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Upon visiting my garden for the first time, a designer friend of mine walked around shaking his head, saying, “The texture, oh, the texture!” At first, I wasn’t sure this “texture” he was speaking of was a good thing. It turns out he was responding to the fact that I layer different types of foliage.
To test your texture quotient, take several photos of your garden and look at them on your computer in black and white. You’ll quickly see if there’s enough variance in shape and foliage style to make things more than a sea of green sameness. Here are a few of my must-haves for garden texture. Get design ideas for how to use these plants successfully in A Cohesive Garden Built From Uncommon Plants.
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Red Abyssinian bananaEnsete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’ Zones: 10–11 Size: 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; moist soil Native range: Eastern Africa |
Japanese emperor oakQuercus dentata ‘Pinnatifida’ Zones: 4–8 Size: 15 to 20 feet tall and 10 to 15 feet wide Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; moist, well-drained soil Native range: Japan |
Shredded umbrella plantSyneilesis aconitifolia Zones: 4–8 Size: 2 feet tall and wide Conditions: Partial to full shade; moist, well-drained soil Native range: Eastern Asia and Japan |
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Curlicue sageArtemisia versicolor ‘Seafoam’ Zones: 4–10 Size: 8 inches tall and 24 inches wide Conditions: Full sun; normal to dry, well-drained soil Native range: Western North America |
Ground cover grevilleaGrevillea × gaudichaudii Zones: 8–10 Size: 6 inches tall and 36 inches wide Conditions: Full sun; average to dry soil Native range: Australia |
‘James Stirling’ whipcord hebeHebe ochracea ‘James Stirling’ Zones: 7–10 Size: 3 feet tall and wide Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; average to dry soil Native range: New Zealand |
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Trifoliate orangePoncirus trifoliata* Zones: 5–9 Size: 10 to 20 feet tall and 6 to 15 feet wide Conditions: Full sun; average to dry, well-drained soil Native range: China |
Wire netting bushCorokia cotoneaster Zones: 8–10 Size: 6 to 10 feet tall and wide Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; average to dry soil Native range: New Zealand |
Tropical pitcher plantNepenthes alata Zones: 10–11 Size: 3 feet tall and 1 foot wide Conditions: Partial shade; consistently moist soil Native range: Philippines |
*Invasive alert: Trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata)
This plant is considered invasive in North Carolina.
Please visit invasiveplantatlas.org for more information.
Loree Bohl is the author of Fearless Gardening: Be Bold, Break the Rules, and Grow What You Love. She gardens in Portland, Oregon.
Photos: Claire Takacs Photography
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Comments
So many beautiful ideas that will die in my Zone 3-2 garden.
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