Xeriscape Design Part 2: Designing With Perennials

Paying attention to the principles of xeriscaping will let you create beautiful gardens.

Helianthus maximiliana 'Santa Fe'
Item # 55952 		Helianthus maximiliana 'Santa Fe'
Maximilian's Sunflower

each $8.49
3 to 6 $8.29
7 or more $7.99
Lavandula angustifolia 'Mitcham Gray'
Item # 63116 		Lavandula angustifolia 'Mitcham Gray'
Mitcham Gray Lavender

Each $5.99
3 or more $5.79

Sale! $5.39
The Jumbo Waterwise Garden
Item # 99503 		The Jumbo Waterwise Garden

1 Garden $89.92
Lauren Springer's Butterfly Paradise Cottage Garden™
Item # 99525 		Lauren Springer's Butterfly Paradise Cottage Garden™

each $169.10
Lauren Springer's'Colors and Textures' Garden
Item # 99518 		Lauren Springer's 'Colors and Textures' Garden

each $162.53
The 'Big Easy' Water-Wise Garden
Item # J9530 		The Big Easy Water-Wise Garden

each $192.25

Item # 99520 		Western Cottage Garden - Hummingbird’s Delight in Pinks and Blues

each $104.18

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Last month in Part I of Xeriscape Design, I talked about hardscape and foundation planting. In this second part I’ll discuss the use of perennials in xeriscape gardening. Though using drought tolerant plants is one of the primary principles of this specialized garden, it’s not the only one. You may want to create a special spot that needs more shade and water so you can have some of your favorite plants that aren’t categorized as xeriscape.

For an overview of the principles involved in a xeriscape design, read the Guide to Xeriscape on our website. Also check out the excellent books we carry on drought tolerant landscaping. Well-designed xeriscape gardens are not only beautiful but are also environmentally appropriate for areas having limited rainfall or frequently subject to drought conditions. The arid West is where xeriscape gardens first achieved popularity, but their fame and practicality is now spreading to other parts of the country.

Perhaps the most important principle is any garden design is determining what your needs are in the landscape. Observe what is currently present at your site in terms of rocks and trees. Decide what affects your landscape such as wind, solar aspect, and topography. Having a good feel from the start for what your garden site can support helps avoid expensive mistakes that must later be remedied. Also, don’t forget to consider how much time you have to maintain the landscape once it’s completed.

The underlying success to any garden, including a xeric one, is soil. In the West, our soil is nearly always deficient in organic matter. The addition of compost improves the structure of soil, facilitates aeration, and increases water-holding capacity. It is also a good idea to have your soil tested so you can determine exactly what nutrients might be lacking. Use organic soil amendments, as opposed to chemically derived fertilizers, so you build the soil at the same time you provide nutrients to your plants.

After installing your hardscape features, after planting trees and shrubs and preparing the soil, you’re then ready to start selecting perennials for your beds. One of my favorite ways to get design inspiration is reading books and magazines about gardening. I especially like Lauren Springer’s garden designs Colors and Textures Garden, Butterfly Paradise Cottage Garden™ and Western Cottage Garden™) because she gardens in a cold, dry climate similar to my own. Her book Passionate Gardening helps all of us who live in challenging climates. I also look through the High Country Garden catalog to see the new varieties of perennials that I can add to my existing beds.

I pay particular attention to hardiness zones and the little icons that indicate the cultural needs of the plants. By cultural needs, I mean soil or sun requirements and anything else that’s particular to a specific plant. I try to make sure that any perennials that I plant in the same bed have similar cultural needs. If I can group together those plants that like full sun, all the better. Because my own garden is in a high altitude, arid, zone 4 climate, I restrict my selections to very cold hardy plants. I can’t grow some of the more tender perennials, but I can easily grow other plants that are just as nice.

Gardeners new to xeriscape might want to select either The Big Easy or Jumbo Waterwise preplanned gardens. They have been designed with compatible plants, pleasing color combinations, and nice contrasts of heights and textures. Each of the gardens covers about 75 square feet and comes with a planting diagram. If there are plants you would prefer using, begin making substitutions based on similarity. For example, Lavandula Mitcham Gray could be substituted for Nepeta; and any Achillea could replace Cerastium in the Big Easy preplanned garden. The substitutes are similar in size and cultural needs to the original preplanned plants.

When designing a perennial bed, it is usually best to have multiples of each variety. A bed with one each of 12 different varieties will not be as pleasing as a bed that has three each of four species. An exception to this is a plant that gets to be very large. At six feet tall and four feet wide, a single Helianthus maximiliana ‘Santa Fe’ is usually enough for most perennial beds. However, a long row of Helianthus against a fence can be stunning.

Plant height is one of the more obvious characteristics to guide the placement of plants in a flowerbed. Generally, plant tall plants toward the back and groundcovers in the front. Color is another design element. I am drawn to plants in shades of pink, purple and white so most of my beds have those three as the underpinning colors. When I do incorporate a yellow, it seems to stand out because I don’t have a lot of it. When selecting color, try to stick with three color ranges per bed, excluding that of the foliage.

The last design consideration is plant foliage. Variation in size, color, and leaf shape creates lots of textural interest. Perhaps you’ve seen a garden that consists solely of plants with white blooms, and yet you found it very intriguing. More than the white blooms, the creative use of foliage was probably what piqued your attention.

After flowerbeds, next comes the perennial border. Again, first choose plants that you like and group them in ways that create pleasing variations in height. Pair plants with complimentary or contrasting colors, and select plants with different types of foliage. There is no standard way to design with perennials. But no doubt if the plants you choose for your garden are pleasing to you, then you’ll probably have a design that is attractive to others too.