Texture: The Second Container Gardening Principle
Willow Wall Basket with Welcome Sign
$14.28
As a gardener you must remember to incorporate texture as well as color. When the right blend of texture and color are mixed, it creates amazing results that enhance and stimulate your senses. For gardeners, color, texture, and shape are the main factors to look for in plants and the décor of your area. Many plants share common characteristics because of similar environmental triggers. The details of texture can be large or small, but without them, the visual harmony it makes will be diminished.
A textured plant has a large impact on our senses. Imagine a pot containing a grasses’ long thin wisps. Their long smooth overflowing wisps compel you to touch them and comb your fingers through the strands. That is the power textured foliage has, it invites us to come close and touch them. The main reason why texture has such a powerful effect is because we want to see if the leaves are as smooth, rough, or spiky as they look.
As a beginning gardener, match plants together that have similar textures and feel. For example, soft and furry leaves go well together while fleshy and smooth plants have better complements. As your gardening skill progresses, try to develop a range of contrasts by placing plants with hard and smooth textures next to plants that have a soft and velvety look.
Green Tip:
Use a push mower. As push mowers are completely manually powered, using one of these will eliminate the gas or electricity you use when mowing your lawn.
Just as with color different textures in the atmosphere evokes different moods and effects. If you are finding it difficult to choose the right type of texture, here are my recommendations. If you would like to make a room more lively and energetic, use spiky plants places through out the borders. Certain individuals would like a room that is relaxed and more mellow. To attain this type of atmosphere, use soft and silky plants placed beside either similar or different textured plantings.
Remember that these guidelines are for foliage as well as for flowering plants. These are some of the main aspects to consider but do not forget to keep the look, feel, and touch of the container as well. Choose a container finish that will accent and improve upon the plants texture. Following these simple guidelines will ensure a display that is unique and visually stunning.
If you would like to create plantings solely based on the texture characteristic, I would definitely recommend it. The reason why is because of the distinctive look and feel of the leaves and the amazing results it displays. Try to use extremes of the texture characteristic such as placing large furry leaves next to a plant that is fleshy and smooth.
