Over the weekend, my garden turned yellow under a thick layer of pine needles.
The first shed of the season.
This is a late fall – all the summer rain has made autumn linger.
Frost is still a week or more away (in New England) but have you thought about designing your garden specifically to revel in the joy of fall?
Here are some tips for fall focussed garden design:
1) Make sure you have lots of texture (you won’t have blooms to rely on for interest). If you focus on varying texture you will still have lots of interesting things for your eye to take in.
Read Also: How to Transition the Container Garden From Fall to Winter with Textures
2) Plants should have varied shapes as well (notice the vase shape of the sedum in contrast to the rounded boxwood, and low mounds of the grasses. There is also a rectangular back drop wall and square cut yews.⠀
Read: How To: A Container Garden Planting Featuring Verdant Texture
3) Place art so that it can be highlighted by the plants and other things around it. Like in a gallery – the great paint job on the wall, the positioning, and the frame are always as carefully and artfully chosen as the work itself.
Read about another great garden that uses lots of great textures and frames: Inspired by jardinsurlaseine’s garden of textures in Paris
4) Know your region’s typical fall weather. Do you regularly get hoar frost (like in this pic) that will sprinkle sparky crystals over your plant skeletons, or (like in my garden) will wind and snow smash dainty stems and so I need to rely more on colorful leaves, branches and solid evergreens. Or if you live frost-free, you will need to focus on cool season bloomers.
Worth a read: How to Plan for beautiful Frost in your Garden Design
I am pretty sure this piece of art was originally in Andy Sturgeon’s 2012 Show Garden at Chelsea. Check out the garden on his website and see if you agree.
Which garden wore it best??
(I’m think I am partial to Stretton Old Hall’s more permanent art installation).
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