Color my Garden Confused
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- Cottage_Garden
- kimmik
- Cottage_Garden
- Cottage_Garden
- Carol Wallace
- Cottage_Garden
- Kirk_Johnson
- Gay_Klok
- Carol Wallace
- biogardener
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» Cottage_Garden - Carol, I think in this instance you are describing an installati
Carol, I think in this instance you are describing an installation of plant material rather than a garden. ;)Barbara Martin
The Cottage Garden Editor
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» kimmik - Barbara, you got me on that one...Don't you install plant materi
Barbara, you got me on that one...Don't you install plant material in a garden?Or do you mean just plopping a plant somewhere isn't the same as gardening?
Funny, I was just talking about that and even mentioned your name and your advice...The right plant for the right place.
I may have reversed them, but at least I got the concept.
-- posted by kimmik
» Cottage_Garden - Kim, I was teasing a bit. Landscape Architects, garden design
Kim, I was teasing a bit.Landscape Architects, garden designers, landscapers and so on often classify or refer to the elements employed in a design as either "hardscape" or "plant material" and consider each as a commodity. To me, plants are more than a mere source of revenue. Planting a plant is a little more involved than "installing" it. Is it any surprise that I also think a good garden is more than the sum of its parts?
I'm tickled you thought of me in the same breath as right plant right place! You've definitely got the concept! 
.
Barbara Martin
The Cottage Garden Editor
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Cottage_Garden - Kim -- just to clarify, no I don't run a landscape installation
Kim -- just to clarify, no I don't run a landscape installation or maintenance business. I don't even sell plants. I just consult and design and write and teach. I don't even do blueprints if I can help it -- the essence is easily marked on a sketch pad once the thought comes through! Barbara Martin
The Cottage Garden Editor
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Carol Wallace - Kim, Those of us who tend to fall inlove with every passing pla
Kim, Those of us who tend to fall inlove with every passing plant, tend them, worry about them and know their names call them garden plants. Those who buy stuff to fill a spot -- even if they have given some thought to color and design principles -- buy plant material.Sort of like buying poly-fill for a pillow. Carol virtually gardening-- posted by Carol Wallace
» Cottage_Garden - At the risk of sniping, people who literally consider the stuff
At the risk of sniping, people who literally consider the stuff as plant material generally don't realize plants are living things. Living things grow or die, interact with their surrounds, and generally are not static. In other words, plants are indeed in a separate category from concrete, AND they seem to have minds of their own! That's the magic in the garden! Barbara Martin
The Cottage Garden Editor
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Kirk_Johnson - I rarely use the term "plant material" but when you are thinking
I rarely use the term "plant material" but when you are thinking about design, it is best to not focus too much on plants, the term "plant material" does give the designer a certain distance from plants, and it doesn't mean that the designer doesn't love plants.A garden can be a place where one grows plants, but it can also be a work of art in which plants are one of the elements used to compose this work of art. I try to be charitable and assume that the designer loves plants, that they are just distancing themselves from something that they love, so that the plants are not more important than the hardscaping.
I have had years of life drawing. Art students are taught to distance themselves a bit from the nude model, but it doesn't mean that they don't find the nude body arousing. They are taught to use their sensuality to create a work of art, to refine their sensuality. The term "plant material" could be used for the same purpose.
-- posted by Kirk_Johnson
» Gay_Klok - When garden owners just "plonk" a plant in anywhere, it is perha
When garden owners just "plonk" a plant in anywhere, it is perhaps a little like the compulsive buying of a dress - wear it once and leave it to die in the cupboard.I am not organized in my landscaping. The first consideration is "What conditions?" Grouping plants together that enjoy similar soil, shade or sun, it is amazing how well they will "fit" together. Of course, sometimes Nature takes a hand, the seed is dropped and one year later you get an enormous and delightful surprise.
I guess I do paint a picture in my mind. There are colour combinations I don't get good reactions from but that can come down to the various shades and textures - I have seen a very subtle shade of orange planted with a strong mauve tending towards purple. In fact, I have kept my deciduous Azaleas away from the Rhododendrons but in one of the beds of dec. azaleas, all shades of orange, I needed another colour. I had been given a Rhododendron, "Purple Palace" and wasn't sure where to plant it in with the other Rhodos, so I planted it at the back of the Azalea bed. They look amazing now - the purple was strong enough to bring out the more subtle shades in the Azalea. I discovered they had a sort of pink in them as well as the orange. A touch of white always helps too
I would never wear a pink, orange and purple dress but I do love a sunset made up of those colours!
-- posted by Gay_Klok
» Carol Wallace - Color combinations can be surprising, can't they? I try to stic
Color combinations can be surprising, can't they? I try to stick to ones I know I like -- but then some plant will suddenly volunteer itself and present a wonderful surprise. I remember thinking that purple and red sounded horrible -- but then when my Castor beans bloomed next to purple foliaged cannas I decided it looked terrific. But I'm with you, Gay -- you'd never catch me in a red and purple outfit!Kirk, I think I see what you're saying. If I keep playing with my Japanese garden idea, I am playing with a space that isn't really about plants, and so I may need to distance myself from them a bit. (If I don't, I can see myself dragging home all manner of things because they are "so Oriental!" ) In that case, building the garden from stone materials and planting materials as a concept may be helpful in the initial design.
I think it's interesting how changing what you call something can also change the way you think about it.
Carol virtually gardening
-- posted by Carol Wallace
» biogardener - Traute Klein, Editor of <a href='http://www.suite101.com/topics/
Traute Klein, Editor of Natural Health, promoting life in harmony with creation.If a well-designed garden has to have a color scheme, then the creator is the worst gardener of us all. The only color scheme he uses is based on variety. My closet looks the same, lots of variety. The only color I hate is brown. They say that brown is worn by people who like to blend into the background and not be noticed. That doesn't describe anyone in our family.
How can I decide on colors anyway. I don't go looking for flowers. I adopt the ones which need a home when other people throw them out.
-- posted by biogardener
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