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Rebeeca Sams and Buell Steelman of the invention - build firm Mosaic Gardens ( locate in the Pacific Northwest ) favor compact plants with a meadowy grain and colors that blend well with others for create natural - looking gardens that do n’t overpower low suburban band . Here are some of their recommendations .
Photo by : Claire Takacs .
Salvia guaranitica‘Black and Blue’
This salvia produces indigo flowers with nearly bootleg calyx on good stems all season . “ It ’s almost scary to walk through a mass of it , ” Sams says , “ because amped - up hummingbird want those heyday . ” Western Oregon ’s cool , damp climate sometimes makes overwintering a challenge , but plant can resprout from tubers or be grown as yearly .
Agastache‘Summer Glow’
‘ Summer Glow ’ has luminescent apricot - coloured flowers on recollective stems that draw in pollinators and catch up with the luminousness . “ It has a harsh , meadowy feeling , ” Sams aver , “ and does n’t look like one of those plants that ’s been engender to death . ” Marginally winter - Oliver Hardy in westerly Oregon .
Helictotrichon sempervirens
This evergreen — or everblue — summer bloomer , commonly experience as down in the mouth oat grass , has tan flower spikes on bristly tufts of blade blue-blooded foliage about 2 to 3 metrical foot grandiloquent and all-encompassing .
Asarum splendens
Chinese wild ginger is a stalwart groundcover for suspicious field . silvern spatter variegation “ looks like light playing on the leaves , ” Sams says , and lighten humbled - light gardens .
Vacciniumspp.
Blueberry bushes need fate of sun — something urban slews often lack . Plant well away from tree and structures that be sick shade , and water regularly in dry summers .
Polystichum munitum
This durable aboriginal fern is accommodate for slopes . Cut back in spring just before the bright dark-green fiddles ( coiled young leave-taking ) emerge , and relish their unfurling . “ The seasonal calibre of ferns is undersold , ” Sams tell .
Adiantum venustum
Himalayan maidenhair fern fern is a well - behaved ground cover about 6 to 12 inches improbable with stringy black shank and snipe , bright light-green leaves . In western Oregon , it tolerates infrequent tearing ( but not total drouth ) in shade and decent soil .
Parahebe catarractae
A sizable evergreen plant suffrutex that blooms prolifically all time of year . Small calendered leaves contrast nicely with pot and large - leaf perennials . Appreciates full sun or part shade .
Hydrangea quercifolia
heavy , rasping - textured leaves blush Bourgogne in fall and often harbor on all winter , make oakleaf hydrangea a colourful backdrop for small plants . Snowy white flower clusters bloom from other summer to midsummer . grow to 7 foot but takes pruning well .
This bonus content follow “ The Oasis Builders”—an article showing how Mosaic Gardens creates plushy gardens on small , suburban lot — in the Summer 2017 issue ofGarden Designmagazine .
