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If you want to get the most from your bedding plants, look beyond the question of color, into the form, shape and texture of the plants, and how they fit into the overall garden composition.

Bedding plants, whether annual or perennial, are generally planted to supply color to the garden. This role is most effective when the bedding plants are chosen as part of a specific color scheme, as opposed to being “peppered? around the garden without any clear design purpose. Like all plants however, they also have shape, form and texture. When these properties are taken into account and acted upon, the bedding plants become, as they properly should, an integral and organic part of the overall garden composition.

A case in point would be herbaceous plants that have a mounding or cushion growth habit. A bed or border largely comprising of such plants, with other form types complementing or contrasting with them, creates a clear compositional direction. Cushion plants grow naturally in arid regions, and so the garden varieties are particularly suitable to Mediterranean and dry climate gardens.

A few fine examples are some perennial carnations, (Dianthus) Thrift, (Armeria) the gorgeous Cranesbill, (Erodium reichardii) and the very delicate Goniolimon tartaricum. All have small, dainty flowers, most commonly in varying shades of pink. Certain species of the succulent Sedum, while not grown for their blooms, enhance the low-growing, mounding form of these plants. Prostrate ornamental grasses like Festuca glauca strengthen the cushion motif. Cushion plants are suitable at the front of borders, preferably in small, intimate spaces as opposed to large ones, where they are liable to “get lost?. They are excellent niche plants.

No plant, like an ingredient in a recipe, is as good as the context in which it grows, bedding plants being no exception. Therefore, the question that should always be asked is; how do cushion plants combine with plants of differing form and shape? One rule of thumb should apply. The contrast plants, although differing in some way from the mounding plants ought to have some characteristics in common with them. The common denominator should be delicacy in texture form or size.

For instance, the lily turfs, (Liriope and Ophiopogon) have a vertical, upright habit, yet are low in height, and delicate in texture. Asteriscus maritimus, while sporting small, daisy flowers also grows in a mounding fashion. The Sea Lavender (Limonium perezii) on the other hand, has a rather course leaf texture, which does not go well with fine-textured plants. However, belonging to the same botanical family as both Armeria and Goniolimon, (Plumbaginaceae) the flowers of all the species are very similar. So placed perhaps at the back of the border, to hide its leaves, Sea Lavender’s blooms add a subtle variation on a theme to the composition.

In a Mediterranean style garden, the cushion plants in the border associate appropriately with such trees as Olive, Cypress, and Pomegranate. They also are in harmony with many of the grey and silver leaved plants that are a typical part of such gardens. The motif established by the trees, strengthened by shrubs like Juniper and herbs such as Lavender and Artemisia, is completed on the ground plane by the cushion plants. It is worth remembering that while “variety is the spice of life? a garden composition cannot work without the different plant types , “talking the same language?.

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Tags: arid regions, bedding plants, blooms, borders, case in point, color scheme, cranesbill, cushion plants, dainty flowers, dry climate, festuca, growth habit, herbaceous plants, intimate spaces, motif, ornamental grasses, perennial carnations, question of color, rule of thumb, sedum

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Tags: arid regions, bedding plants, blooms, borders, case in point, color scheme, cranesbill, cushion plants, dainty flowers, dry climate, festuca, growth habit, herbaceous plants, intimate spaces, motif, ornamental grasses, perennial carnations, question of color, rule of thumb, sedum