The Small Town Gardener

How old is your garden? 

Marianne Willburn

(9/2019) In turns I ask, and answer, this question many times during a growing season. Perhaps you do to. As fallible human beings hiding laundry lists of inadequacies behind bright smiles, we all want to know where we stand in the scheme of things – and as fallible gardeners, that means ‘where our gardens stand.’

To find out that so-and-so with a magical ten-year-old garden started it in the same year you started yours, when all you see in yours is a rag-tag collection of beloved plants and half-finished projects…well, it’s hard to keep that bright smile bright. How much better to hear that they’ve been creating that garden for thirty years – that some parts might even nudge the forty-mark? If you’re square in the middle of year six with your current space (as am I), such news suddenly restores your ability to create a beautiful garden in time, and you are allowed to once again exist in the magical, empowering world of ‘Someday.’

Regardless of our individual levels of paranoia – or confidence for that matter – we all want a garden that looks finished, even when it’s far from it. We want a feeling of maturity, and of enclosure. We want our gardens to tell a story and we want that story to unfold like a good novel, not a cheap paperback that betrays its plot in the first few pages. We want gravitas.

So, how do you get your hands on a bit of garden gravitas when you’ve got a young garden that needs growth, experience and a few more rides on the roller coaster? I submit that we should take our cue from Millennial hipsters, who clothe young supple faces with sophisticated beards and wear ironic glasses on strong eyes in order to credibly lecture their grandmothers on fermenting.

In short, we need props.

There are many props we can use in the garden, and they’re not all plants. They give us structure and interest without insisting on a great deal of time in which to deliver it. They don’t have to be permanent, but it’s always a bonus if some are later incorporated into the final scenes. Let’s look at a few ideas to dress your set as you work through all the rehearsals:

Go big with your containers.

If you’re considering buying five ten-inch pots, stop yourself and put the money into one large thirty-incher instead. Large pots can take larger plants, larger arrangements, and make a larger impact. And there’s a very good chance that you’ll use them many years down the line.

Group your objects and plants

So you bought those five ten-inch pots before you read this? No problem. Turn one upside down, place one on top of it and arrange the other three next to it with a few additional levels. Nothing says ‘paltry’ like a collection of small pots spaced equidistantly on a long deck. When you group your objects and your plants, you create a sense of abundance. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Use fast growing tropicals to create structure during the growing season

Cannas, bananas, colocasia, xanthosoma…many of these vigorous plants can put on six feet in a season without breaking a sweat. They respond beautifully to heat and humidity (which is exactly the opposite of how I respond), and many can be thrown roughly (depending on your mood) into a frost-free basement for the winter to do it all again next year.

Build raised wooden beds in your vegetable garden

Raised beds provide a framework for your vegetable garden that is as pleasing as it is functional. In a moist climate that grows green armies while we sleep, raised beds give us an instant delineation between ‘weed’ and ‘wanted.’ Such a delineation is very useful on days where we have a small amount of time and need to weed efficiently.

Use grasses in your landscaping

Grasses are increasingly popular for many reasons, though I still know gardeners that don’t use them. One of the biggest benefits to using them in a young garden is the creation of [almost] instant structure. The second? Creating movement. It is a characteristic often forgotten in the rush for color, texture and shape. There is nothing lovelier than watching the wind gently ripple a stand of switchgrass (panicum) – unless it’s seeing a finch feasting on its seeds.

Grow annuals

Annuals have one year to germinate, grow, flower and set seed. They’re not putting their energies into four inches of evergreen leaves so you can have that hedge you want in ten years. They’re doing it all. Right now. Consequently, they can make a young garden filled with tiny boxwood starts into a cottage garden with a wild flair for color. Use that joie de vivre to your advantage.

Consider the purchase of one or two larger, dramatic specimens

It has been proven conclusively that smaller sized shrubs and trees catch up and often surpass their larger siblings, but if you know you want a plant to produce a certain effect, such as creating an archway with a weeper or anchoring a far-off bed with a topiary – and you have the money to make that happen – by all means spend it. Such specimens are usually almost as big as you want them to be anyway, and as long as you keep them watered and keep the deer away, you are unlikely to shed tears over the purchase.

One caveat when it comes to filling your stage with props. When you see ‘fast growing,’ or ‘aggressive’ it’s a sign that you may want to think twice about planting something. Digging out bamboo (if only it were that easy) is not a fun task when the runners run under the plants you love – plants which have finally started to achieve their potential. Tread carefully.

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