Some Keys to Good Design

I have written in earlier posts that it is important to think about keeping the eye moving when designing a garden.  That goal is important in any type of visual design, whether it applies to a landscape, a painting, or an interior.  You also want to keep the eye moving so that it does not wander off onto something else, like the house across the street.  Visual artists learn how to keep the viewer's attention on the canvas or paper, gardeners can learn these lessons, too.

This week I am going to focus on  using foliage color to both keep the eye moving, and keep the eye in the garden.  Once the growing season starts, leaf hue remains pretty constant (there are exceptions, of course, but not in this illustration.)

I have used bronze-red foliage in three areas of one of my big borders (but not so big that you cannot view the whole at once.)

This schematic shows the rough layout of my border.  There are large shrubs (a buddleia to the rear left, and a Rose of Sharon to the rear right, as well as three evergreens in the back.)  The red areas on the right are heucheras; the red on the left is lysimachia  ('firecracker' loosestrife).  In the front left (shown in green), I have seathrift, which should have red foliage, but was so badly damaged this winter that the foliage looks dead, even though the plant is flowering.

The shrubs along the perimeter are big enough that they help rein in the eye and keep it in the border.  The red foliage leads your eye around the border.  Please note:  If there were only one area of red, your eye would most likely get stuck where the red is. 

Almost any foliage color could be used to keep the eye moving.  Silver is a good option.  I like red, because it balances well with the dominant green of the grass and the other foliage.  Green and red are complements (opposite each other on the color wheel), and therefore provide excellent color balance.