Stretching the Seasons

Designer Piet Oudolf recommends using perennials with appealing seed heads and distinctive structural outlines to add interest to the fall and winter garden

Piet Oudolf has gained international celebrity for his imaginative plantings . One of his design strategy is to let in many plant life that flower late and look good as they go to seed . The result is a garden that look just as attract in free fall and wintertime as it does in outflow and summer . He also urge celebrating the calendar method and cycle per second of nature in the spaces we crop as gardens .

He has written several Bible about what he shout out realistic planting design and the plants he has found to be the most dependable , disease resistant , and easy to maintain .

FG: What’s the secret to designing gardens that look interesting in fall and winter?

PO : I care to employ lots of later - flowering perennial , as well as perennial with beautiful autumn color and 1 that stay beautiful after flowering . These plants give a design a sense of continuity or a backbone . For instance , most grasses last long into surrender and have a distinct structural schema . As plants go to germ , their SHAPE often become more abstractionist , specially when they are cover with dew or snow and the light hits them in sure ways . These effect later in the time of year are just a law of continuation of what starts early on . To me , a garden should be an experience — one that changes through the season . The secret to maintain stake in a garden is using plant life that look secure in more than one time of year .

FG: Do you mix late bloomers with ones that bloom earlier?

PO : Yes , I use perennials that flower earlier in the season , but most works in the gardens I design have a long life . The plant that blossom later can then take over some of the quad that the early plant needed . One trick is to cut back some to begin with - flowering plants , such as wild indigo ( Baptisia australis , USDA Hardiness Zones 3–9 ) to get overnice green new leaves , so they work together with the late - bloom ones .

FG: Do you leave most plants intact through fall and winter?

Po River : I try not to apply many plant life that look untidy after flowering since I prefer not to deadhead . Most plants that I design with have a inviolable character , many of which have an architectural front . In other words , the plant life maintain their social organisation after flowering . Of course , I fulfill in the spaces between the more dramatic plant with some less salient plant , some of which can become a picayune untidy . So I always cut back a few plants . But , on fair , most plants do n’t need it .

FG: Do specific plant shapes lend themselves better to late-season gardens?

United States Post Office : Not really . It ’s the compounding of embodiment that I think about more . In wintertime , a garden is mainly viewed from a distance . So as long as the overall motion picture looks good , I do n’t occupy about every single plant .

FG: Do you have favorite plants that you find fade well?

As flowers languish , plants with bodily structure carry the garden through the fall and winter seasons .

PO : I take from a palette of hundreds and hundreds of plants , and I use all kind of variation . For example , there are many snakeroots ( Actaeaspp . and cvs . [ formerlyCimicifugaspp . and cvs . ] , Zones 4–8 ) that still look full after bloom . So if I do n’t want to use a brown - leaved one , like ‘ Brunette ’ , I choose another form that is lower or taller or more hefty .

I generally count for flora that have an extra view of interest , such as attractive seminal fluid headspring or berries . Funka , for instance , are unchanging . The only thing you see is leaf , and most of them are not interesting for their flower . So is a hosta a good plant ? It ’s a terrific garden plant . But next to Hosta , you need plants that bid interestingness that evolves with the seasons . One example is culver ’s radical ( Veronicastrum virginicum , Zones 3–8 ) . It produces its upright stems and flowers by June 21 and then cover to keep its good looks well into wintertime . I like to call back of a garden as an orchestra : Everything should work together through the seasons .

FG: Do you ever plant specific areas for winter interest?

Po River : Not in particular . I tend to cogitate about how the whole garden will look in winter . Of naturally , the bigger a garden is , the more you may dissever it into areas where you have , say , more of a natural spring show and just a little bit of autumn interest . Or you may project borders that will be at their best in August . I opine a smaller garden should be interesting all year long .

FG: Is there anything else you would suggest to a gardener who is trying to develop this sort of design?

polonium : I always suggest broaden your palette of plant so that you are cognizant of more options . When you see something that appeals to you , contain and look at it closely . If you see a garden that looks interesting even in wintertime , you may want to endeavor to regain out what plants are growing there . mVirginia Small is senior editor .

27 perennials with long-lasting appeal

Piet Oudolf names just a few of his favorites and explains their appeal .

Plants that offer structure1 . Autumn snakeroots ( Actaea simplexand cvs . ; formerlyCimicifuga simplex ) , Zones 4–82 . Culver ’s root ( Veronicastum virginicum ) , Z 3–83 . Jerusalem sage ( Phlomisspp . and cvs . ) , Z 4–104 . Joe Pye weeds ( Eupatorium purpureumandE. maculatumand CV . ) , Z 3–95 . Meadow rue ( Thalictrum aquilegiifoliumand cvs . ) , Z 5–96 . Miss Willmott ’s ghost ( genus Eryngium giganteum ) , Z 5–87 . Queen of the prairie ( Filipendula rubra ) , Z 3–98 . Sages ( Salvia nemorosaand cvs . ) , Z 5–9 ( after a cutback and a second craw of flowers)9 . Sea lavender ( Limonium latifolium ) , Z 4–9

Plants with attractive seed pass

10 . Asters ( Asterspp . and cvs . ) , Z 4–811 . Bee unction ( Monardaspp . and cvs . ) , Z 4–912 . Burnets ( Sanguisorbaspp . and cvs . ) , Z 3–813 . Coneflowers ( Rudbeckiaspp . and cvs . ) , Z 3–914 . goldenrod ( Solidagospp . and cvs . ) , Z 5–915 . Mountain fleece ( Persicaria amplexicaulis ) , Z 5–816 . Orpines ( Sedum telephiumand cvs . ) , omega 4–917 . regal coneflower ( Echinacea purpureaand cvs . ) , Z 3–918 . Sneezeweed ( Helenium autumnale ) , Z 4–819 . Yellow wax - buzzer ( Kirengeshoma palmata ) , Z 5–8

Plants with a distinct wintertime frame

20 . Eulalia grasses ( Miscanthus sinensiscvs . ) , Z 4–9 * 21 . Feather grasses ( Stipaspp . and cvs . ) , Z 7–1022 . Feather vibrating reed denounce ( CalamagrostisXacutifloraand cvs . ) , Z 5–923 . jet grass ( Pennisetum alopecuroidesand cvs . ) , Z 6–924 . Prairie drop-seed ( Sporobolus heterolepsis ) , Z 3–9 * 25 . purplish moor grasses ( Molinia caeruleaand cvs . ) , Z 5–9 * 26 . substitution grasses ( Panicum virgatumand cvs . ) , Z 5–9 * 27 . Tufted hair grasses ( Deschampsia cespitosaand cvs . ) , Z 5–9 *

Denotes a grass that turns a distinctive color in autumn or other wintertime .

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