Coping with One-of-Each-Itis

Buying singles at the nursery leads to a scattered design

You pop into the nursery and a stunning newfangled cultivar whispers , “ Psst ! Take me home ? ”

Immediately , you hear that trivial voice in your head saying , “ Never purchase just one of anything . ” But there you stick out , plant in manus , feel the intimate symptoms of one - of - each - itis . You know that these brainish binge are precisely the reason your garden is a messy mishmash of cool plants . But the temptation is too much . You buy it anyway .

If this scenario sounds familiar , you ’re not alone . Most gardener have an occasional mo of weakness . But if you ’ve descend to go for that you ’ll always buy at like a flora collector , I have some dear news : you could produce the illusion of planting en masse by simply aggroup plants with a common trait . Look at your exist garden and distinguish which cast , texture , and colors entice you most . Perhaps you ’re a big fan of burgundy and a lollipop for spiky foliage . Designating area in your garden for these favorite traits lets you have the respectable of both worlds . Your plantings will look orderly and intentional , yet you could still pick up a plant life when the urge strike or become a surrogate parent for a neighbour ’s cast - off Liriope muscari .

Once you ’ve selected the trait that you require to imbed en masse , the next whole tone is make those groupings fit together . To help you do just that , here ’s some design advice for three vulgar type of plantaholics .

Crazy for color

If your weakness is striking color , watch out for collide combos . Keeping soft pastels and pure hues in separate groupings can avail prevent unsightly collisions . Sandwiching a mass of ardent hues between nerveless and neutral colour get all parties search their best .

You may have remark that garden sum endeavour to have something flowering each time you walk through their gate . spread your shopping forays throughout the growing season is one agency to ensure your plant palette always has something in heyday . And because it does n’t make sentience to put on a bad show and hide it from aspect , deposit your colorful combos front and center , near a patio or outside a motion-picture show window .

Falls for foliage

For some nurseryman , there ’s nothing more satisfying than the interplay of bold , beautiful leaves . Broad - leaved works , with their sturdy texture , have a dense ocular weight ; I like using them at the ends of a layer to anchor a composition . Also , consider pairing ferns and spiky plants to compound the impact of their upright line of merchandise .

If you privilege box-shaped bed , such as this one , do n’t automatically impose a naturalistic planting dodging ; embrace the rectangle , and organize your plants into block that repeat the seam ’s geometric shape .

What if I flip for a flower that doesn’t fit a theme?

It ’s endure to happen . A flora that does n’t touch any of your mathematical group somehow “ come along ” in your shopping pushcart and finds its way through the garden gate . What to do ?

Wants it all

If your taste in plants is particularly eclectic , beware of the visual confusion that comes from conflate too many dissimilar radical . counterbalance is the key . In this planting plan , wispy tell on back up fine - leaved foliation , and tidy sum of dark foliage team up with shockingly bright plants . Placing delicate beside touchy and sour beside lighter are two no - fail jazz group that fit in attractively .

Should your latest nursery leverage exhibit more than one favorite trait , all the better . ‘ Burgundy Giant ’ fountain gage ( Pennisetum‘Burgundy Giant ’ , USDA Hardiness Zones 9–11 ) , for case , would await equally at plate in this Bourgogne group as it would in the patch of marvelous grasses .

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