Planting DesignDiscover the right plants for your garden.
The design trend of choosing plants for their structural and sculptural tone rather than decorative esthetic evolve before long after WWII . Some of those plants are still used today and others have been reinvent . Here are 13 works that work well in innovative - dash gardens .
' Color Guard ' . Photo by : Proven Winners .
YUCCA
Mod Appeal : Yucca ’s stiffly upright crown of evergreen swordlike foliage create a living sculpture . Though perfect for adrought - tolerant gardenwith a southwestern feel , particularly when unite with cacti and succulents , many types are brave as far north as Zone 4 .
Types with cream or yellow centers , ( like ‘ Color Guard ' ) or edge ( like ‘ Bright Edge ’ ) really glow in a sun - drenched garden ; ‘ Starburst ’ has cream stripe that take on a pink mite in cool weather . Banana Split ® is tender but splendiferous in a simple container .
see to grow yucca plants .
Canna ' Pretoria ' ( left ) , elephant ’s earAlocasia macrorrhiza(right ) . exposure by : Susan A. Roth .
CANNA & ALOCASIA
Mod Appeal : Structural to the extreme ! riotous , outsized foliage like that ofCanna’Pretoria ' andelephant ’s earAlocasia macrorrhizaprovides a arrant foil for the spare straight lines of modernist architecture and offers a tropic , exotic flavor . striking in mass plantings , but the simplicity of one elephant ’s ear makes a bluff statement .
Development of canna cultivars with striped or nearly bootleg foliage , and others notable for their flowers , such as theToucan ® seriesthat bloom in dark orange , scarlet , scandalmongering , rose , and coral have made them pop in forward-looking garden . The 70 or so specie of elephant ’s ear are dauntless in Zones 7 to 10 , but are used seasonally in cooler neighborhood because they grow so fast — up to 6 feet in one time of year .
Learn cannasandalocasias .
Shadowland ® ' Autumn Frost ' . Photo by : Walters Gardens / Proven Winners .
HOSTA
Mod Appeal : unvanquishable foliage industrial plant , form the backbone of many spook gardens . Use as a specimen in a pot or in slam of ground binding .
A flood of new cultivars enter the market years ago , with a intellect - boggling array of leaf shapes , sizes , and colour . While some older multifariousness are still rock - solid selections , choice newer introductions includeShadowland ® ' Autumn Frost ' , ‘ Hanky Panky ’ , ‘ Abiqua Drinking Gourd ’ , ‘ Paul ’s Glory ’ and ‘ Stiletto ’ .
acquire hosta plants .
Pyromania ™ Orange Blaze . photograph by : Proven Winners .
RED - HOT POKER
Mod Appeal : Strongly vertical , yet compact , the ruby - hot poker contributes the all - of import eyestopping moment to a design . Pyromania ™ Orange BlazeKniphofia(shown center ) , is a hybrid with bright orangish prime over grass - like foliage .
Red - hot fire hook flora have contract sophisticated with subtle shade of cream , primrose , gamboge , and burnt apricot with fine , grassy foliage — tryPyromania ™ Flashpoint(yellow),‘Toffee Nosed ’ ( cream ) or ‘ slight Maid ’ ( yellow - putting surface ) .
ascertain kniphofia plants .
exposure by : Susan A. Roth .
AGAPANTHUS
Mod Appeal : Space - eld globes of blossom swim above mounds of strappy foliage , attractive even when not in bloom . plant life en masse shot or in a pot .
This conservatoire plant from South Africa prompt outdoors in the forties , just in time to become a Darling River of the modernist . Further breeding has produced plants with efflorescence in white ( ‘ White Heaven ’ ) , variegated foliage ( ‘ Tinkerbell ’ ) , and dwarf ( ‘ Peter Pan ’ ) or giant ( ‘ violent storm Cloud ’ ) forms .
find out to grow agapanthus .
Phormium’Sundowner ' . Photo by : John Glover .
NEW ZEALAND FLAX
Mod Appeal : For decorator relate with form , grain and color , New Zealand flax ( Phormium tenax ) is a godsend . The long , leathery , swordlike leaves fan out boldly and hold their flesh through thick and flimsy .
fostering has produced some excellent garden motley , both in form and color , e.g. ,Phormium‘Sundowner ’ .
pic by : Andrea Jones .
AEONIUM
Mod Appeal : The heavy , organic geometry of succulents is bewitching and seems particularly at home in contemporary setting . The California modernist in particular enjoyed the vivid impact of these down - sustenance plants in the garden and in containers . A conversation opus in windowsill gardens in cool geographical zone . Their proportionate rosettes can be virtually monotonous to the ground or perched atop snaky stems .
In gay , warm zonesAeonium haworthii‘Variegatum ’ ( shown ) furcate pronto into a mat of subtle leafage . For a striking focal stop in a pot , tryAeonium‘Zwartkop ’ , a contraband - maroon oddity . The aptly name ‘ Dinner Plate ’ is only 2 column inch tall but 12 inches across .
Rock ' N Grow ® ' stark Joy ' . Photo by : Walters Gardens / Proven Winners .
SEDUM
Mod Appeal : Tolerant of most soil types , drought- and disease - insubordinate with interesting foliage and long - lasting efflorescence appearing recently in the time of year , sedum are an well-situated sell to any garden designer wait for an attractive , industrious plant that play well with others of the same like , such as grasses — just ask Oehme , van Sweden .
Update : invariant breeding work on sedums has introduced many superb varieties such asRock ' N Grow ® ‘ saturated Joy ’ , which deal the all - pear-shaped virtues of its family plus bubblegum pink flower that attract butterflies and bees . Attractive seed head follow after the blooming time of year .
determine to grow sedum works .
Evergold Sedge . Photo by : Proven Winners .
CAREX
Mod Appeal : Fountains of delicate foliage and flowers are good foils for bolder works and tote up movement to thegarden . Tall grasses make aliveness hedging ; shorter grasses and sedge are tidy yet intimate edging . Handsome in the garden even in their winter tans and Brown .
Mary Jane and sedge have taken the gardening world by storm . Varieties with variegated leaf , such asEvergold sedge(Carex hachijoensis ) with dark green and bright Au striped leaf are popular .
get wind to maturate genus Carex plants .
SWISS high mallow PLANT
Mod Appeal : Swiss cheese plant ( Monstera deliciosa ) is a racy vine in warm zones and a houseplant farther northwards . Used in interiors so often at midcentury that it is synonymous with the fifties . disconnected - foliage philodendron ( Philodendron selloum ) has the same architectural look but does n’t rise .
As if the deeply split and perforated leaves were n’t striking enough , ‘ Variegata ’ has white marking and ‘ Marmorata ’ , splashes of yellow .
Learn ceriman plants .
Photo by : Andrew Lawson .
AUCUBA
Mod Appeal : The modernists agreed with the Victorians on this one . Aucuba japonicahas full - season interest with sheeny evergreen plant foliage and reddened Charles Edward Berry . Adaptable , well-off bush for shade .
raising programs have produced a plethora of variegated forms . Joining the old standby ‘ Variegata ’ , or golden dust plant , are ‘ Picturata ’ , ‘ Mr. Goldstrike ’ and ‘ Pepper Pot ’ .
FATSIA
Mod Appeal : A indigen of Japan , Fatsia japonicasuits the Asian - inspired style of many modernist home , make a bluff foliage industrial plant for the spectre .
Fatsia is a familiar houseplant that has made a transition to the outside landscape in warmer zones . The variegated leaves of ‘ Aurea ’ and ‘ Variegata ’ create a bright spot in shady garden . The lace - doily leaves of ‘ Manchu Fan ’ are elaborately lob and nearly circular .
Photo by : Jerry Pavia .
LILY TURF
Mod Appeal : A cast - iron constitution , shade permissiveness , and well-situated upkeep explain the appeal of smart and useable lily sward ( Liriope muscari ) . But , like many other stalwart earth covers , it has been overexposed to the item of cliché .
genus Liriope muscari‘Pee Dee Ingot ’ , on the other helping hand , inspires fear among leading - sharpness gardeners for its fountains of yellow green leafage — yellowish green being the in color , along with black , for leaf fanciers today .
look out this brusque video recording to see how a New planting plan was put together .
The History of Mid-Century Modern Plants
Just as architects sheer off in a radical new direction in the years after World War II , garden designers were throw off the yoke of the highly decorate , specimen - pack gardens of the late nineteenth and other twentieth centuries . Like their architect peer group , they embraced the mod principles of simplicity , efficiency and functionality .
Christopher Tunnard , a garden designer with a teaching appointment at Harvard who had migrated from Europe to America in 1939 , produced a book , Gardens in the Modern Landscape(Architectural Press , 1938 ) , which proved to be a major influence on the Eckbo , Church , Rose genesis of modernist garden designers . On planting design , Tunnard was clean : “ To set is but a part of landscape piece ; to co - ordinate is all . ”
For the New landscape painting room decorator , that translated into the sparing use of plant chosen for their sculptural rather than their decorative personal effects . They were to be enjoyed , like abstract artwork , for their gloss , form , texture and balance . Foliage was in , heyday were out . The point was to provide a backcloth for the evolve suburban way of life . Tunnard said , “ Landscape computer architecture is indispensable for living the good life … it is for human enjoyment in the 20th C , not for Sunday promenading in the 19th . ”
The midcentury also ushered in the glory days of the American lawn , long before headache about water preservation attain a head word . manicure turf was everywhere : subtle , monochromatic , minimum — and , if you did n’t consider too much about it , it even front low maintenance . Midcentury designers lauded the low - maintenance garden , which not only carried forwards the lessons of in force design , but also gave the garden back to everyman . Today ’s designers be given to address rhapsodically about aboriginal plant for similar reasons . It was a time of purposeful nonindulgence , a time when gardens were composed of a limited industrial plant palette , punctuate by the repetition of human body and textile .
Of of course some of those midcentury plants have hung around and are mainstay today — a will to their dependability . Some have been the source of renew interest group , thanks to industrial plant breeders who have reinvent the old favourite — flame nettle , for example . “ New ” modernistic plants have also entered the arena — decorative locoweed and garden kind of American natives , such asRudbeckia . understand the principle of modernist designing have it potential to fill out the contemporaneous plant list with species and cultivars that were n’t available 50 age ago yet are still appropriate to the ism . The march goes on because the example of good plan never go out of style .
