Re: Juniper Level / Tony Avent

Well, Claire, that was the point I was trying to make:-)  It's not so
much the English plants - they grow a lot of the same plants we can
grow, but in most of the US, the climate does not allow the same
effect.  Where I am, it gets hot so fast that we have a massive bloom
in early to mid May and that's it for many plants who will not even
think of blooming for you until June or later...then we have plants
that come on later in the season.  There are the mid-summer doldrums
where much will not bloom because it is over or too hot to set flower
buds.  Therefore, it's hard to recreate that beautiful "English"
border chock full of blooming plants for most of the summer.

What they are doing at J.C. Raulston is incorporating grasses and
plants with good foliage that can take the heat and humidity plus
plants that flower at different seasons so that the border has a full
appearance throughout the summer...which, of course, is what an
English border has because their cooler temperatures (like the PNW
and New England) let plants flower longer.

Point is, most of us cannot duplicate the "English" border, but we
can have the same type of effect using plants that grow well where we
garden if we consider form and  foliage as part of the design theme
and not just flowers.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
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----------
> From: ECPep@aol.com
> 
> In a message dated 10/16/02 2:54:35 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
mtalt@hort.net 
> writes:
> 
> 
> > with borders using plants that flourish here.  Most "English"
borders
> > are not obtainable outside of the PNW or New England, but those
in
> > Raleigh are something most of us could make if we have the sun
for
> > them...and, of course, some space:-)  
> 
> 
> Marge, would you settle for the form but fleshed out with different
plants. 
> The crammed style with a a good variety of genera (repeats along
the way of 
> the same plant is important)?   I think you can get the "feel"
which is so 
> successful without the need to use English plants.  Actually there
are many 
> left alone here, zone 4, because it is just too cold for them. 
Gardeners 
> love the English border style as it offers lots of diversity and
something 
> coming along all the parts of the growing season.  It is nostalgic
and lush 
> and has endured for a century.
> 
> If you substitute plants that like your growing area, a idea which
should be 
> at the top of your "plants to own" list,  you can achieve the same 
> comfortable milieu minus some of the English plants.  The mixture
of foliage 
> and flowers can be done in any climate, it being a mistake to think
you need 
> to replicate what pix you see in the perennial guides which carry
photographs 
> of places you can never hope to duplicate. 
> 
> For some reason that has escaped me reading all these years we have
evolved 
> in the US, the US "mixed border" which is really the English border
with some 
> small woody plants and confers added.   The old idea of a perennial
border 
> which is absolutely flat in dormancy and mulched with manure makes
for a 
> plain or maybe even ugly strip around the garden.  The American
idea of 
> adding a few small conifers and some winter interest plants is now
copied 
> everywhere.
> 
> The "flat" idea is one that show plants rising as from the ashes
each spring, 
> bring a glorious spring and summer and returning to flatness come
fall.  
> Considering this we have added something which ends up becoming the
"mixed 
> border" which is now the standard and far more interesting to the
gardener.
> 
> So I think we can have this somewhat modified design idea
everywhere. We need 
> only substitute plants that do well in our own area.  There is no
need to 
> think your "English" style border is not a superb perennial border
just 
> because European plants will not do well in it.  
> 
> One of the border ideas we can copy to good visual advantage is the
idea of 
> planting in drifts. That is to use certain very good plants in
larger 
> irregular patches through the border as a unifying feature.  
> 
> I have seen a lot of mixed borders and one in North Carolina, a
college 
> location which escapes me now, that featured plants doing well in
the 
> somewhat humid south. It is not the plants we need to copy but the
form and 
> design which does the trick.
> 
> There is no place in the US that does not have plants that thrive,
it is us, 
> the gardeners, who need to accept that we can work with plants that
like our 
> conditions.
> 
> Claire Peplowski
> NYS z4
> 
>
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