my driveway garden.

When a client asked me to convert her front yard into a perennial garden, I placed the most interesting perennials at her front door. I expected her to see them several times a day. It was a mistake to have made that assumption because the client entered and exited her home by car, along a driveway situated 15 feet away from the main entrance. From that distance, she was unable to notice the flowers at the front door.

After I was made aware of the situation, I redesigned the strip of the garden that runs the length of the driveway from garage to street. This location became the new focus of the garden  Here is where I placed the most beautiful perennials, the most dramatic roses and the greatest number of spring-flowering bulbs. Now, when the client comes and goes in her car, she has a continuous flower show from spring until early winter.

The State of Vermont has gone even further to enhance the tourist’s experience. Rest area shelters along their highways offer museum-quality displays of art, crafts and consumer items that are locally produced. On a trip through Vermont this past week, I noticed a display for an unusual garden product. It is called a Post Planter and combines the best features of a flower pot and a hanging flower box. The product is essentially a plastic flower pot that has been engineered to hug a standard size wooden vertical beam of a mail box, deck, or garden fence.

The planter will fit onto three different size posts: 2x4, 4x4 and 4x6 inches. Made of durable UV-resistant ABS plastic, it is available in two sizes and three color choices. The pots may be conveniently planted at a work table and then carried to the posts where they easily slide onto strong brackets. Later on, the pots are easily removed for seasonal changes or winter storage.

At first, I wondered why the merchant had chosen to display this product in November until I realized that such a unique item will make a great holiday gift. Even non-gardening tourists were captivated by the ingenuity of this product. Most certainly, it will be a conversation piece during the summertime. The Post Planter is marketed by Vermont Wildflower Farm and each pot comes with a free package of wild flower seeds. Click onto any of the highlighted links in this text to access their website.

Patients recovering from painful surgery who had flowering plants in their rooms required fewer administrations of pain medication, had lower blood pressure, a lower heart rate and experienced less anxiety and fatigue. It was also reported that patients created their own recovery therapy when they started tending to their plants.

Hospital gift shops began selling flowering plants both as fund raisers and as convenient gifts that visitors might bring to patients. Now these products have taken on additional significance as healing tools. But as a gardener, you already knew that, right?

Designed and photographed by Michelle Derviss

The hauntingly beautiful and brilliantly executed garden shown in the photo above surpasses anything we have seen coming out of Europe. This is an example of the many extraordinary accomplishments of Michelle Derviss, a talented landscape designer who works in California. The image is that of a hillside converted into a garden that is both deer and drought tolerant. Notice how the plant compositions are enhanced by the unique perspective that sloped and terraced gardens offer the viewer.

Additional landscapes, designed and sculpted by Ms. Derviss, are extensively archived in her blog as well. After clicking on to that site, it will take the visitor no more than a nano-second to recognise that Michelle is a national treasure. We should be celebrating her genius.