Add garden depth. Dark foliage visually falls to the back of a garden bed or series of containers, while brighter greens and white flowers spring forward. Use this to your advantage in a small garden or urban roof terrace. Here, containers spilling over with a mix of foliage are interesting in their own right, but the addition of purple coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides, USDA zones 10 to 11; find your zone) adds depth to the New York City garden and makes the walled-in space feel less flat.
Cool down a courtyard. Purple-leaved foliage visually cools a gravel courtyard by more than just the shade it casts. In hot summer climates, use dark-leaved shade trees such as purple-leaved plums (Prunus cerasifera, zones 4 to 9), copper beech (Fagus sylvatica f. purpurea, zones 4 to 7) and purple cootamundra wattle (Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’, zones 8 to 10) to create shade for cool, inviting retreats.
Mixing practical structures (shed & water tank) into the garden design. For the coast, I want to use some corten steel sculptures. Should things like the water tank take the colour cue from them, or from the house (white or light grey with light grey roof - needs to work with the colours in the ocean views)
I would want to cover the pergola roof with something - perhaps cane/bamboo garden screening.
Stunning composition as always.
I would want to cover the pergola roof with something - perhaps cane/bamboo garden screening.
Just magical when in flower. Wow.
Wall with the hedge
Texture of the rock wall with the soft hedge.
I first saw his one of his stunning gardens in the book "Australian Gardens for a changing Climate" . I particularly love his orchard. The fruit tree is circled with 4 topiary spheres & a low growing grass. I thought I could borrow the idea & replace the topiary with flowers for cutting. Perhaps use society garlic for the grassy plant. This should work under the dwarf fruit trees. His work is sublime - what a shame for me he has retired. Could use colour so well with this idea (plant the bulbs in colour blocks to suit the flower/fruit/foliage colour of the fruit trees) it might look so good you wouldn't want to cut the flowers.....if there is enough space grow some cutting flowers in rows at the perimeter. Make sure the scale of the planting bed is big enough that the flowers get sun.
Plant en masse for an modern look. Edgy and unexpected, dark foliage pairs well with contemporary architecture. For the biggest impact, plant a single species of a dark-leaved plant en masse. Here, low-growing black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’, zones 5 to 10) fills in the stark concrete planters with dark waves of grasslike foliage.
Q