Perennial Garden Color

2. Perennials for Easy Garden Color

Perrenial PDFs FCID.indd 28 11/28/12 4:41 PM 18 2 Perenmal§ tor Ea§y Garden Color --~=----------=~----------------------~ LANDSCAPE DESIGN POSSIBILITIES Perennials 3TC versatile plants that offer a variety of creative uses in the garden. Descriptive lists In Chapter 5 will help you choose from among [he many species of flowering and foliage plants adapted to our area. Perennials , you'll nnd, offer an infinite number ofexciting combinations. From tiny terrace gardens of inner ciry apartments, to extensive country estates, perennials can add color, form and rexmre, often for many } 'cars and with a minimum of maintenance. A look at some of the landscape possibilities should help to stimulate ideas for specific applications. THE PERENNIAL BORDER We inherited (rom England the perennial border style as we know it today, and it is a version of the Cottage gardens that evolved during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The tWO greatest popularizers of this planting style were Gertrude Jekyll (1843- 1932) and William Robinson (1838-1935), who proposed it as a rebellion against Victorian gardens, landscapes that Robinson once described as "the ugliest gardens ever made" (27). Typically, the gardens of upper class VictOrians featured rigid, geometric masses of brightly colored annuals, all maintained at a uniform height like tufts in a carper. T his style was known as '·bedding out'" and it had gained populari ty after 1845 when the British government lifted the tax on glass. By lowering the COSt of building greenhouses on residential estates, this measure made it possible to produce annuals economically and in quanflty. In the place of these monOtonous Aoral carpets, Jekyll and Robinson beautifully articulated more narural combinations of plants. primarily perennials, both in the gardens they designed and through rheir writings. T hey extended the Aower seasons from a few months in spring and summer to all year long through the use of bulbs, ornamental grasses, and old-fashioned plants and herbs collected (rom the simple gardens of (he English conagers . Earth and plant forms inspired the new concept ofgarden design as the plants' seasons, ecology and arrangement in narure created the basis for the design revolution so clearly espoused by these twO pioneers. Jekyll was an accomplished painter until her eyesight began failing in her forties, at which point she began fully devoting her talents to the garden. Taking the earth as her canvas and plants as her paleHe, she went to work on what she considered the ultimate expression Perrenial PDFs FCID.indd 29 11/28/12 4:41 PM (Top) A shady perennial border at the Wi$ley headquarters for (he Royal Honicul[Ure Society near London, England (Above) A perennial border at Hampton Court in England. PERENNIALS FOR EASY GARDEN COLOR 19 ofgarden arc, the herbaceous border. Jekyll fashioned beautiful pictures by carefully selecting planes, and then arranging them in the long clumps of color she referred to as "drifts." Through her selection of planes, Jekyll also varied forms, heights, colors and textures within her borders. To be successful, she believed, the designer must intimately know the growing habits and requirements as well as aesthetic qualities of the plants. Jekyll, Robinson and their followers also recognized the great importance of the quality of light. Shadow was of equal importance to color, form and texture in their gardens. As American landscape architect of that era, Beatrix Jones, said, "Shadow is a color and must be used as one!" (10). The depth and dimension that a feeling for a balance between light and shade contributes is as essential co a well-designed garden as to a fine painting. Indeed, the difference in the quality of light is a fundamental reason that English gardens differ from our own. The relatively cool, moist climate of England is conducive CO more intense flower colors than our generally bright, sunny conditions. Perrenial PDFs FCID.indd 30 11/28/12 4:41 PM 20 PERENNIALS FOR EM}' GARDEN COWR English herbaceous borders were almost alwHYs limited In space by constructed WHlls or hedges. These walls or hedges not only physically limited the garden space, but also provided a sense ofcontinuity or organization to the compositlon. Strong, sImple organization contrasts with the wide varicty of plants, cach plam displaying colors, forms and textures and reaching its peak at a different time of tht.' yt.'ar. The design philosophies that Jekyll, Robinson, and others created and refined are as appropriate today as ever. The major...