Design trends

Exciting Plant Combinations

The yellow blooms of euphorbia look great combined with Platinum Beauty lomandra

Lately I’ve been looking at my garden and what’s blooming now while also thinking of what to recommend for new gardens. Seems I’m always drawn to bright colors like coral, purple, dark pink but then I love my yellow Flowering Maple and the hummingbirds do, too. Some people like soft pastels, some like vivid red, orange and blue. Whatever colors you’re drawn to they can all look terrific in the garden if you keep a few things in mind.

You know it when you see it. That combination of plants that cry out “we get along.” Because it’s almost fall I’m drawn to grasses and warm toned flowering perennials. I’m thinking of ways that will have any garden bursting with interest for the next few months. These are strategies for combining plants that are adaptable to all types of garden conditions whether you live in the sun or the shade and they will also look good in other seasons of the year.

A vignette is a small group of plants that make a pleasing scene because of their complementary and contrasting features. I have several lists of good plant combinations that I regularly refer to when designing a garden. I usually start with a strong foliage plant then add other plants that have interesting texture, form or color.

When you look at a garden that you admire it’s usually the dramatic form of one of the plants that draws you in. When you use a plant with a bold, architectural form it makes a statement. The spiky foliage of Cream Delight phormium alongside a Burgundy loropetalum would make a good combination. Or how about creating a vignette of Festival Burgundy cordyline with Annabelle hydrangea and Cream de Mint pittosporum?

During the next few months plants begin to show soft, fall colors. Combine the fading foliage of these plants with plants that complement each other. The reddish fall color or Oakleaf hydrangea along with the pinkish-tan color of their fading flowers looks wonderful when combined with Japanese Forest Grass as it turns pink before winter. Another complementary fall combination is Royal Purple Smoke Tree surrounded by a bed of Autumn Joy sedum.

Strong colors sometimes contrast instead of blend when plants change colors in the fall. I like to tone down a combination with silver foliage. An example of this would be a plant grouping of Evening Glow phormium, sedum Autumn Joy and Glacier Blue or Tasmanian Tiger euphorbia.

Another way to create a great plant combination is by blending textures. Coral Bark Japanese maple and Plum Passion nandina work well together. Cistus Sunset with Spanish lavender and rosemary is another good combination. I also like a large mass of Blue Oat Grass and Salmon salvia greggii planted together. Santa Barbara daisy goes well with Red Fountain Grass.

My list of potential plant combinations is pretty long as I’ve made notes over the years. Each garden has its own personality and growing conditions. A hot, dry garden might depend on a ground cover ceanothus along with lavender while a shadier garden might use natives like heuchera maxima, iris douglasiana, yerba buena and salvia spathacea. Whatever plants you choose, let them work together to make exciting vignettes in your garden.

In a garden that inspires you the plants should be ones that you love looking at and taking care of. Some of us like the look of dark green plants while others like grasses that move in the wind. Others are not fans of succulents. Whether you grow plants to feed the birds and attract wildlife or want a little bit of everything there’s a combination of plants that’s perfect for you and your garden.

Design trends

What to Do in The September Garden

This bearded iris survived the CZU fire so deserves special care.

When my bearded iris didn’t bloom much this year I made a note to divide them in September. It’s on my to-do list. These iris are very special to me as I dug them up the spring after my house burned. One is the Zebra variegated iris with those beautiful blue flowers that smell like grape Kool-Aid. Another is a rich gold one. Now that I think of it the daylily didn’t bloom that well this year either so it’s time to divide them also. What else should I put on my to-do list for this month?

I have a thornless blackberry trained on an arbor over my back steps. Some are still ripening but later this month I’ll cut back the vines that produced fruit. Canes of the current season should be trained in their place.

Fertilize shrubs lightly one last time if you haven’t already done so last month. All shrubs, especially broad-leaved evergreens such as rhododendron, pieris, camellia, hebe, need to calm down, stop growing and harden off to get ready for the winter cold. Some plants have already set next year’s buds.

Roses like my fragrant Compassion. especially appreciate a bit of fertilizer now, encouraging them to bloom another round in October. To keep them blooming make a habit of pinching and pruning off old flowers. Always cut back to an outward facing branchlet with five leaves. There are hormones there that will cause a new rose to grow much sooner than if you cut to one with only three leaves. You can always cut lower on the stem if you need to control height.

Now through October, divide summer blooming perennials like agapanthus, coreopsis, daylily and penstemon that are overgrown and not flowering well. You can also divide spring blooming perennials like candytuft, columbine, astilbe, bergenia and bleeding heart but sometimes they don’t bloom the first spring afterwards due to the energy they use re-establishing themselves. If you’re on a roll out in the garden, though, go for it now.

Spider mites are especially prolific during hot, dry weather. Sometimes you don’t even know how bad the infestation is until all your leaves are pale with stippling. Periodically rinse dust and dirt off leaves with water. Spray the undersides of infected leaves with organics like insecticidal soap switching to neem oil if they build up a resistance to one of the pesticides.

Check lantana, tomatoes and verbena for whitefly. Put out yellow sticky traps to monitor.

Don’t be in a rush to tidy up your late summer garden. Cut back a few of the most prominent plants and leave the rest of the plants with seed heads for wildlife.

Salvia leucophylla (California native purple sage) is one of our many native salvia whose seedbeds are just as attractive as the flower. Place one at the edge of a border by a path where you might brush against it and enjoy their fragrance.

Time to summer prune fruit trees to control height, maintain shape and eliminate suckers if you haven’t already done so.

Cut back tropical milkweed (Asclepius curassavica) in your garden to encourage Monarch migration. Cut back to 6” and strip foliage.

If your indoor plants have grown too large for their pots, re-pot them now so they can acclimate through the fall.

Deadhead flowering annuals and perennials in the ground as often as you possibly can. Annuals like zinnias and cosmos will stop blooming if you allow them to go to seed. The same is true of repeat blooming perennials like dahlia, scabiosa, echinacea and lantana. Santa Barbara daisies will bloom late into winter if cut back now.

Design trends

Fragrant Plants in the Summer Garden

Intensely fragrant dianthus attract butterflies and hummingbirds and are deer resistant.

While hiking recently in Oregon I encountered many Mock Orange ( Philadelphus lewisii ) growing near the Jackson Creek. Their scent was noticeable from a long way off. I knew they grew in the area and their scent gave them away. They are native here also. Easy to grow and make a stunning addition to any garden.

Star jasmine are in full bloom now. I definitely need one. Their lovely scent is one of my favorites and the flowers bloom last for a long time. You might grow one as a shrub, a ground cover or on a trellis as a vine.

Lavender has to be the superstar of fragrant plants. With vibrant purple blooms and intoxication fragrance, this Mediterranean perennial knows how to steal the show. The scent is calming and often used in meditation eye pillows. It’s a magenta for bees and butterflies adding an extra touch of magic to your garden.

Citrus blossoms can really scent the air. You can smell them for miles around a citrus orchard. Whether you choose lemons, oranges, mandarins, kumquats, grapefruit or limes you can’t go wrong with a citrus plant. Established trees need a deep irrigation every other week so keep them on a separate watering system from your other edibles.

Inside the veggie garden, include scented plants that attract beneficial insects. Fragrant lavender and sweet alyssum are good choices. For sheer enjoyment, plant perennial carnation and dianthus for their intense clove fragrance. Cinnamon Red Hots grow to 15 inches, are deer resistant, bloom all spring and summer and don’t need deadheading. Velvet and White border carnations are among the least demanding and most satisfying perennials in the garden. As cut flowers they are long lasting and highly fragrant in bouquets.

Roses are a classic addition to any garden. A timeless symbol of beauty and love for that sunny spot in your garden. Every season growers introduce more fragrant varieties that are disease resistant, too, which is a needed attribute given our wet springs.

If you’re looking for a plant with an irresistible vanilla scent try heliotrope. Their deep violet flowers are beautiful and worth replanting each year if hit by frost. The flowers are reminiscent of freshly baked sugar cookies.

If you crave an intense, exotic fragrance in your garden, gardenias are the epitome of elegance. These evergreen shrubs are easy to grow if given rich soil and the right amount of light. If you’ve had bad luck before with a gardenia, they are worth another try.

And then there’s honeysuckle. Some like Hall’s are quite vigorous while others are more well-behaved. I like ‘Goldflame’ with it’s extremely fragrant deep rose-pink flowers with yellow centers. Honeysuckle are hummingbird magnets and who doesn’t want more of these little beauties in their garden?

Fragrance in flowers is nature’s ways of encouraging pollination. Just as it draws you to take a deeper whiff, it lures insects to blossoms hidden by leaves. Some flowers are fragrant only at night and attract night-flying pollinators like moths, while others are more fragrant during the day and attract insects like bees and butterflies.

The Santa Cruz Mountains offer a diverse range of climate and microclimates , so consider the specific conditions of your garden when selecting plants. Happy gardening and may your garden be filled with the sweetest scents nature has to offer.

The Mountain Gardener's Weblog