Keep the Eye Moving

I was  going to call this post "Moving Day", but decided that title conveyed the wrong message.  I did move a lot of plants last week.  While I was moving them, I realized what was really important about the changes I was making.

The section of border I worked on is dominated by pastels.  I did have three white summer phlox in the back left, though.  The phlox have been imperfect - too much mildew, but a very nice fragrance.  One issue that crystallized as I worked was that the viewer's eye went immediately to the blooming phlox and stayed there.

 
(This picture was taken last year - the asters in the front center died and were replaced with veronica.)

I wrote earlier this summer that I moved three veronica to the center front, and put cranesbill geranium and pincushion flower scabiosa c. 'Pink Mist' behind them.  I took the unusual step of putting a tall plant in front of  shorter ones because the veronica re-blooms profusely after it is deadheaded.  I discovered this summer that there is an excellent second bloom, but that the time gap between flowerings was too long for a plant in the front of the border.

 

I wish that I had taken a picture when the veronica was out of bloom and the phlox was blooming - that would have driven my point home better.

Even though the veronica has bloomed beautifully for weeks, I decided that it was time for a major overhaul.

I bought two ornamental kale plants (annuals), a white butterfly flower, gaura linaheimeri, and three garden asters 'Blue Henry I'.  I took out all of the phlox and much of the lady's mantle (chartreuse flower, spreads aggressively.)  I moved some of these to a nursery border in my back yard.

The lady's mantle were put in the back, against the fence.  Two delphinium were put in front of these in the center.  The gaura was placed in the middle.  The veronica were moved to the middle left, the asters were moved to the middle right.  The pincushion flowers were planted in the center front, flanked by the ornamental kale.  Finally, the geranium cranesbill were put behind the pincushhion flower.

 

By placing the gaura in the center I hope to avoid the unbalanced effect of having a non-pastel colored flower off to the side.  I will see how it works as the season winds down.