How to Use Foliage As a Background in a Garden Like the Experts

The texture and shape of leaves are also important aspects to take into account when creating a picture.

The texture can be velvety, rough or smooth. A velvety texture gives the plant interest, and the tiny hairs that give the feeling of velvet can add a grayish white bloom to the leaves. Rough leaves may often be dull, whereas smooth leaves are frequently shiny and bright.

The shape is very important. Some plants have long, spiky leaves, while others can be almost round, with or without lobes or serrations, with lots of variations in between these two extremes. A mixture of shapes makes a border more interesting, especially when contrasting shapes are used.

On the other hand, using plants with leaves of the same shape can make the border more calming and tranquil, though there is inevitably an inherent danger of also making it more boring.

While an eye catching garden can be created entirely out of interesting foliage, it is more common to use a combination of foliage and flowers to create your composition. Most borders consist of a mixture of plants grown specifically for their foliage and other foliage plants that provide an especially effective backdrop for the flowers.

Green will act as the perfect background to most colors, but works particularly well with its complementary color, red. Silver works well with softer colors, although a bright red or magenta will stand out beautifully against it. Purple is a difficult color as a background, as it can become very leaden is used in excess, but it works well with contrasting orange and flame colors.

The curious, little grown annual, Medicago echinus, has a distinctive color pattern that makes it perfect for borders. The texture, shape and color of grasses well repay their use in the garden. The play of light on plants is very important in a well designed garden.

Pulmonarias are grown as flowering plants for spring, but if they are cut back after flowering, the new foliage will remain fresh throughout the summer. Prickly foliage may make a plant difficult to weed around, but it does provide a contrast to the surrounding leaves.

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