Core of four

This is an excerpt from the Book called “Yards“ by Billy good nick . Continue reading to learn more about Core of four, thanks to the author.

What, how many & where do they go?

Introducing your “core of four”

Even a seasoned designer (I’m fond of dill weed myself) has a hard time giving birth to a plant palette of a dozen or more varieties off the top of their head. The typical front or back yard will likely include at least a couple of types of trees, a few different background shrubs and vines, and an assortment of smaller plants and flowers. To make this daunting challenge manageable, I’ve developed what I call the core of four. It’s a plant selection starter kit consisting of one plant from each of the four categories: tree, high, medium and low, described on pages 84-86. It starts out as a one-column spreadsheet, then eventually expands horizontally as more plants are added.

Here’s what the core of four is about: Imagine you’re only allowed to use four different plants in your garden, but you can have as many of each as needed. Anywhere you require a tree, it’s going to be the same one in each location; same goes for the high, medium, and low plants. (Stick with me; I’m not saying you’re only allowed four kinds of plants. This is just the first step, identifying the four plants that will be your core.)

Review what you learned about your likes and dislikes from the plagiarism exercise in the last chapter. If you feel like you’ve come up short on lovable plants, go back to your online and book references and expand your list.

When you’re ready, grab your “What I Like About You” plant list and pick your favorite tree. Pink dogwood (Cornus Florida rubra), you say? It’s a deciduous, round-canopied tree with strongly horizontal branches, broad, pointed, oval green leaves, and four petaled pastel pink flowers. For now, this is the tree you’ll use throughout your yard-one or more, depending on your space.

Next, you need a tall plant to enclose the yard and create privacy, one that shares a few features with the tree, but not its identical twin. So, you choose mock orange (Philadelphus x virginalist) because it grows 6 to 8 feet tall, has small green leaves shaped like the dogwood’s, but displays a weeping habit and has fragrant, showy white flowers.

Your medium plant choice is Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergia), a dense, mounding, compact, burgundy-foliage plant. Since pink (the dogwood flowers) is the tint, and burgundy is the shade of red, there’ll be a bridge between the colors that offsets the change in form.

One plant to go. Maybe you’re getting tired of all the rounded forms, so how about a low plant that’s vertical, like an ornamental grass? Chinese fountain grass (Pennisetum Orientale) should do the trick. It’s fine-textured and wispy, but when it flowers in spring and summer, the soft brush-like blooms have a pale pink blush, sealing the deal on this narrow, analogous color scheme.

Here’s the result: a composition that has enough related parts to look cohesive, but with enough variety to keep from melding into an indistinguishable mass.

Building on your core of four

Now that you have your core of four in place, you can build on it, gradually fleshing out a more complex final list. The spreadsheet on this page contains four rows and multiple columns. The first column is filled in, waiting for you to double the number of plants by tackling the next column.

When it comes time to pick your second tree, ignore the high, medium, low plants you already picked and select a second tree to complement the first. My theory is that if tree 1 and tree 2 can form a meaningful relationship, that new tree will make sense with the other three plants in column one.

There are two approaches: First, you could look for similarities that link your new tree to the dogwood, and some differences.

What about a different variety of dogwood, this one with white flowers? Or, you could go for extreme contrast, like a European birch (Betula pendula) with its upright form, weeping branches, small leaves and white bark. No one will mistake this for another dogwood. Now we’re getting somewhere. Cool! You’ve chosen your second tree! (Sit down. Have a cup herbal tea. I’m here for you.)

Continue down the list, finding a partner for each of the other first pick plants from column 1.

High: Philadelphus+ Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) why? A touch of purple flowers would expand the palette, and the leaves are a lighter shade of green while sharing a similar shape.

Medium: Berberis+ Adagio Maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Adagio’), a light, airy grass to contrast the density of the barberry.

Low: Pennisetum + Plantain Lily (Hosta ‘Heart and Soul’) for a bold, broadleaf accent and a sparkle of chartreuse variegation.

Now you’ve got one more column on your spreadsheet, expanding your palette to eight plants.

Next, take a shot at filling in column 3, again selecting one more plant for each category. And there you have it-your core of Four starter kit! You’ve got a dozen plants, systemically, but artistically selected.

True confession: This system holds up for the first dozen or maybe 16 plants, but you can see how, after a while, the next plant you select from each category is less and less likely to be a good partner for your originals selections. But it’s enough to get you started on the right path.

Beds… and what goes on in them

The next questions are, “How big should my beds be?” … “How many plants will I need to order?” and “how do I arrange them?”

King size or twin: How big should my beds be? So many gardens get it backward. They have way too much space dedicated to high maintenance, visually boring lawns and itty bitty, high maintenance, overstuffed beds with plants struggling for water and light.

There are aesthetic as well as practical reasons for making planting beds as big as you can, especially in the front-to-back dimension. Designing in a narrow bed is like trying to conduct a staff meeting with everyone sitting side-by-side on a long bench. The only meaningful interaction that occurs is between folks sitting right next to each other. With narrow planting beds, the only aesthetic “conversation” is between plants that are side by side-fine for a July 4th red, white and blue bunting motif, but that’s about it.

However, if the depth of the bed allows enough room for a back row of tall stuff, a mid-ground area for shrubs, theatrical grasses and perky perennials, and a generous leading edge for the little pretties, you’ve given yourself a canvas where you can create magic.

If you have to economize on space, go vertical: Consider training a vine on the fence to create height without eating up a lot of horizontal real estate. Shop for smaller versions of the plant you like-many plants have a cultivar ending with the name “compacta” or “nana,” indicating a natural dwarf tendency.

How many plants do I order? Here’s my rule of thumb for creating a showy, generous bed in a typical yard:

Trees– two to three varieties, aiming for some seasonal variation: spring flowers, summer shade, fall foliage.
High– two to three background plants for each microclimate. You might have two or three for a shaded area under trees, and a few more for a sunny area.
Medium– between four and six types, mixing shrubs, ornamental grasses and beefy perennials.

Low– Go wild, as long as you follow the aesthetic principles I laid out earlier, selecting a coherent color scheme and not too many forms. Depending on the style of garden; you might have a few broad swaths of low ground covers punctuated by little “jewel boxes” of a dozen mixed annuals, bulbs and perennials as a focal point. Let the style you’ve selected guide your ambition.

How do I arrange them? If you’ve been doing your homework and producing the series of drawings I’ve described, dig out a copy of your preliminary layout plan and pencil in the approximate configuration of the plant areas. Even if you’re not changing any hardscaping in your garden, I still advise that you draw a freehand sketch of the planting areas so you can experiment before you start shopping and digging holes.

We‘re not building an electron microscope, so “close enough” is good enough. Just make sure it’s roughly to scale, like 1/8-inch on the paper equals one foot in real life.

We’ll be adding plants to the design using the categories I described in “One Size Doesn’t Fit All,” Keep in mind that the location and spacing of plants needs to consider the eventual mature size of each one.

Before you start making dots and circles on the plan, look up each plant in a reliable reference and write down the mature height and spread next to the name. Then, refer back to your site analysis and needs assessment for clues about how plants will help you fulfill your dream garden-shade, privacy, windbreak, erosion control, etcetera.

Remember, regardless of what your research tells you, plants are not precision instruments and there will always be exceptions depending on lots of variables, like light, soil, fertility and genetics. And not all references agree with each other. Prepare for a few surprises.

Plant Placement: Location, Location, Location

Placing your trees: Trees come first. Draw a plump, juicy dot wherever you think you need a tree. (The dot represents the trunk, not the eventual spread of the canopy.) if you’re planting a grove of dogwoods and your research tells you they grow about 16 feet wide, your dots will be that far apart. (If you’re drawing at 1/8-inch scale, that’s two inches on your plan.) That way, their tips will gently caress, not entangle, when they’re all grown up. Think about where they’ll cast shade, and how close they are to obstructions and paving. Generally, the roots will spread as wide as the canopy. (Draw the canopy if you like.)

Placing your high and medium plants: For the tall background plants, keep the palette simple, selecting at most, two or three species to fill the big spaces. These are the supporting actors and too much variety will become a distraction for the smaller workhorse plants in the middle and foreground. Plant multiplies of each in grouping, the way Mother Nature does it.

I’m okay with packing background plants a little bit tighter than their mature size if your objective is a dense screen, but not closer than 75 percent of their full spread. For example, although some forms of boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) can grow 10 feet wide and high, you can pack them in at 7 or 8 feet apart. If you’re really impatient, I give you permission to start twice as many as you eventually need at 5 feet spacing, then cull out every other one as they converge. Thinning the stand makes maintenance easier in the long run.

However, if your shrubs or big ornamental grasses will be standing out in the open where their inherent natural form is an asset, leave extra space around them. Also, think about other plants nearby and whether you want a dense, slightly overgrown mass, or prefer a bit of breathing room between masses.

Your objective at this point in the design is to create attractive layers of plants for an interesting visual composition. As you work your way toward the viewer, it’s fine to increase the number of varieties in the middle range, adding complexity and seasonal variation. When in doubt, look at examples of the style you’re creating and let that be your guide.

Placing your low plants: whatever ground is left will be filled with low growing plants (or in some cases, an attractive swatch of mulch or decorative rock). I find it hard to control myself at this stage, because there are so many cool ground covers and perennials with lots to contribute.

Think of low perennials as a transition from your medium shrubs, blending them into the color scheme you’ve chosen and considering how their form and foliage can expand the complexity of the design, or harmonize with the motif you’ve established. Here’s a good place to introduce bright, variegated leaves, if you haven’t already.

Ground covers (prostrate plants that spread by clumping or runners) are used in the foreground of the bed. When used in broad swathes, they can be a stabilizing element in the grand scheme and give the eye a rest. Or plant them between stepping-stones, but be careful to select well-behaved, fine-textured ones, lest they overrun your path.

The ultimate low-growing plant is a grass lawn, that emblem of suburbia. Do you really need a silly patch of water-hogging, time-consuming lawn to store your pole vaulting equipment? When you have a chance, join me in Appendix E for my rather strong feelings about turfgrass, “Murder Your Lawn.”