I love to have a client give me a
garden theme to work with.
A theme for a garden can be defined as simply collecting plants of a similar color or hue.
Or by selecting a historical, geographical or physiological group of
plants. I am
often asked to limit the color palate to pastels or even to a particular
color or pair of colors. I do have a few clients that love
the hot colors, magenta, orange, yellow and purple. One describes her taste as that
of a Puerto Rican Wedding, and the result has certainly become a very flamboyant garden.
Gardens can be separated into sections by plants of similar
type, such as a rose garden, or an herb garden. By collecting all of the plants in a
particular genus or tightly defined group such as cycads, ferns, lavenders or succulents,
the similarities in the plant material make the theme work while the differences make the palette interesting.
I like to use rare
and exotic plants, not so much because of their rarity but because
they catch people's eye due to the unfamiliar aspects of each plant.
By delving deeply into a collection of similar odd plants a strong theme
can develop.
Butterfly gardens and wildlife gardens are popular. I put birdhouses, bat houses,
mason bee houses, and ponds into these landscapes to encourage the wildlife. I am
yet to be convinced that butterfly houses attract anything other than
spiders but they are fun so I put them up regardless. I
provide a diverse array of plant heights for cover and separate housing from places where
cats or other predators might hide out. I chose plants that will provide food
throughout the year.
Attracting hummingbirds
to your garden is often a gardener's goal. There is plenty of garden
art the add to your hummingbird garden. Hummingbirds love long tubular red or orange-red flowers.
If I want hummingbirds (I love them and almost everybody else does too) I put out the
plants that will make them happy. My most successful hummingbird attractor is
Cuphea
micropetala. It is related to the cigar plants and the hummer's stake it out and
guard it closely. Many members of the Salvia
genus have long tubular flowers and a number are red, most attract the
hummingbirds. But even those that are not red attract the
hummingbirds.
Using lavender or medicinal herbs is a great way to make
your theme garden entertaining and fantastically fragrant too. There
are a host of lavenders that grow in our area. With regular pruning they can provide
more lavender than you could ever use in your drawers, to protect your
woolens, in pot pourri, or soap. I use a number of herbs as
ingredients for tea and in the kitchen garden. I plant a large
numbers of sages and species geraniums. Many of these Salvia's
have been used medicinally and are highly fragrant.
One of the most unusual garden themes that I was asked to
create was an Alzheimer's Garden. The main requirement was that the plants not hurt the patients.
The plants for this garden had to be non-toxic and non-thorny. A strong theme was
defined by a circular pathway around a central lawn. Moving water is very therapeutic but also
can be dangerous. I made a basin that was
filled with large cobbles so the water would be not be deep enough to be a threat and the
rocks too heavy to play with. The plants also had to be resilient to trampling
during the patients occasional off path adventure. The donor's relative had a tendency to eat
plants and charge off through the beds and this garden accommodates this
very well. Alzheimer's patients can gain great stimulus from working
with and observing the plants in the garden.
There are plenty of other themes to wrap your garden
design around, from kids, to statues (something my kids have never
been). Gardens with religious iconography can make for a very
reflective space. While gardens with wild color and textural
variations can liven the spirit. Plant what you like and plant
enough to make a strong statement. Plenty of folks will compliment
your efforts.
