Before you put your plants in the ground, decide where they will go in your garden without even getting dirty. This Lab is also a simple way of seeing which colors and textures you like next to each other. Before beginning, clear a space to work on a table and lay down newspapers.
MATERIALS
Plant or seed catalogs with color pictures
Rough outline sketch of your garden
Scissors
Glue
1. Cut out pictures of plants you like. Write the plant names on your garden sketch or in your garden journal (Lab 42) and note how tall each gets. (Fig. 1)
2. Arrange the pictures in your garden sketch. Place taller plants behind smaller plants so they won’t be hiding or shading them. (Fig. 2)
3. Once you are pleased with their positions, glue the pictures in place. (Fig. 3)
4. You can use your completed masterpiece as a guideline on planting a real garden, or hang it somewhere to admire. (Fig. 4)
DIG DEEPER!
TIPS FOR DESIGNING YOUR GARDEN
When designing a garden, people usually plant things in groups of three or five or some other odd number. This doesn’t have to be three of the same plant; this can be three different plants of the same color placed throughout your garden. For example, if you’ve chosen one black-eyed Susan (yellow petals), you may want to then choose two yellow yarrow plants for elsewhere in your garden so you’d have a total of three yellow plants. Odd numbers of plants are used because we typically like odd numbers of things—but remember, do what you like!
One thing to keep in mind is that even if you love one color and only want your garden to have that color leaves or petals in it, you should incorporate other, contrasting-color plants in your garden. This helps your favorite colors “pop,” or stand out, against the other colors.
