by Lis Friemoth
Crossing the border: Make your landscape plans now
Now is the time to start planning next year’s garden
landscape — from the comfort of your living room!
Let’s start with borders. Landscape borders define space
and delineate real and/or representational boundaries.
Borders can invite or they can deter. They can be practical
or just plain fun. To some gardeners, borders are a medium
for expression of balance between the horticultural and
the manmade environments: homes, outdoor living space,
areas of community interaction.
Historically, formal garden borders have been fixtures
within civilizations for thousands of years; documentation
first places them between 4000 and 3000 B.C. In western
cultures, early formal borders were used to define space,
provide food, and mimic architectural forms. The size
and contents of formal border gardens followed the fashionable
architectural and landscape design tenets of the day.
In large estate gardens, formally structured borders
were important in providing an exterior aesthetic visually
complementing the affluent lifestyle. They provided the
physical delineation for exterior rooms of respite enjoyed
by the household and guests. As an added bonus, border
plant material was chosen and planted to provide additional
food in the form of fruits, nuts and vegetables for the
dining tables. For the average household garden, formally
structured borders functioned primarily as production
area that provided a large percentage of the household’s
yearly food supply.
Because it was important to provide a reliable water
supply throughout the growing season, irrigation systems
were frequently used. Those early systems, by design
and due to a limited flow capacity, had to run in straight
lines — as did the borders relying on them. As irrigation
systems improved, the formal border went from linear
to flowing forms, making the formal border all about
style and clean lines.
Orderly repetition and a controlled appearance is key
in successfully achieving that formal look. Attention
to regular maintenance is the key to successfully keeping
it. Look for plant materials that provide balance in
scale to the landscape. All materials used in formal
borders should be those that either keep a rather regimented
form on their own or respond well to repeated trimmings.
Before choosing any plant for a hedge, be sure to look
at mature height.
Although a tenacious gardener can prune away and keep
most plants to a smaller stature than nature intended,
using dwarf varieties for lower height borders is a better
idea.
Choosing whether to use evergreens or deciduous plants
for a formal border is a personal design choice. Both
can offer the appropriate structure needed to convey
that orderly repetition necessary for a sense of formality.
Buxus (boxwood), Juniperus (juniper), Taxus (yew), and
Thuja (arborvitae) have long been evergreen staples for
hedging and border use for good reason. They are consistent
performers when appropriately chosen and placed. Some
evergreens that are not often thought of for formal border
hedging, but should be, are Chamaecyparis (false cypress),
Ilex (holly), and Tsuga canandensis (hemlock).
If the style and design of your border do not call for
evergreens, there are many deciduous plants that respond
beautifully to the structure of a border. As always,
look for those that are cold-hardy, heat-tolerant and
fit your landscape and environmental requirements (see
related graphic). Be aware that many deciduous plants
that are good for hedging can also be somewhat invasive;
that’s what makes them good growers that respond well
to repeated trimming.
In order to keep the borders looking full and well kept,
fill plants in formal borders need to perform well throughout
the season. With most perennials, that will mean careful
planning to achieve continuity in flower and foliage
interest. You may want to think about incorporating annuals
to heighten the appeal and reinforce the appearance.
Do not forget the beauty and function that herbs can
add to even the most formal of plantings. Herbs that
respond well to repeated trimming are basil, leaf lettuce,
and parsley. Try bay, chamomile, chives, kale, lavender,
ornamental peppers, rosemary, sage, and thyme.
For a more modern take on a formal garden, ornamental
grasses project consistent, clean lines with interesting
movement and will provide excellent impact when appropriately
placed.
If symmetrical repetition, perfection and architectural
mimicry through plants is not what you are looking for
in a border design, take a look at informal borders as
an option.
The informal style was made famous by Gertrude Jekyll’s
artistic approach to gardening early in the 20th century.
Now commonly employed in Western gardens around the world,
the informal border is a romantic, modified fusion of
formal and naturalistic styles. This type of planting
requires artistic choices in use of plant materials.
The casual appearance is the result of an intense study
of environment, investigation into plant properties,
and manipulation of color and balance. Prior to Jekyll’s
influence, borders were often a way to showcase a collection
of preferred or specific plants rather than a way to
use color and form. There is no set plant list for the
informal border; instead, the focus is on knowledge,
patience, and of course, implementation.
If formal or informal borders don’t quite fit into the
style of architecture or landscape design desired, take
a look at naturalistic. Throughout the history of Eastern
culture, naturalistic gardening has always been regarded
as a higher art form. Once only for mighty rulers or
the very wealthy, naturalistic gardening was long ago
embraced by the masses. This style strives to imitate
the ordered harmony of nature by interpreting nature
without giving evidence to any intrusive human presence.
Gardening is a process. Choosing a particular style
or developing your own border design is fun — a good
way to showcase your garden knowledge and an even better
place to try to expand it.
— Lis Friemoth is a horticulture diagnostician. Contact her at (262) 745-2904, P.O. Box 58, Springfield, WI 53176, visit online at www.thegardenhoe.com or e-mail her at gardenhoe@tds.net. Listen to Liz from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. every third Saturday on WISN AM1130 radio. |
