A strategy for a long border

摘要

Repeating colors, textures, and forms creates a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts. When I began planning my garden I knew I wanted a long border in front of the row of trees and shrubs that edged my property. Each year, I removed more sod and filled the space with perennials until the border was about 15 feet wide and 150 feet long, the entire distance from the house to the road. Although its length was impressive, the garden looked like a hodge-podge of plants until I started to improve sections of it by creating vignettes, small well-designed groupings of plants, all along its length. Since I could complete a vignette in a day or two, it was a relaxing way for me to bring order to my long border. I designed each by selecting a distinctive foliage plant and choosing five or six plants to enhance its form, texture, and color. I loved watching a vignette come together, seeing how one plant complemented another. At first, I was so intent on getting the combinations just right for eachvignette that I didn't consider how one would influence the next. Then I realized that repeating colors and plants in each vignette could hold the entire border together.