Some gardens don’t need flowers to be interesting. There is no end to the color green, I t is a color. Pointed leaves of variegated plants such as “Phormium”, New Zealand Flax, broad leaves of rhubarb, tall leaves of Iris, the feathery foliage of bronze fennel. I t is all about “texture” .
Grasses make a good back ground for gardens like this. “Canna” is another “old-fashioned” plant that has been reborn. It comes in a myriad of colored leaves – texture – low plants like Ajuga, Algerian lvy – colors – another old-timer that has re-invented itself. Plenty of color and very distinctive foliage – again, no flowers – but plenty of color! Even in the garden pool there can be a texture – Junkus with its corkscrew foliage or Horsetail, another plant that grows in water. Marginal such as Jack-In-the-Pulpit (either the native ones or the really erotic like “Arisaema” which is cobra-like, eye-catching, and easy to grow.
Just looking and waiting to see the results is worth all the effort.
To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, “I am an old man, but a young gardener. “
Looking through catalogs, drawing up plans for next year’s gardens — the rewards are endless
Ken Druse has a new book (that you can find at the Taunton Public Library) called “Making More Plants”, it contains all (and more) then you want to know about plants.
But the excitement and enthusiasm comes from you. It is a life long passion you will never regret — I never have!
