After listening to a podcast with gardener Margaret Roach, in upstate New York, I realized that just do not have enough golden in my garden. I have always known I need more of it, at the back of my mind, nearly subconsciously. For when walking through my Entry Garden, I notice the Citronelle Coral Bells and the Gold Heart bleeding heart quicker than anything else. My mind and eyes are drawn to them. Drawn to golden.
Margaret Roach often speaks as if she has overused golden in her garden, but it does similar work to the lawn-our eyes seek it out as a restful place amid all the wonder and delight of the rest of the garden, no matter how much planning we put into it. We need more golden. By adding it into the landscape with repetition of species, not just a different golden plant here or there, we tie together the whole landscape.
Maybe it is a ‘Tiger Eyes’ sumac on one corner of the house and another further away in a landscape bed. If you have a small landscape tucked into a city lot, you can tie it all together with something smaller, such as ‘Lemon Candy’ ninebarks or a trio of scattered ‘Fluffy’ arborvitae, or a pair of matched ‘Sun King’ aralias. Maybe a border of Japanese forest grass ‘All Gold’ or gold leaved oregano. We need more golden.
Do you see a theme here? Plant repetition is one of the most important design elements, and yet too few of us practice it in our own gardens, let alone the ones we design for our clients. One of my goals for 2020 is to bring more golden to my garden. How about you?
Happy planting!
