Grow a Bed Head Garden

Landscape designer Danilo Maffei defines a bed head garden as "an imprecise blend of structure, glamour and randomness, like...your mate who rolls out of bed, eyes droopy...hair cranked to one side, but her natural beauty shines through all the same." Key elements include ornamental grasses, natives and drought-tolerant plants. This Pennsylvania garden, designed by Maffei, includes early and mid-season bulbs to keep the garden interesting throughout the growing season, since most of its native grasses will peak in late summer and fall.

Bed head gardens are springing up around the country, according to a Garden Media Group report. Most have a slightly overgrown look, but overgrown doesn't mean neglected. A true bed head planting often uses curved paths and beds to lead visitors deeper into the garden, and plants are arranged to grow as they would in nature. If garden decor is used, it's made of raw, natural or reclaimed materials.

Bed heads may be a variation on the "New American Style" credited in the 1990s to landscape architects Oehme and van Sweden, says Maffei. That style typically uses native flowers in bright colors and masses of ornamental grasses and other foliage for a naturalistic feel.

Although some bed head gardens combine flowers and grasses, don't worry too much about color, Maffei advises. He pairs narrow-leaved plants with broad-leaved ones and vase-shaped plants with those that grow in mounds. "Then toss in a few [plants] that have long, wiry stems that will spray out around them. Don't mass lots of the same plant in one place, mix them up a little."