Garden Design Ideas

Country Setting

The clients here wanted to marry their modern-style house with its country setting. They asked designer Paul Williams for a planting plan that relied more on shape and texture than color. This is one of four matching borders, each measuring 20 x 10 feet.

Plants Used

Phormium tenax
Fuchsia magellanica ‘Versicolor'
Stipa tenuissima
Perovskia ‘Blue Spire'
Ceanothus thyrsiflorus var. repens
Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding'
Euphorbia x martini (shown cut back)
Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Black Lace'

Design in Focus

In this design, the plants were chosen specifically for their shape and foliage effect. Plants with contrasting forms are placed next to each other to stimulate visual action, for example, the upright sword-like Phormium against the lower growing Ceanothus. Leaf shape is also considered and the same principle applied, with wispy grasses set against the neat foliage of Euphorbia.

The color scheme is muted with most flowers falling within the blue, purple, and pink range, while the evergreens offer year-round appeal and act as a foil for the skeletal grasses over the winter.