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Designing with Plants
General design aspects of planting schemes

We have looked at the conditions in your garden and at this stage it may be tempting to choose all your favourite plants and end up with a border full of shrubs, say, with a few perennials thrown in – and if that’s what pleases you (and the bees!) then go for it! However, if you are interested in a more balanced design it is worth adopting a more ordered approach. This is where looking at some principles of design might help.

Like any other field of design, there are some guidelines that are worth taking into account when designing a bee-friendly border. I say guidelines, because they are just that, rather than prescriptive rules, and you can use them, adjust them – or ignore them! – just as you please in order to achieve a design that satisfies you, the conditions of your space, and the bees that you are hoping to attract.

There are certain principles of design that help us to create a satisfying plan. When you view a border and it ‘looks right’ the chances are that all of these principles are working together to create a harmonious unity. It is not that you would consciously go through a list and tick them all off, but your subconscious would be telling you that this border is pleasing to the eye. These principles include things like balance, focalization, movement, proportion and repetition.

What about colour, or texture, then? Where do they fit in? Colour and texture, along with form, line and scale, are the elements, or tools of design, that we can use in various combinations to adjust the principles of design. In effect, you can use elements to ‘produce’ principles, but you cannot use principles to bring about elements. For example, you can use colour and line to achieve balance, but you cannot use balance to achieve colour or line.

The design suggestions I have made are not set in stone; many designers use different approaches, but I have found that if I keep some design principles in mind, it helps me to focus my thoughts. Let’s have a look at my suggested principles and elements of design to see how they can affect the way we design or view a border attractive to bees.

Principles of design

 

Proportion

Generally speaking, we don’t register that things are in proportion to one another – we only take notice when they are out of proportion. In the garden, one example is when a plant is put in a pot that is far too big for it, or vice versa: it doesn’t look right. What we want to achieve is a harmonious relation of one thing to another. We see things as being in proportion when they sit comfortably with each other.

Balance

We recognize that a design is balanced if one side is equal to the other. If the balance is symmetrical, one side is exactly the same as the other side. This sort of balance can occur in a border when one half of the planting scheme is replicated in the other half along a central axis. You have to be careful with this type of planting, however, because it can look contrived and a little boring unless it is in a very formal setting.

A design can be balanced without being exactly the same on both sides, however. Asymmetrical balance uses different sizes, forms, colours and textures to obtain visual balance, not necessarily actual balance. Most borders will be asymmetrically balanced. For example, a large shrub at one end of a border may be balanced by a grouping of several smaller, evergreen perennials at the other.

Focalization

Focal points are used as punctuation marks, capturing our attention and helping our eye to negotiate the array of planting that is set before us. For example, in a border a focal point might be a specimen tree or shrub.

Movement

The way in which we perceive gradual or abrupt change can generate a sense of movement, both fast and slow, along a border. Careful use of colour, line and form can bring about a feeling of motion, which leads your eye through or even beyond the area.

Repetition

Repetition hardly needs explanation! In a border you can repeat a combination of plants to help bring about an overall unity; for example, groups of three or five ornamental alliums, placed at intervals along a border, can create a sense of coherence. Be careful, though, because too much repetition can be monotonous.

Elements of design

 

When we are thinking about planting a new border or updating an existing one, the thing that often springs to mind first is colour. This is an important consideration, but it is not the only one. We have to think about other elements too, such as form, scale and texture. As much as we may like tall plants with feathery foliage and yellow flowers, a whole border of them would look dramatic to begin with but would soon look uninspiring and, frankly, boring. You could argue, of course, that if they happen to be beefriendly ones, that would be justification enough, since bees do like masses of similar flowers, but our aim is to not only attract bees into the garden but to make it attractive to humans too. So let’s have a look at some of the elements we need to consider.

Colour

Colour is probably the thing that strikes us most when we look at a border. Colours can bring about different feelings and emotions: ‘hot’ colours such as red or orange can excite or enliven us; ‘cool’ colours such as blue can create a feeling of calm. Colours can also appear to advance or recede. For example, ‘hot’ colours appear to advance towards the eye, whereas ‘cool’ colours sometimes all but disappear. And no colour stands alone – it is always seen in relation to other colours; have a look at Figure 1, a simplified colour wheel.

It is an accepted design precept that colours that are opposite one another on the colour wheel will look good together (complementary colours), as will colours that adjoin one another (analogous colours). But it is also worth experimenting with different colour combinations and juxtapositions – sometimes the most surprising groupings look fantastic. The late Christopher Lloyd wowed visitors to his garden at Great Dixter with dramatic colour schemes that any lesser a plantsman would have steered clear of.

Figure 1 A simplified colour wheel

Form

We often use the terms ‘shape’ and ‘form’ together, and they have come to be regarded as interchangeable. (If we want to be pedantic, we would say that form is to do with the three-dimensional characteristics of a volume, whereas shape is to do with the outline or two-dimensional characteristics of something.) The form of a plant, including its flowers and foliage, can have a direct effect on how we perceive a border. For example, using a plant with fine leaves in a small area will increase the feeling of space; using largeleaved plants at the end of a long, narrow border will make the space feel shorter.

Line

A line can serve to join, link, support, surround, or intersect other things. Conceptually, it has length but no width or depth. A line can express direction and movement; it can be straight or curved, cutting across a composition to create a division, or uniting areas and creating a more relaxed atmosphere. In a border you can run a thread of one type of plant through a border to link the whole area together, a device that is often used in naturalistic planting.

Scale

If we are thinking about proportion, we are looking at things in relation to one another, regardless of their size; the same is partly true of scale, except that instead of looking at things in relation to one another, we are comparing them to a particular item of a specific size. In the garden – and just about every other situation we come across – our particular item of a specific size is the average human being: this is our ‘reference standard’. In our everyday lives we judge things and orientate ourselves according to our own size. We do come across other scales, of course; think of a miniature railway or a doll’s house. With these, we recognize immediately that there is a different ‘reference standard’ at play and we alter our perception of the whole thing accordingly.

Scale and proportion are closely linked because it is only once we know what scale is being used, or to what ‘reference standard’ we are comparing something, that we can judge whether one thing is in proportion to another. Taking the doll’s house as an example, if we put a ‘human’ scale teaspoon on a doll’s house scale table, then we know straight away that the teaspoon is totally out of proportion to the rest of the setting; we have recognized that a different ‘reference standard’ is in place.

Texture

The texture of an object is its surface quality that can be felt (actual) or seen (visual). Texture cannot always be easily described; an infinite number of adjectives could be used – matt, shiny, rough, smooth, ribbed, lacy, feathery, pitted, velvety, furry, coarse, prickly, spiky, scaly, silky, hairy, sticky, waxy, thorny, flaky, rubbery, papery, wiry, crinkly, fissured, downy … the list is almost endless!

In the garden, we may think that we recognize a plant’s texture by touch, but in fact we first register its texture visually. All may not be as it appears, however. Actual and visual texture may differ considerably. A striped leaf may appear to be ribbed, yet to the touch it is perfectly smooth. This is something to bear in mind when deciding which plants to use in a design.

Time

Time stands apart from any principle or element of design. In the short term, we have to consider the seasonality of plants – at what time of year will they look their most outstanding and be of most use to bees? In the long term, we need a rough idea of the time it will take for the plants to fill the space, and also how long it will be before the border begins to look tired and past its best.

Does it look right?

If all this sounds too involved and technical, don’t worry. When we look at a border, we give very little conscious thought to nearly everything that I have described in detail above. We either like or dislike the way the planting looks and feels, and that is enough. But as an experiment, the next time you visit a garden and look at a border, especially one that you don’t like, have a think about what it is that doesn’t quite look right. I would wager that one or more of the principles of design are out of kilter.

A useful method of composing a design

 

It’s now time to look at how we can choose different types of plants to create an attractive, bee-friendly border. A tried and tested method is to select plants according to their function, which generally means that you can split them into four categories: Focus, Framework, Flowers, and Fillers. These ‘Four Fs’ become the embodiment of the design principles and elements that we have just been looking at.

Focus

The focus is the plant (usually a tree or large shrub) that acts as a focal point in the planting space. You should take care to select a plant that is visually strong but does not overwhelm the space: in other words, it needs to be in proportion to the rest of the planting or the garden as a whole.

A focus should command attention all year round; even when the bees are having ‘time off’ during the winter months, we still need something good to look at in the depth of winter. If your planting area isn’t large enough to cope with an imposing focus, opt for a smaller specimen.

Framework plants

Framework plants are usually shrubs, both evergreen and deciduous, which are used to create a framework within the border. Like the focus plant, framework plants have to be in proportion to their plant neighbours. Imagine a bed of alpine plants with a two-metre conifer growing out of the middle of it – not a pretty sight! Framework plants can also help to balance the scheme: I mentioned above how one large shrub could be balanced visually by a group of smaller plants. They can also lead the eye along the border, creating movement from one focal point to another.

Framework plants provide year-round structure, with interesting flowers, foliage, stems or berries at various times.

Flowers

This group consists mainly of herbaceous perennials, which come into their own from the late spring, through summer to the autumn months, with their flowers providing a riot of colour, texture and form.

Flowers are perhaps the most hard-working element when it comes to design: their design attributes (like colour, texture and form) can be used in many different ways – subtly or boldly, traditionally or ingeniously, densely or sparingly – to create a design in which all the principles come into play.

Strictly speaking, herbaceous perennials are plants that do not have woody stems; this category encompasses those plants that die down each autumn to reappear the following spring, but also tends to include perennials with evergreen foliage, some herbs, and, occasionally, alpines and bulbs. In addition, some plants which are strictly shrubs or sub-shrubs, like Lavandula or Perovskia, are often included in this category.

The way in which flowers are used can affect the ‘feel’ of the design, from dramatic to hotchpotch. Blocks or drifts of the same plant can look stunning (and are brilliant for bees) but this can take a little courage to put into practice. At the other end of the planting spectrum is the collection of single plants which carry a meaningful association for the gardener, or have been bought simply because they looked good – this is fine for the gardener but not so good for the bees. I would encourage anyone who is planting a new border, or refreshing an old one, to plant perennials in groups of a minimum of three. From a design, and the bee’s, point of view, this is a good practice to adopt.

Fillers

Filler planting gives instant colour and drama exactly where it is needed. Bulbs, annuals, self-seeding plants, biennials and some tender perennials fall into this category. They can be sown or planted where there is a gap or be grown in pots and placed where there is a space. By filling in the gaps, these plants can provide an immediate, albeit transitory, focal point, or create movement through a border, and they are past masters at repetition.

Spring fillers

In the spring, bulbs can be relied upon to bring come colour to the border, and some desperately needed food for the bees. Crocus are especially good, while tulips, although they may not be top of the bee’s food favourites, provide a good amount of pollen, and from a design point of view, give us a reliable season of colour and form.

And don’t forget Erysimum cheiri (wallflowers). This useful perennial, invariably grown as a biennial, was once a stalwart of spring bedding, giving a beautiful, scented display – and lots of nectar and pollen – during April and May. It seems to have been superseded by pansies and polyanthus nowadays, since they can be relied upon to give colour much earlier and for longer than the wallflower. But our gain is the bees’ loss because they yield next to nothing in terms of bee food. Wallflowers are an excellent filler plant, too, so bear them in mind when you are deciding on your planting scheme.

Summer and autumn fillers

Summer and autumn are the seasons when the annuals, in particular, come into their own. There are many to choose from but my personal favourites are Nigella, the annual Echium – E. ‘Blue Bedder’ – and Phacelia. In Germany, the latter is known as Bienenfreund – bee-friend – an apt name if ever there was one!

Ornamental onions, Allium, also provide quantities of nectar during the early summer, and they make superb fillers.

How the ‘Four Fs’ fit together

In order to give you some idea of how the ‘Four Fs’ fit together in a plan without worrying about specific plants, I have provided an illustration of a border in a simple diagrammatic form (see Figure 2). Here we have a focus, balanced by three framework ‘plants’, with flowers making up the bulk of the space, and some fillers in between. By paring the forms down to basic shapes we can already see how each of the categories fits into the overall scheme.

Figure 2 How the ‘Four Fs’ fit together

Adapting this method to your space

A point to remember is that you may not necessarily have examples of all four categories of plants in your planting plan, especially if you are designing/redesigning a fairly simple border. A focus plant is just that – something special to focus on, and you may not have more than one focus plant in your entire garden, let alone in each border. Your space may favour a large grouping of framework plants, or you may wish to have a space containing just flowers; you may feel that filler plants are unnecessary.

When planning your planting you need to take into account the mature height and spread of each plant. This will necessarily affect the number of plants that you can comfortably fit into a planting space. Trees and shrubs will obviously take a long time to achieve maturity (some of them many years), whereas many of the perennials will start to become overcrowded or deteriorate after three or four years, at which time you can dig them up and divide them. Some perennials may need to be replaced after only a couple of years. By contrast, the bulk of ‘filler’ plants will be at their best in the same year that you plant them.

Remember these points when you plant up your new border, and don’t worry if you have bare ground in places – the flowers will grow into the spaces, and meanwhile, that is what your fillers are for.

This is only one method of designing a border, and as long as you keep the needs of the bees to the forefront of your mind it is your choice what you include; even if you feel, subsequently, that you have made a mistake, you can move or remove plants accordingly.