So why go with a perennial garden? Well the answer to that is quite simple. That’s because perennial plants are plants that come back every single year. That’s because their skeleton contains a woody structure which means that it dies and then it goes back into the ground and then comes up again next year.
These are plants that have recently become popular in gardens in the last 100 or so years. They boomed in 1980 by George Nicholson who was a curator that discussed a perennial garden, and it created this gardening style that focused on these types of plants. From that point on, perennial plants have been used in many cases as both garden borders, islands, and even mixed types of gardens.
They were originally used as backdrop plants. They were grouped, and then they were tried, with the tallest near the back, and the shorter guys near the front, which was used to showcase the plants and the border in a definitive manner.
They’re pretty great because you can create a good border for your garden. Plus, they’re often great background plants.
You can also in this day and age actually get some very pretty ones. In the past, it actually only involved a lot of woody plants, but now you can put beautiful plants all around.
Lots of times these offer a whole bunch of color all around, and it creates a good landscape shrub during the winter. It’s quite nice to have the differences in this type of garden as well, and you’ll be able to create a beautiful landscape with this.
However, there are disadvantages. Usually, the biggest problem is that they have to be a ton of space to cultivate the garden successfully, which might not be possible. Plus, often they can only be seen on one side, so you have to choose this carefully.
The other problem, is that there is a chance that light competition might happen, which then causes the plants that are taller to move forward, which causes circulation issues, and it can be a bit of a problem.
However, with an island bed, it can actually really help with this, and you should make sure that it’s no more than half of the width of the bed. Itself.
We talked a little about the different types of gardens that are out there.
First you’ve got borders, that are typically seen on just a side, and they’re in front of the backdrop with various perennials, or even a fence or a wall. Having a front edge that looks nice is quite important. Some like to have a matching, or a solo border. When you do choose plants, you should make sure that colors and plants are matching.
Then there is the island bed, which floats within the lawn, like an island. You can make this virtually any shape you want, without any corners that are sharp, and even some curves that look very gentle. You can look at this from any side, with the tall at the very middle and it fanning out. You should try to make sure that they’re big in terms of size, at least 8x15 feet, with the taller plants going to about five or so feet.
Sometimes, you don’t even need to follow those though, and you can create a rock garden bed, which in essence has rocks outcropping and the focus of it being tiny plants that are alpine in nature.
Shade gardens don’t have a shape either since well, you have to follow the shade that you’re going for. Lots of perennial gardens love to follow this style, since many tend to be shaded.
Another fun one, is the free-form garden, which is defined bath paths that meander that view into the plantings and then through it. The flowers are mixed within the shrubs, and you can put these around the mailbox or other structures or even get some big containers that you can enjoy.
With perennial gardens, you’ll be able to really choose the shape and structure that you want, and you can make it look amazing.