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Brown is a Color Too
So, I’m gonna break with tradition and do a post about fall color and winter structure… wait, WHAT?! It’s June 8th! How can I possibly talk about FALL right now, summer is just coming into full swing. I should be talking about the grand and magnificent plants that dominate the summer stage, because… they’re “in” right now. But, let me ask – how many of you temperate region gardeners are looking beyond the summer spectacle that awaits us in the coming months and considering what your garden will do in fall and winter?
My time with the Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millennium Park last summer ignited my passion for four-season garden interest. Dutch designer Piet Oudolf (who, if you follow my blog – this may be the first but certainly not the last time you’ll hear that name) is responsible for Lurie’s planting design. Piet considers flower color and foliage as any good planting designer would, but texture, structure, and the emotions a certain plant evokes AFTER flowering, are also considered in his designs. Piet’s gardens enter a completely new realm come the winter season, as plants that would be cut back in traditional gardens are left standing so one can appreciate the structure and ethereal beauty unique to each.
It’s incredible to see one of Piet’s gardens in fall and early winter, because a “brown” plant suddenly becomes gold, taupe, cream, terra cotta, sand, burnt sienna, black, tan, or white, and an entirely new composition is born out of the “death” and “skeletons” of the plants. The dark pinpricks of Echinacea seed heads dance above drifts of dried grasses, while Schizachyrium scoparium “The Blues” glows when lit from behind by a low setting sun. The great thing about Piet’s designs – is that these plants also look fantastic through spring and summer – each contributing in their own unique way to the overall design throughout the year.
I urge you to consider your garden in all seasons – plan for the future and choose plants that not only look great in flower, but transform into something magnificent and magical in their death and dormancy.
