Texture Extremes

Get a dynamic design by pairing the boldest of bold plants with the finest of the fine

The best gardens are a beautiful blend of colour , material body , and grain . ” This could be the opening night line from almost any volume on garden design . But what is texture ? This enquiry has haunted me since my first mean solar day of gardening . It seems like every garden designer I require has a unvoiced clock time fix it , as well . Most of us know what it is in theory — but explaining it , and infusing the right-hand amount of it in a landscape , is when things get slick . The concept of texture is still not only well-defined to me . When I visit the hillside garden of Mary and Roger in Tiburon , California , however , I knew I had found a rightfully textural wonder . To ensure they create a space that was filled with as much visual excitement as possible , the couple relied on a strategy of partner off plants on the polar end of the texture spectrum — a dynamic portmanteau of bold and fine . Every place you look in this unique landscape , you ’ll chance plants that have the boldest mien imaginable nestled next to works with the finest , most faint appearing . The resolution is a landscape painting that stimulates all the sense .

Start by placing the bold, big boys

It ’s authoritative to understand that many plant precipitate somewhere along the texture continuum , and it can be hard to define some industrial plant as bold or fine . It ’s easy to discover plant that dwell at the uttermost ends of the continuum — the bold of the bold and the finest of the fine . So , instead of walk through the greenhouse and hear to determine if a plant has a bold or ok grain , start by homing in on plants whose texture obviously jumps out . If you attend at a flora and think it has a tangible , in - your - face caliber about it , you ’ve likely chance a bold - textured flora . For Roger and Mary , this was the starting property for their pattern . After the terracing and hardscaping was set up in 1994 , the couple took a hard aspect at a leaning of their preferred industrial plant . Many , they noticed , were extremely bulky and bold — like foxtail grass agave ( Agave attenuata , USDA Hardiness zone 9–11 ) lustrous star yucca ( Yucca gloriosa ‘ Walbristar’,Zones 7–10 ) , and ‘ water flea ’ aeonium ( Aeonium ‘ water flea ’ , Zones 9–11 , picture , p. 23 ) .

They instal these plant first , for several ground . For one , they are big , so they take up much of the existent estate . Planting them at the outset allowed Roger and Mary to leave enough room for them to reach their full voltage . secondly , these bold plants are virtuoso on their own , so they needed to be strategically placed throughout the total garden , which prevented them from competing with one another . The installation process went on in this manner until the couple came across several industrial plant that they loved — but whose textures were harder to define . Sago palm ( Cycas revoluta , Zones 9–11 ) and smokebush(Cotinus coggygria and cvs . , Zones 4–9 ) were two such plants . In the end , they determine these alternative were bold textured , too , because they had bulky and broad leave and an middle - catch presence .

Balance things with softer companions

If the garden were filled with nothing but bold plants , funnily enough , it would be boring . Excitement issue forth from the Energy Department achieved when you couple contrasts . To find the next set of plants , Roger and Mary front to the complete diametric end of the texture spectrum . They did n’t purchase plants that might be seen by some folks as alright - textured — they went for plants that cry fine texture , like feathery airwave plants ( Tillandsia spp . and cvs . , Zones 12–13 ) or small - needle treasures such as sneak raspberry(Rubus pentalobus , Zones 6–9 , photo , p. 24 ) . These soft - look plants were then place next to the live bluff companions , produce the strong direct contrast possible . Pairing the two texture extremes results in a lively combination .

call up , though , that bold - textured plantshave a stronger visual presence than exquisitely - textured option . To keep thing well balanced , you likely need a few fine - textured plants for every bold - textured one . For example , a mass of Mexicanfeather grass is necessary to balance the inflict height of a large - bladed New Zealand flax ( Phormium tenax and cvs . , geographical zone 8–11 , ) .

Art and objects provide much-needed focal points

With such grain extreme point in the plantings , there needs to be a place to pull back the eye rather of it always flitting from one surface area of contrast to the next . You require lots of energy in the blank space but not so much that the landscape painting feels frenetic . Focal point are necessary for drawing the eye and allowing it to perch on one maculation — even for just a second . Roger and Mary used an raiment of object — from serpentine Boulder , to sleek alloy sculptures , to a set of tumid Moroccan room access — as their focal point . Each of these art piece is carefully placed in the landscape , hold back the overall theme of pairing grain extremum in head .

For representative , when it come to finding an appropriate focal full point for a minute pathway flank by feathery Mexican weeping bamboo ( Otatea acuminata ‘ Michoacan ’ , Zones 9–11 ) , the Maroc door were the stark choice ( photo , leave ) . The contrast between the bold wooden panels and the finely cut foliage is similar to the texture pairings of plants throughout the garden .

pore almost entirely on the textural side of a garden ensures that it will have aesthetic appeal as well as perpetual excitement . Despite texture playing the most significant role in Roger and Mary ’s plant choices and placement , they find that , by default , their garden is never lacking in colour or a diversity of forms . In the end , this gifted couple simplify the design cognitive operation and created a year - round tapestry of interest .

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