Hostas
Look Beyond The Flowers
The renowned Dutch designer Piet Oudolf once said that:
‘A plant is only worth growing if it looks good when it is dead’.
This might, at first, seem like a rather strange way of looking at plant selection. But if you think about it, it is actually not such a bad idea.
When you are designing an area of planting it is all too easy to focus almost entirely on the colour, size and shape of the flowers. However, bear in mind that any individual plant will only usually flower for a relatively short period of the year. They will spend more time not in bloom. So while the flowers are important you also need to pay attention to what else the plant might do for you.
It will be easier to design a pleasing and interesting planting scheme if you think about the following features:
• Leaves – size, shape, texture and colour. Hostas and Heuchera come in a large range of leaf sizes and colours, Artemesia have leaves like silver felt or needles, Phlomis russeliana leaves look like soft green hearts.
• Shape – is it upright or drooping? Does is spread horizontally or form a mound? Hebe make very pleasing round forms, Astilbe are upright and feathery whilst Foxgloves form tall spires.
• If it is deciduous what do the stems, branches and bark look like? Perovskia has beautiful white twigs which look lovely all winter as do the stems of many Cornus.
• How might it move in the wind? Ornamental grasses and Dierama waft beautifully.
• How does the light change its appearance? Some plants look great backlit by the rising or setting sun. Ornamental grasses and ferns are particularly good.
• Does it have attractive seeds or berries? Lunaria (honesty) seed capsules are shiny and silvery whilst Echinacea have cone shaped seed heads.
• How does it die and what does it look like when it is dead? Some plants simply collapse in a heap whilst others become almost sculptural with colours ranging from pale silver to bronze and can often be left standing all winter. Some of the best ‘dead’ plants are Miscanthus grasses, Sedum and Phlomis russeliana.
Flowers are, as they say, a long time dead. When choosing plants see what other interesting and more persistent characteristics they have and use these for a longer period of interest.
Colette Charsley
01803 722449 | 07774 827799
First published October 2012 By The Dart
