On average, a person draws 23,000 breaths a day and the scents contained in each breath convey information, mood and provoke memories in a way that nothing else can. Incorporate Food for the NoseĪroma is food for the nose. It is their soaring song, with notes of blue, pink, white and more that we all savor. Using the metaphor of music, flowers add high-pitched, sweet tones to the symphony within a garden. The delight that flowers bring goes beyond pretty blossoms and sweet-smelling fragrance. No matter how beautiful an outdoor space is, it is always the pot or plant bed full of flowers that garners the most praise. Multi-colored zinnias 'sing' in unison on a summer morning. He counsels us to view plants as part of a design palette, appreciating their form, line or color and to envision what they might add to a garden. “A garden is a complex of aesthetic and plastic intentions and the plant is, to a landscape artist, not only a plant - rare, unusual, ordinary or doomed to disappearance - but it is also a color, a shape, a volume or an arabesque in itself.” But it makes sense that a master landscape artist from Brazil, Roberto Burle Marx, saw plants in this way: It is not often that plants are referred to as an arabesque, which means a sinuous decorative line or motif.

As the year progresses, and the sun becomes stronger, pastels look washed out and we crave stronger reds, golds and oranges outdoors. In early spring, when the light is soft, we are thrilled by light pink and soft yellow. Similarly, our color preferences can change with the season. The orange and purple found in the ‘Magnus’ coneflower ( Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’) looks great in the intense summer sun. But in a bright, sunny subtropical garden, every shade of purple and magenta is exuberantly appealing. This is why Gertrude Jekyll, the famed British garden designer, saw purple as a difficult color. For example, in England, pastel colors captivate while bright colors may appear garish in the muted, north light. Our color choices in the landscape are, for the most part, influenced by our geographic locale, the sun’s intensity, and the time of year. The perennial green and white variegated lilyturf ( Liriope muscari) is another of my favorites for edging beds. In beds that are viewed up close, the border plants should be lower than 2 feet.Īnnuals such as sweet alyssum make a wonderful white edging with its dense, tiny, fragrant white flowers. If you view a garden bed from a distance, the height of edging plants can be relatively high-around 2 feet. Low-growing plants in the front row should be full, look good in a line, and not require too much care. Low-growing boxwood, shaped as small globes, make a neat and intriguing edge along a stone walk.

Lassen landscape materials redding ca