Managed Meadow
The closest I’ve come to a plan was an experiment I made just this past summer. I call it a “cultivated meadow” just because I need to call it something. For one fairly well-defined space — an oval, roughly 30′ x 15′ — good, but not full sun, I chose a small number of plants, primarily perennials already growing there. I was looking for varied, but fairly low heights, as well as contrasts in texture (foliage), colour and flowering times, a mixture that that looked good together. The choices included heather, kaffir lily, festucca glauca, carex (mystery variety), rodgersia, liriope.
With an aim to having the various species diffused fairly evenly through the space, I transplanted some, divided some, removed some. At the beginning I squared the space with string for a few days, so that I could be sure there was at least one, but not more than two of each plant in each square. I found myself thinking of a soup, or a salad. I took the time needed for dividing — the only propagation method I used for this project.
I’ve enjoyed the “cmeadow” enormously so far — if nothing else, it’s a plan, and I DO like that! So far, it seems to work: I like the way it looks, it doesn’t continually confront me with decisions to make, it’s flexible. In the coming year, I hope to arrange more of my spaces in this way, aiming for a degree of continuity, but allowing for distinctive combinations, so each space has character. I’ll need more plants. I’ve got most, and only need to propagate them. Several spaces are in fairly deep shade: since I’m a fern enthusiast, I’ll make it a point to propagate a few varieties that are happy in shade.
It’s possible that there will be a few plants that show up all over the garden; there will also be a few one-of-a-kinds, mainly trees. Between those poles I have been compiling a short list of plants that 1.) I love, and 2.) are likely to be well suited to a number of spaces: I’d like to propagate them to have ready to add to emerging “cmeadows” when the time — probably summer — comes.
