Confessions of an Overplanter

When planning your garden, it is essential to embrace the concept of negative space. A good designer makes deft use of it, and knows that where something isn’t, is just as important as where something is. We guide the eye through the yard using color, form, line, texture. We know the eye also needs a place to rest. But knowing the right thing and doing the right thing are two very different things, especially when self control is involved. Unfortunately, when it comes to plants, this is something that I have in very short supply.

A one-gallon Stipa arundinaceae may expand tenfold in a year, but it looks so very lonely over there. Of course I know that itty bitty Campanula is going to be creeping all over those pavers eventually, but I want it nestled against that grey slate NOW. When I am at the nursery for a client, it is often one for her, and one for me. My name is Cathy, and I am an overplanter. It stems (pun intended) from my childhood. Massachusetts receives forty-four inches of rain per year, and messy, exuberant perennial gardens rule. Oh, there are stately Yews and endless lawns, (zzzz) but what I most remember is abundance- Daffodils for miles, Lilac you could swim through, Grandpa’s roses.

The current trend in plant design is to use Natives and tough, sculptural, low-water requiring plants, which are fabulous. Sculptural plants need space around them. I like space. I just can’t seem to find much in my garden. In the throes of plant lust, I am powerless. So until Overplanter's Anonymous opens up a local chapter, I have developed ways to satisfy the need for more without abandoning the principles of good design.

Groupings. When you can’t get enough of something, go for it. Plant your tulip bulbs in drifts (or Maverick-sized waves if you must.) Give over an entire bed to pristine snow-white Callas, heady David Austin roses. Line your walk from street to door with Lavender, Leucodendron, Black-Eyed Susan. Using lots of all one thing is a wonderful way to indulge in abundanza, but the simplicity imparts a contemporary twist.

Six-packs. In a brand-new border, or one in which the season has past, use inexpensive annuals and easily removed (no underground spreaders) perennials to fill in space around your dormant or too-small shrubs. When your focal points fill in, you can yank the cheaper stuff without a pang. Or move in some…

Containers. Use pots of every size and color on your patio or deck, the front porch, the kitchen door, or nestle them in borders. Use things that are not pots, but will hold one plant or several. Container plantings add structure and bulk, punctuate the space, provide focal points and make the garden look more civilized. And of course, they are a lovely way to add plants without redesigning your existing beds.

Seeds. Starting plants from seeds or cuttings is inexpensive and fun. It takes time and patience to grow a good sized plant, but by the time it is ready for the garden, you will have found a place to put it.

Darwinism. This is Northern California, we have water issues. I love all my plants but will only coddle a select few. The rest fend for themselves; this promotes self-selection. If in my garden you cannot survive, my love for you will dim, or die. And I promise I’ll move on to find solace in the charms of another.

Fingernails. I regard a perfectly performing plant in the height of the season the same way I regard my hairstyle- just beyond that perfect moment there is overgrowth and chaos. Maintenance is everything, but it doesn’t always have to be a big deal. As you wander about, look, smell, touch, pinch and trim.

Elbow grease. I often have the pleasure of indulging my addiction in the garden of a client with whom I have an ongoing relationship. We both know I’ll be there to keep a vision for the space over the long term. If that means constant dead-heading, de-clumping, pruning, pinching, trimming and re-arranging- so be it. It’s a small price to pay for perfection. Read more...

Five tips for creating a high-end garden

Check out my article on Bettyconfidential.com.

"Create a High-End Outdoor Space on a Low-end Budget"

I was asked to provide "Five tips for creating a high-end garden on a low end budget." And it had to be edited down, and down again...without seeing someone's yard there is only so much one can do, after all. But I think it came out OK, and I really had fun reading all of the comments, even "Who has time for a garden?" What I want to ask that person is- hey, you- do you have time for a glass of wine? Do you read? Do you eat? Don't you want to do those things outside? If you have a patch of yard, you should use it. (After all, you are paying for it, I imagine.)

Beside that, how about looking out the windows? I have a few garden views that absolutely get me through the dishes and housework. They will follow. Read more...