Planting DesignDiscover the right plants for your garden.
The design trend of prefer plant for their geomorphological and sculptural quality rather than cosmetic esthetic germinate short after WWII . Some of those plant are still used today and others have been reinvented . Here are 13 plants that ferment well in forward-looking - style garden .
' Color Guard ' . Photo by : Proven Winners .
YUCCA
Mod Appeal : Yucca ’s stiffly vertical jacket of evergreen plant swordlike foliage creates a living sculpture . Though perfect for adrought - tolerant gardenwith a southwesterly feeling , especially when combined with cacti and succulents , many type are hardy as far north as Zone 4 .
Types with pick or yellow centers , ( like ‘ Color Guard ' ) or edges ( like ‘ Bright Edge ’ ) really glow in a Lord’s Day - drenched garden ; ‘ Starburst ’ has emollient grade insignia that take on a pinkish tinge in coolheaded conditions . Banana Split ® is tender but glorious in a bare container .
watch to grow yucca plants .
Canna ' Pretoria ' ( left ) , elephant ’s earAlocasia macrorrhiza(right ) . Photo by : Susan A. Roth .
CANNA & ALOCASIA
Mod Appeal : geomorphological to the extreme point ! exuberant , oversize leafage like that ofCanna’Pretoria ' andelephant ’s earAlocasia macrorrhizaprovides a complete enhancer for the trim true lines of modernist architecture and offers a tropical , alien look . Dramatic in aggregative plantings , but the simplicity of one elephant ’s spike form a bold instruction .
Development of canna cultivars with striped or nearly black foliage , and others notable for their flowers , such as theToucan ® seriesthat bloom in dark orange , scarlet , yellow-bellied , rise , and coral have made them popular in modern gardens . The 70 or so specie of elephant ’s ears are hardy in Zones 7 to 10 , but are used seasonally in cooler region because they rise so tight — up to 6 foot in one season .
see cannasandalocasias .
Shadowland ® ' Autumn Frost ' . picture by : Walters Gardens / Proven Winners .
HOSTA
Mod Appeal : unvanquishable leaf plant , imprint the moxie of many shade garden . Use as a specimen in a pot or in sweeps of ground covert .
A flood of novel cultivars introduce the securities industry years ago , with a psyche - boggling array of leaf flesh , sizes , and colors . While some older motley are still rock - square selections , choice newer presentation includeShadowland ® ' Autumn Frost ' , ‘ Hanky Panky ’ , ‘ Abiqua Drinking Gourd ’ , ‘ Paul ’s Glory ’ and ‘ Stiletto ’ .
get word genus Hosta plants .
Pyromania ™ Orange Blaze . pic by : Proven Winners .
RED - HOT stove poker
Mod Appeal : Strongly vertical , yet compact , the red - hot poker lend the all - important eyestopping moment to a figure . Pyromania ™ Orange BlazeKniphofia(shown centre ) , is a hybrid with bright orangish flowers over grass - like foliage .
Red - hot poker plants have bring forth advanced with pernicious shades of pick , primrose , lemon , and cut apricot with hunky-dory , grassy foliage — tryPyromania ™ Flashpoint(yellow),‘Toffee Nosed ’ ( cream ) or ‘ Little Maid ’ ( yellow - greens ) .
check kniphofia industrial plant .
Photo by : Susan A. Roth .
AGAPANTHUS
Mod Appeal : outer space - age globes of heyday be adrift above mounds of strappy foliage , attractive even when not in blossom . Plant en masse shot or in a mess .
This conservatory plant from South Africa proceed outdoors in the 1940s , just in fourth dimension to become a pet of the modernist . Further breeding has produced plants with flowers in white-hot ( ‘ White Heaven ’ ) , variegated foliage ( ‘ Tinkerbell ’ ) , and dwarf ( ‘ Peter Pan ’ ) or giant ( ‘ Storm Cloud ’ ) forms .
find out to grow agapanthus .
Phormium’Sundowner ' . pic by : John Glover .
NEW ZEALAND FLAX
Mod Appeal : For designers refer with form , texture and colour , New Zealand flax ( Phormium tenax ) is a manna from heaven . The longsighted , leathery , swordlike leaves buff out boldly and hold their shape through thick and thin .
rearing has produced some first-class garden varieties , both in form and people of color , e.g. ,Phormium‘Sundowner ’ .
Photo by : Andrea Jones .
AEONIUM
Mod Appeal : The fleshy , organic geometry of succulents is fascinating and seems peculiarly at house in contemporary options . The California modernists in particular enjoy the graphic impact of these low - maintenance plant life in the garden and in container . A conversation man in windowsill garden in cooler zona . Their harmonious rosettes can be nearly flat to the flat coat or perched atop snakelike stems .
In sunny , warm zonesAeonium haworthii‘Variegatum ’ ( point ) furcate readily into a lustrelessness of subtle leaf . For a striking focal tip in a muckle , tryAeonium‘Zwartkop ’ , a black - maroon oddity . The aptly refer ‘ Dinner Plate ’ is only 2 inches marvellous but 12 inches across .
Rock ' N Grow ® ' virtuous Joy ' . picture by : Walters Gardens / Proven Winners .
SEDUM
Mod Appeal : Tolerant of most soil type , drought- and disease - repellent with interesting foliation and long - lasting flowers appearing deep in the season , sedums are an easy sell to any garden designer looking for an attractive , untiring plant life that encounter well with others of the same ilk , such as locoweed — just ask Oehme , van Sweden .
Update : Constant breeding work on sedums has introduce many brilliant varieties such asRock ' N Grow ® ‘ thoroughgoing Joy ’ , which shares the all - round virtues of its family plus bubblegum pink flower that attract butterfly stroke and bees . Attractive source head survey after the blossom time of year .
Learn to uprise sedum plants .
Evergold Sedge . exposure by : Proven Winners .
CAREX
Mod Appeal : fountain of frail foliage and flowers are good foils for bolder plants and add movement to thegarden . Tall grass make living hedge ; short grasses and sedges are tidy yet informal edging . fine-looking in the garden even in their winter tans and John Brown .
Grasses and sedges have taken the gardening world by violent storm . variety show with variegated foliage , such asEvergold sedge(Carex hachijoensis ) with dark green and bright amber striped leaves are pop .
Learn to grow carex plants .
SWISS CHEESE PLANT
Mod Appeal : Swiss cheese plant ( Monstera deliciosa ) is a robust vine in warm zones and a houseplant farther northerly . Used in DoI so often at midcentury that it is synonymous with the fifties . Split - leaf philodendron ( Philodendron selloum ) has the same architectural smell but does n’t wax .
As if the deeply disconnected and perforated leaves were n’t striking enough , ‘ Variegata ’ has clean markings and ‘ Marmorata ’ , splashing of yellow .
Learn ceriman flora .
exposure by : Andrew Lawson .
AUCUBA
Mod Appeal : The modernists agree with the Victorians on this one . Aucuba japonicahas full - time of year interest with sheeny evergreen plant leaves and reddened berries . Adaptable , easy bush for shade .
Breeding programs have produced a plethora of variegated forms . bring together the honest-to-goodness standby ‘ Variegata ’ , or golden junk plant life , are ‘ Picturata ’ , ‘ Mr. Goldstrike ’ and ‘ Pepper Pot ’ .
FATSIA
Mod Appeal : A indigene of Japan , Fatsia japonicasuits the Asian - inspired mode of many modernist homes , cause a bold foliage works for the tincture .
Fatsia is a familiar houseplant that has made a transition to the outdoor landscape in warmer zone . The variegated leaves of ‘ Aurea ’ and ‘ Variegata ’ create a lustrous blot in fly-by-night garden . The lace - doily leaves of ‘ Manchu Fan ’ are in an elaborate way lob and virtually circular .
Photo by : Jerry Pavia .
LILY TURF
Mod Appeal : A hurl - smoothing iron constitution , shade tolerance , and well-heeled upkeep explain the appeal of wise and functional lily turf ( Liriope muscari ) . But , like many other stalwart terra firma spread over , it has been overexposed to the point of cliché .
Liriope muscari‘Pee Dee Ingot ’ , on the other hand , urge on reverence among leading - edge nurseryman for its fountains of chartreuse foliation — pea green being the in color , along with pitch-black , for foliation enthusiast today .
Watch this short video to see how a modern planting plan was put together .
The History of Mid-Century Modern Plants
Just as designer sheer off in a radical young direction in the years after World War II , garden designers were throw off the yoke of the extremely ornamented , specimen - pack gardens of the recent nineteenth and early 20th centuries . Like their designer match group , they embraced the modern principle of simmpleness , 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 generation of modernist garden interior decorator . On planting blueprint , Tunnard was clear : “ To plant is but a part of landscape painting composition ; to co - ordinate is all . ”
For the innovative landscape designer , that interpret into the part with use of flora chosen for their sculptural rather than their ornamental effect . They were to be enjoyed , like nonfigurative fine art , for their color , strain , texture and proportionality . foliation was in , flush were out . The percentage point was to provide a background for the evolve suburban way of life . Tunnard said , “ Landscape computer architecture is essential for subsist the ripe life story … it is for human delectation in the 20th century , not for Sunday troop in the 19th . ”
The midcentury also show in the aura days of the American lawn , long before concerns about body of water conservation reached a fountainhead . Manicured turf was everywhere : elusive , monochrome , minimum — and , if you did n’t think too much about it , it even look low maintenance . Midcentury designers proclaim the lowly - care garden , which not only carried forward the lessons of skillful excogitation , but also gave the garden back to everyman . Today ’s designers tend to speak rhapsodically about native works for similar reason . It was a prison term of purposeful asceticism , a time when gardens were compile of a special industrial plant palette , mark by the repetition of shapes and materials .
Of course some of those midcentury plants have hung around and are mainstays today — a testament to their dependability . Some have been the germ of renew interest , thanks to plant breeders who have reinvent the old favorites — coleus , for exemplar . “ New ” modern plants have also put down the arena — decorative skunk and garden varieties of American natives , such asRudbeckia . Understanding the principles of modernist designing makes it potential to fill out the contemporary flora list with species and cultivar that were n’t available 50 days ago yet are still appropriate to the philosophy . The marching music goes on because the lessons of honorable design never go out of flair .
