Designing With Texture in Your Garden

When you immediately think of your garden you might think of color, or smell...or maybe you think of the next time you must weed or water it. When designing a garden, a lot of home gardeners forget about how texture can be used in the garden. But wait – hold on just a minute. What is texture, and what does garden texture mean to you as a gardener?

Let me begin to explain what texture is by saying that texture in the garden includes the ways that we can describe plants – like feathery, smooth, ridged, or glossy. Texture is all of these descriptive terms, yet it is so much more at the same time. The texture of the garden is also about the overall shape of the leaves, and how light interacts with them. Texture might make it sound like you are actually touching the garden, and feeling the physical texture of the garden (like feeling a bumpy or smooth plant) – but when we talk about texture, it is all about how the garden makes you feel (is it large or small?) and how it looks (is it coarse? Is it bold?).

Creating great texture in a garden is all about bringing different shapes and sizes of plants together. You cannot have a dimensional garden without combining different textures. Texture is the quality that gives gardens its true depth and dimension, and how gardens seem to be brought to life instead of being flat and one dimensional. It is the secret tool in the planning of all major garden designers.

Continue reading to find out more of the science of designing with texture, and how to effectively use texture in your garden designs.

The Science of Designing with Texture

The garden is full of scientific lessons that it can teach us, and the use of texture is one of them. Light interacts with surfaces, and the way light bounces off of surfaces is why we instinctively want so many different textures in the garden. It doesn't just look pretty - there is a purpose here.

The texture of plants affects our perceptions of space, making the area look smaller, shorter, wider, or longer depending on what sorts of combinations of plants are used. It is a trick of the eye that you can use if you want to create a cozier space, or a space that looks larger. You will become a master of illusions when you learn to use texture!

In the shade, you will want to use plants that have bold or reflective colors that will catch the light. In the sun however you will want to use fine or airy textures that will help to soften the bright space – such as the textures provided by the feathery foliaged yarrow.

Combining Texture with Design

Textures in the garden play with your eyes and the brain’s perception of the area. Texture can be used to make a garden look smaller, or larger, depending on what plant combinations are used. Repeating textures in the garden gives a cohesive appearance and rhythm to the garden. You can use layers of different textures to create a garden that has plenty of visual interest, even when flowers are not in bloom.

Consider classic plant combinations, like ferns paired with hostas, or grasses paired with conifers. Use these ideas to create much needed textural combinations.

Bold and Fine – Pairing thin and fine leaves with much bolder and coarse leaves are an excellent way to add structure to the garden. When we look at a garden with fine textures, they recede into the background, in turn appearing to create more space in the garden.  This is exactly what you need if you are trying to make your smaller garden appear larger.

Coarse textures tend to draw the eye, giving you and your visitors a place for the eye to rest. Using coarsely textured plants will help make your garden appear smaller. Plants with coarse textures have large leaves, large flowers, and often have bold coloring – think of tropical plants. You can still have coarse texture with our native plants: simply use Viburnums, like the Black Haw Viburnum.

Stiff and Soft – Plants can be “stiff” or “soft”. Combining these plant textures, rather than having one or the other, is the best way to design your garden. Use sharply edged plants in combination with soft and dainty plants so you design a garden fit to be on a magazine cover!

I would encourage you to proceed with a bit of caution here: many soft plants can make your space seem a bit messy, and uncontrolled, if you do not have the contrasting stiff texture.

My advice is that if you are particularly drawn to soft plants, be sure to use a couple of our stiff plants that will anchor the space. This will help your garden to seem maintained, not messy. You can use plants like yucca for sharply edged texture, and ferns to balance them with soft texture.

One of my favorite feathery perennials to use in the garden is Yarrow. This is a hardy and flowering plant that has soft, airy leaves and lofty flowers. Pairing the feathery and light Yarrow with a plant like False Indigo – with its rounded leaves and vertical flowers – is a way that you can have both airiness and structure in your garden.

Matte and Glossy – Using matte leaves alongside shiny leaves is an excellent way to use depth and play with the way light bounces on the surface of the leaves.

You can use glossy leaves in your garden like those of the evergreen Sweet Bay Magnolia or European Ginger. Using glossy leaves is an excellent way to add a touch of richness in shady gardens.

Color with Winter – Use evergreens to add plenty of dimensional interest or use them to create a border that contains your perennial or annual plants. You can add in evergreens for their lovely foliage or trees or shrubs with beautifully colored bark to create seasonal dimension in your garden. Evergreens have a variety of different textures that you can use depending on what you want for your garden, from light and feathery, to sharp and spiny.

One of my favorite recommendations for adding great winter color to your garden is the Red Twig Dogwood. This tree has deep red stems that brighten up any snowy winter day. One note: be sure that you prune this tree back, as over time the new red bark will mature and change its color to gray.

At the end of the day, gardens are whatever you want them to be when you design them intentionally. Make your garden a place that feels true to you. You want your garden to reflect your personality – make it as dimensional as you are and be sure to combine different textures to create a beautifully designed garden that will not fall flat. By using the texture of plants in this intentional way, you will have your dream garden, and you will never want to leave. Create your garden using my tips above and let us know how your garden comes out!