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Thematically challenged

Posted on June 21st, 2007 – 9:48 AM
By Robyn Dochterman

Does your garden have a theme?

There are moonlight gardens, salsa gardens, alpine and rock gardens, fragrance gardens, even red-white and blue gardens. I have a themeless garden (unless “Robyn’s whim” counts as a theme), but as my yard matures, I’d like to consider some garden groupings with distinct identities. I’m looking for some suggestions and would like to know what’s out there. What themes do you employ, or have you seen in person or in magazines. How did you decide on a theme? How has it worked out?

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 9:48 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

7 Responses to "Thematically challenged"

Beth B says:

June 21st, 2007 at 1:47 pm

I am working on an English Garden theme. I like the very full look of English gardens, and their randomness. So maybe it’s more a copout than a theme. My plantings are grouped by sun & shade tolerance, to provide a variety of color, a variety of bloom time and that no two alike plants are beside each other.

I occasionally look at garden plans in magazines, etc. but tend to plant by whim, so maybe this doesn’t even count as a theme!

kiwi9mm says:

June 21st, 2007 at 4:03 pm

This spring in my sister’s garden, I planted a “zen” garden with the cukes/watermelon/pumpkins/etc. within each North/south/east/west section because the rocks were plentiful to map out where they were planted. Biggest rock facing north. So more of a theme of “use what is available” versus some long drawn out process! Definitely NOT in a magazine!! :-)

Liz says:

June 21st, 2007 at 7:58 pm

I planted a native butterfly garden and rain garden kit from the Friend’s school plant garden. I also tend to plant purple flowers, vegetables and fruit when possible because when we bought our house the trim was purple!

Xris (Flatbush Gardener) says:

June 21st, 2007 at 11:55 pm

My themes have been dictated by 1) the needs and opprtunities of the site, and 2) my quirks.

I’m working on four gardens, one for each side of the house:
- Front yard: heirloom garden, plants available 100 years ago or older (We have a Victorian house, circa 1900)
- North side yard: Shady path, which leads to the
- Backyard: Native plants and habitat garden, a shady retreat.
- South side yard: Full sun. This is a bit of a mish-mosh right now. It’s the last one to get fully weeded out. I’ve been calling it the “wild” garden, mainly so folks don’t have high expectations for appearance. Eventually, this will be a long (35 feet or so), mixed border, with shrubs, perennials, flowers for cutting, self-seeders, and edibles.

Su says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 10:03 am

I likw warm colors, so have a “sort-of-semi-rainbow theme” garden that I started last year. It’s mostly perennials, with some impatiens filling in at each end. Colors start at the eat end in reds, going to orange/peach, then yellows, then white. It’s south side is in full sun, but the north side is in the shade of several oak trees, so it’s been a challenge to find reds that grow in shade. I’ve still got a lot of open space, so suggestions would be appreciated!

Bluegingham says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 2:08 pm

I’m drawn to color in the garden so I decided to plant thematically by color. In my front border garden I have pinks and hot pinks and clumps of purple. Plants include salvia, coral bells, coneflower, foxglove, yarrow, mallow, roses, weiglea and joe pye weed. My side garden has become the blue garden where I indulge planting flowers in my favorite color. Forget me knot, delphinium, larkspur, hydrangea and lobelia. I’ve added lavender because I love it and seem to pick up a plant or two every time I go to the nursery in the spring. I also transplanted rhubarb into this bed and the large green foliage works great with all the blue under plantings. In my back yard I have a small pink flower bed of annuals that I use partly for cuttings to bring into the house (cosmos, snapdragons, pansies, sweet alyssum, two peony plants which should flower in another year or so!) another bed of purples (tulips, iris, butterfly bush, Russian sage) and a part shade bed underneath mature lilac trees behind my garage which is mainly green and burgundy containing coral bells, coleus, bleeding hearts, hosta, fern and sweet potato vine with clumps of lily of the valley and bishops flower for interest. I also have a hedge of blueberries along the entire backside of the house. I found that they’re great backdrop foliage even when not in fruit. Besides this, I have pots and hanging baskets of combos that suited my fancy at the time I planted them which reside on various parts of the driveway (to hide the hose reel and the air conditioning unit, etc). Pick a theme or don’t. Once I got started it became very clear that you don’t have to have your entire yard in one style or color so pick a few and have fun!

sabrina says:

June 30th, 2007 at 9:05 am

My yard is basically a butterfly garden with my never ending search for plants that aren’t green (Diablo Ninebark, I love you). What I really want to do is to have a spot that is a different color every season. In the spring everything could be yellow than summer everything could be blue fall every thing could be red and winter, well, everything could be ever green or white… Research on the bloom timing would be critical. Maybe Ill start planning in winter while I watch the snow grow… But then Id have so many plants to rearrange and, oh no, buy

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