Adelphi Front Bed With Iris, Penstemon, Coreopis auriculata nana, Germander, Sporobolus et alia

It does look good in this picture! Many of us have had, some regularly, the experience of looking at pictures of our gardens and knowing that they suggest a garden much nicer than the actuality. As though we were defrauding with photography. Well, yes and no. I know that if you had been standing with me when I took that picture, you would have seen a patchy asphalt street in the foreground. And lots of cars. And the sketchy turf surrounding the pictured island bed, and weeds in other beds. But still the plants in the picture were beautiful.

I use my garden, and others, as mnemonic devices, useful tools when I am designing and need to be able to call plants to mind quickly. Among the beauties here are several that are quite functional in the landscape. Iris pallida Aurea-variegata, the variegated iris center foreground, is a useful accent in a small mixed planting as it is here. Or, if you add two more of the same plant and position them in other beds in a pleasing triangle, they can help unify a small area, like my (or your?) front yard. Like many monocots, it has an architectural structure that visually isolates it (even without the variegation) from the more random growth of the dicots, i.e. the Germander to it's left, the Penstemon in front of it, and the Coreopsis behind it. Variegated Iris used to be fairly uncommon, but now are available inexpensively at both box stores and mainstream nurseries. Other variegated forms you see fairly regularly are Iris pseudacorus Variegata and Iris pallida Variegata.

To the left of the Iris is Germander,Teucrium chamaedrys, an evergreen sub-shrub. Of course I love sub-shrubs so I am predisposed to favor this plant, but any honest person would have to admit that its useful and beautiful. Like the other evergreen herbs, it is happiest in hot, well-drained soil, and full sun. No wonder this one is so happy, rooted in sand in a sunny bed beside a blacktop road! It doesn't grow much over a foot high and the evergreen leaves provide structure and interest in the winter. Much of the summer it is covered with rosy pink flowers that look like they belong on a plant in the mint family, which, of course, this is.

Everyone wants to grow herbs but everyone doesn't have a sunny sandy bed. A different place you may have that wiould serve these plants well is a SE or SW or W facing strip, against your house, overhung by your roof line. The herbs appreciate the hot reflected light, even more if it is beside a driveway, and the overhang helps keep the soil dry during wet periods. Lacking either of these areas, try a container in full sun (at least 6 hours).

The beautiful grass on the right is a native plant Sporobolus heterolepis, Prairie dropseed. Its characteristic rounded form and narrow, dark green blades make this distinctive grass a great garden plant. It tolerates a wide range of soils, clearly happy on sand. It is drought resistant in full sun, and though it browns in the winter, it retains enough of a presence to use as mass plantings in highly trafficked, highly visible areas. I have heard that Native Americans ground the seeds for "flour." I have watched the birds eat them in the winter.

Its about the light. Its always about the light.

Except it isn't really; sometimes its about the smell and sometimes its even about the touch but thats not common. Once in a blue moon its about the sound, like wind in bamboo, or the rattling of Baptisia seed pods. Of course with fruits and vegetables and herbs (and lots of other stuff with George) its about taste, but I still keep coming back to the light. My favorite light is early morning sun. I like to face the sun but not have it in my eyes; then it lights up the plant you are looking at. If there's dew, like in this picture, the drops refract the rays like prisms. Early light is soft and forgiving and the plants themselves often look better in the morning. Usually they are hydrated, turgid, recovered from whatever sun stress impacted them the day before.

Still, it isn't just the time of day and the quality of the light. The direction makes a huge difference. Look at a clump of dewy grass with the sun obliquely behind it, it glows. Then walk to the other side, that is, past the plant towards the sun, and look back at the same plant. No magic. Well maybe its still a beautiful plant but its halo is gone. No glow from transmitted light. Just the plant itself and I don't mean to belittle any plant, but we all like to be seen in our best light.

Which brings me to my next point, "don't smoke crack." Oh wait, thats an obscure reference to an Adam Sandler movie (Waterboy) that I ought to be ashamed to have watched, except for that one quote....Really my next point is that we have the luxury in our own gardens of taking maximum advantage of our light. As a designer, I make every attempt to position plants to maximize their appearance in relation to the sun, but if you are there 365 days a year you will understand the subtle nuances of your particular lighting better than I can and make those significant minor adjustments. There are so many variables; the path of the sun changes throughout the year and so the angle of the sun changes. In the winter when the sun is low in the sky, the shadows it creates emphasize textures. Sharp shadows forcibly delineate bark furrows, masonry surfaces, moss, even fallen leaves. The ambient color of light changes; in summer green foliage makes green light. The cloud types that the sun shines through change all the time but the thin cirrus haze is sort of particular to winter. Deciduous shade comes and goes with the seasons. And on and on. I imagine it is possible to spend a lifetime in a small garden and not exhaust all the possibilities.

If you are really interested in making your garden its best, spend time in it. You have to see it morning, mid-morning, noon.... and on to dark every day of the year. And in sun and rain and mist and snow and ice storms. You can introduce elements into your garden to maximize its beauty in an ice storm! I don't know if I have ever been in a garden that had reached the level of completeness where that was a reasonable goal to strive for but you know, there is that belt of states running E/W: North Carolina/Tennessee/Arkansas where they always seem to have ice storms...That's silly maybe, but the point is that while it may be a luxury to be able to spend time in your garden, its also a responsibility.

(Hint...click on the picture)