Water-wise designs aren’t limited to grasses and succulents
drouth - tolerant plant combinations do n’t involve to be dry and ho-hum . Xeriscaping , or design a landscape painting to use as slight water system as possible , can be done while still maintaining a beautiful and interesting landscape painting . The physical traits that allow some plants to thrive without supplemental water can also contribute fascinating coloring , texture , and computer architecture to a design . Choosing flora native to country where water is in brusk supply ensures that you are choosing plants that acquire of course to hold knotty conditions .
To get the piss - overbold ideas flux , let ’s revisit two gardens that showcase an inspiring array of drouth - resistive plants . First is Roger and Mary Greenberg ’s garden in Tiburon , California , Texture Extremes . It is fill with disingenuous combination that thrive through Northern California ’s ironic summer . Though some selection are frost tender , the Greenbergs ’ usance of exuberant texture and a skillfully restrained color palette could be reinterpreted with hardier works .
Next , we ’ll check out the crushed rock gardens at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison , Wisconsin , poke Deeper Into Gravel Gardens , . That article showed how to work up a gravel garden . Now we will get to know the colorful pallet of tough , low - maintenance flora that give these gardens their key signature look . Many have a broad reach and will work well in gardens all over the country , especially where soil drains quickly .
Plant Combo 1 (seen above):
Succulents, tough grasses, and heat-loving woodies offer contrast in shapes and colors in drought-tolerant landscapes
Location : Greenberg Garden , Tiburon , California
A gardener ’s eye of course seeks out interesting patterns and anomalies , and the Greenberg garden does not let down . Standout specimens snap up our attending and then share the limelight with nearby companion . double colors and form keep the look cohesive , and it is clear that musical scale and flora architecture were cautiously considered . When you put together your own urine - fresh combinations , these are ideas worth imagine about . seek to pull from the full range of plant forms and coloration available , and do n’t be afraid to try out .
Plant combo 2: Repeat and contrast forms for interest
Putting the variegated version of a plant next to the straight species is a great way to use both repetition and contrast for added stake . Here the brilliantly variegated foxtail agave is first to grab our aid , and the echo of its greenish cousin adds stress . Their radiating pattern is picked up by the cordyline , and the massing of the Jerusalem sage help to poise out these larger physique .
Plant combo 3: Take advantage of topography
implant on a slope makes it possible to visually “ stack ” plants for append impact . Here ‘ Yellow Wave ’ phormium spread out broad brushstrokes of gold over the hillside , and long - blooming Mexican bush sage put up the double-dyed colour accompaniment .
Plant combo 4: Create a subtle sweep of soft textures with massing
Large gallery of lavender , fountain grass , and feather grass make a perfect hushed background for showy cordyline and barberry . Although these cultivars hail from all over the world , the overall essence is reminiscent of a naturally occurring plant community .
Grasses and perennials with low water needs help create a sense of abundance
Location : Olbrich Botanical Gardens , Madison , Wisconsin
InHow to make a Gravel Garden , author Jeff Epping walked us through the process of constructing a gravel garden , and readers were treat to a few endearing “ after ” exposure of the inspiring works combination that wave in the Olbrich Botanical Gardens ’ gravel beds . Here we see more of the heavy planting that help reduce the motivation for weed and ground covering and make these garden feel riotous and vibrant while still conserving water . All of these industrial plant were chosen for their toughness and depressed water needs , and many of them are stout down to Zone 3 or 4 .
Plant combo 5: Lend mystery to the garden walk with an overflowing path
Plant combo 5: Use a few bold stars to add sparkle
The giant fleeceflower toward the back of this photo is a mellow - impingement , low - maintenance perennial that go bad back to the ground every year . Here its shrublike height and book are in weighing machine with the magnanimous drifts of prairie dropseed and ‘ Summer Beauty ’ genus Allium . ‘ Golden Mop ’ Sawara cypress bring home the bacon a dash of fond colour that look endearing mingling with the exquisitely - textured flora in the foreground .
Plant combo 6: Create a cool combination of pale blooms
This plant combining take care crisp and arrant for weeks . The circumscribed color pallet lay the emphasis on flower shape . The delicate petal of the crinkled coneflower , which would wash out next to lustrous - colored flowers , provide radiant contrast to clouds of flyspeck calamint blooms and the abundant umbels of ‘ Summer Beauty ’ allium . Spires of Russian sage add elevation to this group , which peaks from mid to belated summertime .
Plant combo 7: Foliage adds flair
The color here does n’t just follow from flowers . A dark - leaved penstemon lends interest long after its other summer blooms give way to sprays of seed pod . Fall bloomer , such as the placid aster , add a touch of strong chartreuse to the premix as they prepare for their end - of - season show . Nodding onion is out of the blue eye - catching at the front of this border , with its distinctive , downward - curving stems .
Plant combo 8: A contrasting color gets noticed first
Graceful color familiar keep the optic moving through this painterly composition . replicate forms and colors facilitate splice the bed together . color that digress from the master palette , such as the warm salmon of ‘ Kim ’s Knee High ’ coneflower , grab the eye and keep this compendium of plants from being too grave .
BASICS
How to spot a water-wise plant
All plant transpire , publish water from their leaves to chill themselves . Those adapted to grow in dry plaza have physical traits that belittle water system personnel casualty . The following characteristics are common to many water - overbold flora .
Gray, silver, or blue foliage–
MescalAgave parryi — zona 7 - 10
Small, thin, grasslike, or dissected leaves —
Prairie dropseedSporobolus heterolepis , zone 3 - 9
Green stems with spines or minimal foliage –
Mexican sea hollyEryngium umbelliferum , zona 7 - 9
Glossy, waxy leaves –
‘ Bressingham Ruby’bergeniaBergenia‘Bressingham Ruby , ’ Zones 4 - 8
Hairy leaves –
‘ bounteous Ears ’ lamb ’s earStachys byzantina‘Big Ears ’ syn . ‘ Helene von Stein , ’ Zones 4 - 9
Carol Collins is a senior editor at Fine Gardening magazine
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Varied textures take the spotlight – Most of us can’t grow sago palm year-round in the ground, but this living fossil is also an easy-care container plant. Imagine the drama a potted sago could bring to almost any border. Here its distinctive fernlike texture is set off by airy stems of valerian, bold rosettes of ‘Cyclops’ aeonium, and the flushed, finely dissected leaves of a Japanese maple. This dynamic grouping has plenty of visual interest, even with its restrained color palette.
