Creating by copying

I asked my illustration instructor how to develop a style.  He said:  "Find someone you like, and copy their work - your style will emerge from that."  I took that advice to heart, and am applying it to my garden design.

One of my favorite places in the world is the Cleveland Botanical Garden.  I especially like their herb garden.

One of my favorite horticulturists is Penelope Hobhouse.   I took her advice on gardening in the spring to heart from her book Penlope Hobhouse on Gardening.  On a very hot spring day, I decided to renovate my pastel section of a long border according to her method, and to copy some of what I saw on my last trip to Cleveland.

Last year I planted shasta daisies in the front of the border.  They were nice and small, and looked appropriate.  This year, they got HUGE, and dwarfed the low-growing geranium cranesbill behind them.

I dug up everything in this section except for the delphinium and scilla in the back.  I removed as many weeds as possible, dug in several bags of compost, and leveled the area.  I also divided the perennials.

Here is where more copying comes in.  I liked how one of the herb beds was planted in Cleveland.  The herb germander was used to line the front of the bed.  And, stakes and twine were used to delineate precisely where other plants were going to go.

I did the same thing, although not as elegantly.

I also used a tape measure, twine, and garden stakes, and elbow grease to straighten out the whole border - it is actually 90 inches wide.   Neatness counts!    I put the plants back in - this time the shasta daisies are on either edge of the bed, and added five germander plants to the front of the border. 

I am waiting for the moved plants to adjust to transplantation before I mulch the area.  I will keep you posted on how everything does.

Color Scheming

Life has been crazy for the last few weeks, and will continue crazy for another few - so my posts will be spotty.  I did want to pass along some information/knowledge that I got from taking a fabulous color class at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where I am working towards a certificate in Illustration.

The concept that I want to talk about is "push/pull".  It has to do with the impact of varying foreground and background colors and values.  In this example, which I created with Photoshop, I kept the foreground color, representing flowers, the same yellow.  The background color, representing foliage, I varied.

As you can see, there is great contrast in the bottom panel, little in the top.  Think about this contrast when you are choosing plants.  If the plant flower has too little contrast with the foliage, either in color or value (lightness or darkness), you  will not see the flower well.  Maybe that is what you are trying to achieve.  Just think about it - it may change the nature and look of your garden.