As a gardener who has been dealing with a lack of success growing perennials for the past two seasons, I have come to a baffling realization: I’m not sure how I want my beds to look now that many of my plants are fully mature. I suppose you can choose from two options (I’m sure if you design gardens for a living, there are a lot more than two options) when your plants are fully grown. One choice is what I call the “chaos” look, where the plants are growing in such a way that the colors and textures blend with each other, so your eye doesn’t focus on any one plant. Instead, you see a pleasing mix of plants that together form a palette of color that is beautiful. The other choice is the “organized” bed, where the plants live far enough apart that you can focus on each plant, but the total bed makes sense from the standpoint of how it is organized and designed. The way I think of it, an organized bed is beautiful, but it’s more about the space between plants and less about plants growing close to each other.
I regularly prune the outside of all growth and even tie up and back to maintain some separation. I especially find this necessary to be able to walk through beds for reg maintenance
This gets to the difference between "cutting back" and pruning. My reading suggests cutting back in the early spring for most of my perennials, but I guess its fine to prune the plants during the hot summer months?
Ken - It is not chaos, think of it as more of an English garden or managed exuberance. Your organized one makes me think of someone who doesn't like the food on their plate to touch. Geoff
I regularly prune the outside of all growth and even tie up and back to maintain some separation. I especially find this necessary to be able to walk through beds for reg maintenance
This gets to the difference between "cutting back" and pruning. My reading suggests cutting back in the early spring for most of my perennials, but I guess its fine to prune the plants during the hot summer months?
If you don't want to prune, tie back nice and tidy
Exactly. Pruning out of season may stunt bloom growth but at this point, flowering is completed.
Ken - It is not chaos, think of it as more of an English garden or managed exuberance. Your organized one makes me think of someone who doesn't like the food on their plate to touch. Geoff
You're absolutely correct. English garden and managed exuberance both sound better than chaos. I'll go with English garden in the future.